Play to make a city. Cultural-historical identities and affordances in videogame versions of Hong Kong

Abstract

With the spatial turn in cultural studies of the 80s and 90s, the idea of (historical) narratives embedded in spaces gained traction. This spatial turn has also come to the fore in video games since they both build previously inexistent spaces and transform real-life spaces. However, the embodied implications or possibilities in the form of cultural affordances in these video game environments have not been addressed. In this paper, we engage in a close reading guided by three critical stances based on the portrayal of cultural, historical, and spatial identities in three games (Sleeping Dogs, A Summer's End, and Oblige) set in Hong Kong. The analysis results explain how different contents that reflect various aspects of a city's identity cooperate in affording certain actions or reactions in the player. This is the first step towards constructing a framework to analyze and design urban experiences through video games effectively.