The Joy of Digital Ruins and Ludo-Archaeology
Ruins might seem to be depressing or terrifying, but they have the potential to be sites of fascination and joy. In this talk, I discuss how we relate to the playable ruin, and how designers can design a ruin to accommodate what I call ludo-archaeological play.
GAME DESIGN
Learn more about Jacob
Jacob is a recent graduate of a Master of Arts at the University of Otago, having just finished their research into ruins in video games. They are also interested in the hauntology of video games and the way in which we relate to virtual spaces. They are a life-long video game enthusiast, having played something from every genre, from visual novel to 3D platformer, and they enjoy survival horror games like Silent Hill and Pathologic above all others. Jacob runs the Otago Literary Games Group, which plays and reads games critically and facilitates academic discussion of video games for both undergraduate and postgraduate students.
University of Otago
They/Them