Architecture in Real and Virtual Worlds

8/12/2019 Architecture in Real and Virtual Worlds

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Table of content

Introduction. 3

What is architecture? How do architects see and define it. 4

The architecture of a system.. 6

How does architecture influence the player?.............................9

The differences when creating in real versus digital world.14

Architecture and narration. 16

Getting the best out of the digital space 23

Bibliography.. 27


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This paper is an answer to the research question: What is the

connection between architecture in real world and digital world

and how can we use it in games?

In this paper I am going to talk about the way architecture is used in

games to affect players' behavior and help creating and solving quests.

I will also talk about the possibilities of the digital world, the way we

can take advantage of it and the way it differs from the real world. The

designer can and should take into consideration the power of the

space's and structure's familiarity when designing a game. People

react in specific ways and expect specific feedback when they look out

a window, open a door, enter certain rooms or buildings.

The game genres I'm referring to when I talk about virtual worlds are

the action and adventure games, usually played from a first person or

third person perspective. I will not take simulations into consideration,

since their main role is to copy reality and functionality. How well they

succeed in doing that is a different topic.


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Before I talk about the way architecture influences the player's

behavior in the games I want to explain what architecture is, its

purpose and how it is seen by great architects and theoreticians.

What is architecture? How do architects see and define it.

It is hard to find a definition accepted unanimously. This word can

have different meanings depending on the context. For the common

people architecture can refer to any man-made building, city or park.

The professionals are debating its complexity.

I think these 10 points from architecture.about.com create a good

description that will be rounded by few of the great architects'

opinions:

1. any man-made building or structure

2. a man-made building or structure that is important, large, or highly

creative

3. a carefully designed object, such as a chair, a spoon, or a tea kettle

4. a design for a city, town, park, or landscape


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5. the art or science of designing and building buildings, structures,

objects, and

outdoor spaces

6. a building style or method

7. a plan for organizing space

8. the flow of information on a Web page

9. the planned design of any kind of system

10. a systematic arrangement of information or ideas

Architecture can be seen as a system with its functional rules or as an

image between what is built (as a building) and what is not built

(meaning streets and parks).

What I like about these points is that their borders expand into

product design, web design and systematic ideas.

Vitruvius, the first roman architect, wrote in his book De Architectura

that architecture is an imitation of nature, referring to creatures like

bees and birds that create their own nests. In a similar way humans

use materials found in natural environment to build houses that

protect them.

Le Corbusier, one of the pioneers of modern architecture, said "You

employ stone, wood, and concrete, and with these materials you build


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houses and palaces: that is construction. Ingenuity is at work. But

suddenly you touch my heart, you do me good. I am happy and I say:

This is beautiful. That is Architecture".

Christopher Alexander refers to it as the quality without a name.

Mies van der Rohe, the German-American architect known also for his

aphorism less is more, believed that architecture begins when 2

bricks are put together.

Frank Lloyd Wright, one of the great American architects believed in

the harmony between humanity and environment through structures

and called it organic architecture.

the architecture of a system

Architecture defines the type of organizing, of functioning and of

managing a system by following a certain set of rules. The architecture

of a system refers to the relationship between the elements of that

system, the way they communicate with each other, the way they

communicate with other external elements (like the natural


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environment) and the laws that system follows.It has a functional

and a non functional side.

The non functional siderefers to the human side, the qualities and

the faults of a system by analyzing feelings through space. Meaning

for example that when you are made to walk inside a cave or a narrow

place and you are down, there is a certain pressure that overcomes

you as a human being. Another example in reality is bigger spaces

(like a spacious apartment). That gives most of us a feeling of comfort.

Glass houses in reality give a constant feeling of vulnerability towards

the others, while a house with small windows gives a more secure

emotion.

The functional side can be analyzed using the information regarding

overall dimensions and functional needs. It refers to the relationship

between spaces and functions. It does not indicate the fact that a

hallway is 2 meters long, but it indicates that a hallway must create

the connection between bedroom and kitchen for example. The overall

dimensions and functional needs take into account sizes and tells us

that a bedroom window should be bigger than a bathroom window

because there is a need for more light, or that a bedroom should have


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enough space to put a bed inside. These kind of relations are described

in Neufert, which is the architects manual.

In the human history architects and schools have tried creating using

only the functional side of system. The most known example of that is

the Purism theory.

Le Corbusier believed that a house is a machine for living in.

Together with the artist Amde Ozenfant, he developed a new theory

called Purism.Architecture would be as efficient as a factory assembly

line, developing standardized housing 'types'.

He created the Five points of architecture, in which for the first point

he lifted the structure of the building off the ground and on the pillars.

Next points refer to open floor plan and free faade that gives bigger

freedom for rooms configurations, without any concerns of supporting

walls. The 4th point represents the continuous window which allows an

uninterrupted view of the scenery from inside the house. With the last

point he integrated better the building into nature by adding

vegetation on the roof and compensating for the green space taken by

the construction. Villa Savoye is an exemplification of his theory.


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Le Corbusier was convinced that a rationally planned city, using the

standardized housing types he had developed, could offer a healthy,

humane alternative. He was determined that his architecture would

reintroduce nature into people's lives. Victorian cities were chaotic and

dark prisons for many of their inhabitants.

Why the functionalistic ideas of the modern movement did not work?

When we say modern movement we think of Bauhaus school and Le

Corbusier. The answer is that they did not take into account the non-

functional side of architecture. Living was seen as something created

in frames, as an industry. But the human being was not made to think

that way, to give up individualism and personalization.

how does architecture influences the player: outside

the game

People enjoy putting themselves in awkward situations when it comes

to virtual worlds. They become brave, they want to experiment, but

because there is the comfort and safeness of the real world all the

time around them and in their minds, the experiment could not reach

its full capacity.


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Certain conditions can make the player get closer and experience the

feelings they would have in a similar real world situation. Creators of

the game Amnesia explain that their game needs to be played when

you are tired, alone, at night and with your lights off. If it is played at

a party with 10 people around, laughing, talking and lights on, the

player will feel safe and amused. Games need the help of outside

environment.

There is an obvious limit created by the virtual space and that may be

because of the non realistic graphics that we still have, or the fact that

everything is happening on a screen and not all around us (it is not

like Star Trek's Holodeck), or just because we simply know it is not

real. We still engage with reality while playing a game. The fact that

we pause the game when the phone rings, if we eat or the simple fact

that we feel warm when the game is suppose to make us feel cold,

shows us that the non functional side or the architecture cannot reach

its full potential.


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how does architecture influences the player: inside

the game

Creating architectural spaces in virtual worlds is similar to real world

from the individualization point of view because we want spaces to be

functional but personalized. Sometimes by personalizing we give them

a new function, to be recognizable in that created space. For example

by placing statues, monuments or towers at the end of visual axis we

help people orient in a virtual space, as in real life.

I will call it the "familiarity factor of architecture" all surrounding

elements that people use instinctively or that are familiar with. These

elements are known how to be used, or their purpose and function

before they are even used in that moment, just by seeing them or

knowing their name. These familiar elements come to mind also when

we try to find a solution in certain situations. For example if a player

sees a platform above his character then he will start thinking of

different methods of getting there, different known methods and if

another character is up there then he will know for sure there is a way

of getting on that platform. He will look for stairs, boxes to climb on,

an elevator and other familiar elements.


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The familiar factor of architectural elements is given by shape,

material and state (liquid, solid, gas). These are characteristics that

we rely on when playing.

Familiar elements represent one method of controlling player's

behavior.

If the character is sitting in a courtyard that has boxes, ornamental

elements and lots of enemies, the player will hide behind the

obstacles, try to move stealthily, calculating his moves (especially if

the game is designed in a way that he wouldn't stand a change in a

direct confrontation). He will know that those boxes are able to protect

him and he will know that he can be seen if he hides behind a glass

box. If the courtyard has no architectural elements, then the player

has to confront the enemies directly.

In a long corridor players will move fast, or run, unless there are other

elements standing in the way of doing that. When we see stairs or

elevators we know their function and we use it accordingly.

In Quake players change their game tactics and behavior according to

the maps. There are maps that have an exposed, vulnerable way of

taking players on upper platforms. Other players take advantage of

this and shoot the ones that are in the middle of the transition.


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What if the purpose is different, or what if the stairs are blocked in a

non familiar way (for example the level is built so that stairs are in fact

a wall)? The player becomes frustrated and frustration is part of giving

up.

Another example of frustration using architecture that used to be done

is having a corridor with doors but only one or 2 of them can be

opened, the rest are "locked". The functionality of the door is to

provide access to another space; if that function is not working "as it

should be" then frustration appears.

The acceptable way of frustration in games is when elements react in

familiar way (players don't expect crossing a stone wall) when players

have access to a certain place later in the game (they get to find a key

to open a new door) or when what they want can be done in a very

difficult way, but it's not impossible (getting shot through a very small

space).

Materials are also part of the familiarity factor, along with shape. A

staircase made of glue is still a staircase. Because it is made of glue

players are familiar that it will be sticky to use, so they look for non


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sticky elements in the scene. In this way game developers can create

interesting challenges.

Familiarity is also used to provide clues or hints in games. The fact

that the player has a quest of finding a book and she gets to see a

library in the city will provide a clear, but not a too obvious clue. This

way the player can actually feel rewarded that she got to think put the

2 things together.

Architectural elements can block access in natural ways and that can

give the impression of a free world to the players, when in fact it is

not. They can make the player go on desired paths and make him feel

like it was his decision.

All environmentally complex games "take advantage" of this factor.

Actually it is impossible not to use it. If hypothetically speaking a game

decides to cut all known elements, to reinvent the world in which the

play takes place, that game can mainly be about learning the new

world, learning its functions and how to integrate in it. But how will the

player learn the new world? He will try to find familiar elements; he

will try to decipher it using his human logic and instincts. What will

happen in the first attempts? He will feel frustrated and his patience


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will be tested. If the solutions of the new world are not rewarding

enough, he will quit.

The differences when creating architectural elements in virtual

world versus real life

There are various differences in creating functional spaces in games

than in real world. Form follows function does not necessarily apply

in digital spaces. There are many reality functions only simulated or

modified in games. Many buildings are unused, unreachable or with a

blocked entrance. This makes me think of them like parts of a

play/movie setting.

When simulating real buildings in digital space, the role of architecture

is simplified. They give historical information and provide familiarity. A

building will no longer protect players from cold, heat and

precipitations. Their character will not suffer as they would in reality.

Some games simulate that suffering but it is still not something the

player feels to be solving instinctively. She does it because of the

information received through characters voice or behavior, for

example "It's freezing in here. I should make the fire".


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One common function that can be found in games and real life is the

protection of and from enemies. No matter if the level is build as a free

world or linear, enemies, other characters or events are triggered by a

certain area in the level space. In the game Crysis, standing at the

entrance of a certain building and making noise with your gun

triggered all AI enemies inside that building. You didnt have to move

at all. You could just wait outside the entrance and new waves of

enemies keep coming until there is none left inside. This example

shows that narration is not always linear and the player has certain

freedom to build his own experience.

architecture and narration

There is a strong connection between architecture and narration in

games.

Michael Nitsche, in his book Video Game Spaces: Image, Play, and

Structure in 3D Game Worlds talks about narrative as part of the

situatedness of the player, narrative as comprehension that helps to

make sense of actions." This makes narration an important element in

the gaming experience and includes the interaction of players with

objects inside the game space.


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In Mafia the player could follow the story of the game and do the tasks

in certain orders, trigger different events and move deeper into the

story or steal a taxi and play as a taxi driver until he gets bored. The

architecture of the city was accurate enough to let you play by the real

world rules. You could drive the car in traffic and respect the lights and

road laws, pick up citizens, drive them to their destination and receive

money for it. The player could create his own story up to a certain

point and the architecture of the level helped providing the feeling of

the 40s 50s.

Jon Brouchoud believes that Architecture can tell a story, evoke

emotion and shape player experience more effectively than any other

aspect of your game. He gives the example of Frank Lloyd Wright and

his way of using light, dark low and tall spaces. His buildings usually

make visitors enter a low dark area that gives the feeling of

compression and while moving further into the space they are

gradually taken into the lighter and wider places. The contrast

between the two accentuates and defines them.

The impact is stronger than showing the grandeur of a space directly

from the entrance. In this way the architect choreographed the impact


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and reactions of the visitors and he made sure the level of emotions is

raised gradually and lasts for the whole visit. He compares Lloyds

architecture with dance and music, where it is not important to reach

the final note or make the final step, but the whole song and the whole

dance is important.

By balancing and contrasting different types of spaces, architecture

can unfold, and choreograph the player experience to produce a much

more powerful emotional impact and reaction to gameplay.

In music, the point of the composition is not to get to the end of the

composition.

If that were so, the best composers would be the ones that got to the

end the fastest. And there would be composers who only wrote finales.

People would go to the concert just to hear one crashing chord. Cause

thats the end. Same as dancing. You dont aim at a particular spot in

the room where you should arrive. The whole point of dancing is the

dance. (Philosopher Allan Watts)

The dark atmosphere in a game can be increased and better defined if

it is contrasted with areas of natural light. If you spend more time in a

dark place you start to get used to it and the scary impact from the

beginning starts to decrease. But if the darkness is altered with light,


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in certain key points, it will make the player feel the safeness of that

area and when he goes back in the dark the scary feeling is triggered

again.

The same theory applies for different contrasted shapes and materials

used. If the level is a small pleasant village with colorful surroundings

and suddenly the player finds a dark marble and immense building his

feelings will suddenly change, he becomes more precautious and

prepares for danger. Different materials, shapes and colors trigger the

same emotions on players in games as in real life.

Architecture also provides important information for the player. This

information may refer to familiar locations (bedroom, kitchen),

unfamiliar locations (new worlds, alien buildings), atmosphere and

surrealism. It helps the player know where and sometimes when he is.

In the game Dishonored the architecture is similar to reality at first.

Laws of physics and gravity applies. The character gets to a bedroom,

he is feeling tired, so he goes to sleep. It is all part of the story. The

player can move around and avoid the task that triggers the next step,

but all he will accomplish is delay. The real-scope of the bedroom is

reached in the game when the character goes to bed and sleeps. After

this, the game-scope of the bedroom starts being accomplished. That


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makes the narration go further and change the environment. The

gravity and laws of physics start changing. They dont seem to apply

anymore to the elements around: water starts flowing up, you can see

the sky through the cracks in the floor and when you go outside,

buildings are in awkward positions and parts of the environment are in

the air. Familiarity of the bedroom's "behavious" breaks, but the shape

and materials remain the same in this case. If both these remaining

elements were to break as well, the player would think that his

character woke up in a different place than that bedroom, connection

and familiarity would have been lost. If, for example, the character

would have woken up in the kitchen of the same house, that the

player visited before (that's how he would know it's part of the same

house) then familiarity would have continued, creating a new story: he

woke up in the kitchen because he was sleep walking, or teleported

there.

Looking back at Le Corbusier, the supporting walls can be completely

ignored in the digital space if wanted and so can the pillars. We can

create spaces as wide and as long as we want them to be, because the

building will not fall. The laws of physics, the habitability

considerations and scale do not apply anymore, unless the game

developers want them to in order to create familiarity. It is no longer a


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necessity. The virtual worlds are created for expansion and

exploration, not usability.

The aspect of the buildings and environment resembles real world in

most of the cases to create a familiar-realistic setting for the game, to

make the player experience what is like to be in Venice (Tomb Rider)

or in Florence, Damascus, Jerusalem and other cities in the past,

present or future. Some cities are completely fiction, but their

elements, buildings and rules are the same as in reality. They trigger

the same emotions as watching an interactive video of a real similar

place. Their familiarity helps the exploration.

When the character has to "go inside the main square's tower and take

the elemental sword" we all know what to do, we don't question the

architectural elements "square" and "tower", we start looking for

them. And how do we do that? in the most familiar way, with a little

adjustments provided by the abilities of our character or restrictions of

the game. We can question the "elemental sword" and what is it doing

in the tower, but not the elements we know.

Game developers base their designs on this familiarity. They calculate

quests according to them. A game should not provide too many hints,


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but also not too little. How do we know the right balance? We

approximate based on what we know then test it on players to see if

they know less or more.

The virtual place is often seen as a place to simulate reality, as in

create cities from reality. One positive effect when doing that is the

fact that it can be a place to preserve cities and buildings that in time

will disappear from reality maybe due to wars, not enough money for

maintenance, earthquakes or floods. Another positive aspect is the fact

that players can "visit" places they never been to, or become a bit

familiar with them before going there (if it is possible to go there).

Although these are valid points, a copy of the reality will always have a

deficiency when comparing to the real place that copy is based on.

I think a better impact is achieved when the player can make less

reality comparisons. That way he can appreciate the surroundings

better, he can pretend and be more absorbed by the new place.


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Getting the best out of the digital space

Realistic architecture is sometimes mixed with fantastic elements. In

Half Life 2 there is an alien invasion and earthly buildings are mixed

with alien ones.

Architecture in games has much more potential than we think.

Architecture can finally be free to become wholly narrative, full of

meaning, instigate a powerful user experience, and convey a deep

connection to the game plot and player perception.

Occasionally it gets there, but rarely. For now flashy concepts and

photorealistic images are more common than careful thinking and

interactive design method toward a deeper, more powerful (and

meaningful) player experience.

The human cities exist in games because human characters live or

lived there. In real life architecture starts from the function and the

environment. If we create new environments and new rules for it then

the architecture is influenced and changes accordingly to the new rules

and imagination. New physics laws, new civilizations or races force us

to create new architecture. If the gravitation would change as a game

law, buildings would have a completely different look. For example if

the gravitation were smaller we would be able to jump higher and this


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will mean that for example the entrance to the buildings can be placed

at the first floor instead of the ground floor, or there would be no use

of stairs because we could jump from one platform to another.

Other example can be a small modification from the human race, like

the elves.

They live in woods, they are quick and good archers with magical

powers. Their homes are in close harmony with the forest. The

architecture made for them in movies and games is related to Art

Nouveau style, because of its natural influences.

It is impossible to create perfect buildings for a creature different than

us. We imagine their way of eating, of communicating, sleeping, their

mental and physical characteristics and we are pleased with the result.

Players are content and approve the architecture because no matter

how hard they imagine and play the role of different specie through

their avatar, they are still humans. So in the end architecture in games

has to please humans. The building can achieve perfection through our

eyes, but not through universal laws.

StarCraft has 3 different species: Terrans, Zerg and Protoss. The Zerg

are completely different from humans, they are obsessed in


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assimilating other races to reach genetic perfection, they look like

insects and their buildings are entirely organic. This architecture

answers their needs, but in a way that us humans approve and are

somehow familiar with, for a better and faster understanding.

Another way of using architecture, in a way that is not yet possible in

reality, is by creating structures that change their shape constantly or

when the player does certain tasks. An example of changing

architecture while playing, but not in a dynamic mode, is the game To

the Moon. It is a narrative game about an old mans last wish in life.

The player travels through time into all old mans stages of life. While

doing that we get to see his house going through many building stages

and the environment changes. This way it helps us understand better

the struggles he had to go through before finishing the house.

The digital environment preserves models as they were when they

were built. We can see the age of a model only through technological

progress. When computers are able to carry better quality and we get

use to it, we can see the old model and make the comparison. Games

like Super Mario or Zelda Ocarina of Time are appreciated for their

environment and they are considered to be classics. Old buildings in


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reality have bigger value for us and we appreciate them more because

they are real, but also because of their age.

We can always go back and modify, "update" a digital architecture,

while the reality can only be preserved. Actually in digital games we

can have as many versions as we want of the same old building.

Architecture has a big potential in games and needs to be pushed

more. Digital space has new boundaries and we need to take

advantage of that and create for its specifics. Vitruvius believed that a

good building is the one that is solid (durable) useful and beautiful.

The same principles are applicable in the digital world. All these must

be built with due reference to durability, convenience, and beauty.

Durability will be assured when foundations are carried down to the

solid ground and materials wisely and liberally selected; convenience,

when the arrangement of the apartments is faultless and presents no

hindrance to use, and when each class of building is assigned to its

suitable and appropriate exposure; and beauty, when the appearance

of the work is pleasing and in good taste, and when its members are in

due proportion according to correct principles of symmetry.


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Bibliografy

The Construction of Ludic Spaces - lecture by Ernest W. Adams

The Role of Architecture in Video Games article by Ernest Adams

http://archvirtual.com/2013/02/09/the-importance-of-architecture-in-

video-

games-and-virtual-worlds/

Nitsche, M. (2008) Video game spaces: Image, play, and structure in 3d

game

worlds. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Unlocking the Gameworld: The Rewards of space and Time in Videogames

article by Alison Gazzard

http://stevendwright.home.comcast.net/~stevendwright/ArchRoles.htm)

http://architecture.about.com/od/greatarchitects/p/lecorbusier.htm

http://architecture.about.com

http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/heritage/le-

corbusier

Architecture in Real and Virtual Worlds

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