KEYWORDS FOR VIDEO GAME STUDIES
Speaker Series
February 22, 2017
4-5:30 PM | EMU 023
University of Oregon
NATURE
“The Problem of Modeling (and Rendering) Trees”
Can you commune with nature in a video game? The rise of so-called “walking simulator” games suggests that you can, even as games remain undertheorized as environmental systems. Ranging from first-person walkers, to plant modeling software and asset libraries, to gestural terraforming in virtual reality, this presentation will outline just a few of the ways in which the environmental humanities can contribute to the future of game studies.
Alenda Y. Chang is an Assistant Professor in Film and Media Studies at UC Santa Barbara. With a multidisciplinary background in biology, literature, and film, she specializes in merging ecocritical theory with the analysis of contemporary media.
Sponsored by Environmental Studies, English, Cinema Studies, and Women’s and Gender Studies. Series also sponsored by the Center for the Study of Women in Society, the New Media and Culture Certificate program, and UO Think.Play. For more information: http://wgs.uoregon.edu/category/events/
