- Title
- Transnational suburbia : suburban settings in Australian video games
- Creator
- Speed, Lesley
- Date
- 2023
- Type
- Text; Journal article
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/194454
- Identifier
- vital:18366
- Identifier
-
https://doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2023.2215973
- Identifier
- ISSN:1030-4312 (ISSN)
- Abstract
- Video games with suburban settings offer distinctive experiences of quotidian environments. This article examines how Australian games set in homes or verdant residential neighbourhoods contribute to a global circulation of ideas about suburban life. It contributes to understanding the relationship between Australian games and Australian society by showing how gameworlds that represent everyday spatial environments exist at intersections of the global and the local. By using suburbia as a focal point for demonstrating how Australian games can be read on both international and local levels, the article explores an alternative to a cultural nationalist approach. The Australian games examined are Rumu (Robot House, 2017), Roombo: First Blood (Samurai Punk, 2019), Mars Underground (Moloch Media, 2019), Moving Out (SMG Studio and DevM Games, 2020), Untitled Goose Game (House House, 2020) and Unpacking (Witch Beam, 2021). This article argues that by positioning suburbia as both familiar and foreign, games offer experiences of virtual travel and exploration that contribute to re-imagining everyday environments. While addressing universal themes such as moving house and domestic labour, these games can also be understood in relation to Australian cultural traditions and contexts. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
- Publisher
- Routledge
- Relation
- Continuum Vol. 37, no. 2 (2023), p. 169-181
- Rights
- All metadata describing materials held in, or linked to, the repository is freely available under a CC0 licence
- Rights
- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
- Rights
- Copyright © 2023 The Author(s)
- Rights
- Open Access
- Subject
- 4701 Communication and media studies; 4702 Cultural studies; Australian video games; Digital games; Gameworld; Indie games; Suburbia; The everyday; Video games
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