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Procedural Realism in Computer Strategy Games
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- Author / Creator
- Paredes-Olea, Mariana
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Throughout the history of strategy games, the concept of realism has taken part of cultural discourses that claim such games reproduce dynamics of war. In this thesis, A. Galloway’s, I. Bogost’s and C. Pierce’s work are used to construct the concept of procedural realism to support the thesis that strategy games build ‘realist’ fiction based on the execution of game processes through the Heads Up Display interface. Discussion on the visibility of rules will draw attention to the extra-diegetic dimensions of games to explore how these devices promote ideological approaches to the real. The form of realism found in computer strategy games is an example of Katherine Hayles’ regime of computation, where “[c]ode is understood as the discourse system that … generates nature itself (27). This worldview is also present in non-computational strategy wargames; however, analysis focuses on Real Time Strategy and Turn-Based Strategy games’ non-diegetic devices.
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- Graduation date
- Fall 2009
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- Type of Item
- Thesis
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- Degree
- Master of Arts
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- License
- This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.