There and Back Again: Reuse, Signifiers and Consistency in Created Game Spaces

Abstract

Most games strive to achieve what is called, colloquially, immersion. This means that the game world — or virtual space — is so interesting and so detailed that the players forget that they are playing a game. Another word used to describe this phenomenon is mimesis. There are games that deliberately transgress against mimesis¹, and games that do so inadvertently, but it is generally accepted that improving mimesis in a game makes it more fun to play (Giner-Sorolla, 1996).²