Exploring Experiential Spaces in Video Games: Case Studies of Papers, Please, Beholder, and Mirror’s Edge

Video games offer unique experiences for players with their participatory nature. Their spaces can be considered as experiential spaces because of this characteristic. Video game spaces take place in the center of player experience. This study attempts to define experiential spaces of video games with a suggested framework. This framework includes not only relations between video games and different fields such as cinema and architecture, but also unique characteristics of video games. The purpose of this framework is to look closely at experiential spaces and provide a base for player experience researches. Reliability and consistency of the framework are tested in three different video games: Papers, Please; Beholder; and Mirror’s Edge.