Virtual Space and Ground
2025. 03. 27.
I created a game. This game has a flat brown ground and protruding brick-patterned walls, and I, or my character, can walk around these brick-patterned walls. So where do these ground and walls exist? If we consider this space as an architectural design project, what could be the site of this project?
Let's conduct a simple thought experiment to answer this question. Let's say the site of an architectural design project is a university campus in a neighborhood. What might cause this site to lose its qualification as a site? What if a pandemic strikes and all students on this campus disappear? What if sea levels suddenly rise and this land becomes submerged? What if a meteor falls around the campus, destroying existing facilities and leaving only craters? By imagining various scenarios and removing people who would interact with the site, destroying the existing urban context (or the spatial interaction context of multiple people), changing the space's form, or altering the environmental conditions of the space, we can consider whether the site can remain a site.
Similarly, if we take a virtual space as a site, how might we torment this site? Could a meteor fall in a virtual space? Perhaps this world doesn't even have meteors or a way to create craters. The concept of water might not exist to submerge the flat brown ground, and the concept of characters getting sick might not exist to assume a pandemic scenario. All my character can do is wander around this world, and no matter what, following the space's rules prevents modifying the space.
What if we think outside these rules? If I break the monitor displaying the game screen, would the site disappear? If we can say it has disappeared, and I get a new monitor and connect it to the computer, would a new site be created, or would the original site be restored? What if I destroy the computer running the game? If the RAM is damaged, would the site disappear? Would the site be restored if I replace the RAM and the game runs again? What if the storage device (SSD or hard drive) where the game is installed gets damaged? What if I buy a new storage device, replace it, and download the game installation file from the server? What if the installation file on the server was updated by the game's publisher?
It seems there are many things to consider to clearly answer where the land in a virtual space exists. But one thing is certain: the land definitely exists physically somewhere among the places where its information flows.