I. Introduction and problem statement

INTRODUCTION

I. Introduction and problem statement

Over the last decades, virtual reality and virtual space have conquered a central part of our culture. The

virtual is occurring in different fields such as art, new media, education, science, health, technology,

philosophy, and architecture. Our lives are becoming more and more virtual. Then, who is designing

these spaces? Architects appear to be attempting to contribute to the field of immersive and interactive

virtual space design by challenging established ways of thinking about space. Still, they consider virtual

reality just a tool for communication, not itself a medium. On a contrary, interactive media, and in

particular video games, have long been discovered and designed virtual spaces. Since their birth in the

late ‘70s, they have evolved rapidly becoming the major cultural form, changing the face of established media, and becoming a billion-dollar industry and one of the most popular entertainment form, with an

increased number of active players worldwide which according to statistics have reached 121 billion

dollars in 2017 are expected to reach 180 billion in 2021, with a growing revenue especially in mobile

games (Fig.1). The size of the video game marketplace and their popularity especially among the young

generation is one of the reasons why video games should be the subject of this study that can contribute

to shaping playful architectural spaces in VR.

Figure 1 Annual global revenue for video games divided per segment with compound annual growth rates. (source: NewZoo, available online: https://cdn.gamer-network.net/2018/articles/2018-04-30-15-25/segment2.jpg, accessed 20.12.2018)

Today, video games are more than the act of playing. They are primarily viewed as a new media,

distinguished by their status as interactive spaces. They permit the user to experience immersive,

engaging, and entertaining settings in virtual reality. Furthermore, media scholar Henry Jerkins (2000)