Games, Schools, and Worlds Designed for Violence
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN recommends it as an informed look at architecture in games and at how school design relates to shooter maps and Columbine.
What it is
Jacob Geller's video essay examines how architecture in schools and in video games, such as cover shooters, is shaped by violence. It touches on brutalism, campus policing and protests.
Recommended by 3 HN commenters across 3 different months, 2021 to 2024.
What Hacker News said
Recommends dharmab · 2021-05 · on “Building virtual worlds: video games and autobiographical architecture”
For a more informed analysis of architecture in games, Jacob Geller has done several video essays on the topic: The Shape of Infinity [LINK] Games, Schools, and Worlds designed for Violence [this video] Control, Anatomy, and the Legacy of the Haunted House [LINK] Gaming's Harshest Architecture [LINK] The Architecture of Fumito Ueda [LINK]
Recommends underlipton · 2024-05 · on “Disabling Modernism”
Jacob Geller has an excellent video essay about how incidents like Columbine might have contributed to this trend (if only post-90s, obviously). [this video]
Recommends JRandomHacker42 · 2024-10 · on “Rethinking School Design”
Jacob Geller did a really interesting video essay [1] about the parallels that can be drawn between modern school architecture and maps from shooter games - on top of whatever other context or functionality they provide, they are fundamentally spaces that are designed around the question "what happens if violence occurs here?" [1] [this video]