Gardens (of Eden) as Narrative Meta-spaces in Video Games

This paper explores – within a general game design-oriented approach – the metaphor of the “garden as a game world”, comparing the self-enclosed worlds of video games with the concept of western garden. The first part presents the state of the art of previous studies about gardens in video games and gardens as a metaphor for video games. Then, the paper links the synthesis between nature and culture – connected to the deep roots of western gardens: the Garden of Eden – to the actions of players. Video game players, just like Adam in the book of Genesis, are invited to «cultivate and care for» (Gn 2,15) a land/garden they will never truly own, perceiving their own limitedness.