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Abstract

In the realm of documentary, educational, and serious games, it is common to hear the implication that games about real-world (as opposed to fantastic) subjects engage players in real scenarios, environments, or subjectivities. But what does it mean to be a participant, specifically an enactor, within a designed experience such as a video game? Drawing from performance and documentary theory, this research examines the function of enactment in video game experiences, particularly in documentary video games. It presents an analysis of Escape from Woomera, which enables an experience-centered performative inquiry within a recreated environment. I will argue such experiences are best understood as constituting a documentary third space, in which a past experience, read through the body, is vivified.

Keywords

documentary video games docugames performative inquiry reenactment

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