Changing places: warping between perspectives

Abstract

The warp device is commonly applied as a design feature within videogames. It allows the player's avatar to be transported through the gameworld changing the relationship with the gamespace. Moving the avatar through the gameworld can be seen as a response to the player's actions and its location acts as a way of working through and understanding relationships within game spaces. This article analyses how warps and portals function and how they can affect the position of the avatar in the gameworld. The space of the videogame is defined through the notion of paths and tracks to understand how players can swap between roles of interaction and observation as they make their way through various levels and scenarios of gameplay. Warps and portals are categorized as to their use within game design in first-person and third-person games and how this impacts on the player's experience of the avatar.