Several recent studies indicate a disconnect between the individual and the natural environment and show that instead more time is spent with interactive entertainment experiences. Another recent observation reveals an increase in more realistic simulations of nature as a core part of interactive entertainment titles. Interpreting this development as a need for nature experience, this paper traces a short historic overview of the development of technologically mediated experiences of nature and tries to locate reasons for the diagnosed disconnect. From this analysis several conclusions for possible developments in interactive entertainment are formulated.
Andreas Kratky. “Playing Nature – A Short History of Our Mediated Relationship to Nature.” In: F. Cipolla Ficarra et.al. (eds.) Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Human-Computer Interaction, Tourism and Cultural Heritage (HCITOCH 2011), Lecture Notes in Computer Science LNCS 7546. Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, Springer, 2012: 89-98
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