
The Stranger is a "delicate mess" and would rather you left it that way
Every videogame world makes a foreigner of us. As the player, you always come into a new virtual space as a tourist. Through exploration, you learn how to properly maneuver and experience the alien world. Yet one aspect of the foreigner experience is missing from videogames: the true citizens of this alien world don’t mind your tourism. In fact, game designers usually try to make the player’s transition from tourist to citizen as quick, seamless, and painless as possible through streamlined tutorials. Certain games, like Far Cry 3, literally renders the player a tourist. But by making the foreignness of the player into the…