Games and companies in this document
Connections
Each row is a game or company this document names, each column a document, oldest first. A mark means that document names it. Select a row to see those documents.
1 free read left. Create a free account for unlimited reading + AI research.
Create free accountWhitepaperUniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
The paper argues that filmmakers and game designers can use linguistic landscape to convey politics, economies, and identities in invented worlds.
This paper examines how linguistic landscape, the visible language on signs and public displays, functions within fictional works, specifically films and video games. Drawing on the established view that linguistic landscape reveals social structure, language hierarchy, and historical change in real societies, the author argues that filmmakers and game designers can deploy these same features to convey information about invented worlds, their politics, economies, and identities. The analysis is qualitative and case-based, relying on close readings of two films and two video games rather than on survey data or statistical sampling.
The study examines Blade Runner (1982), Deus Ex (2000), and Fallout 3 (2008). In Blade Runner, dense neon advertising and a mix of English, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish signage are shown to express concerns about corporate capitalism and globalization, reflecting anxieties tied to Reagan-era economic policy. In Deus Ex, the contrast between a bilingual, English-heavy Hong Kong and a French-only, sparsely signed Paris signals the game's differing political conditions, with Paris under authoritarian control. In Fallout 3, monolingual, imperative propaganda posters inside a sealed vault convey a repressive society, while weathered pre-war advertisements in the ruins of Washington satirize mid-twentieth-century American consumerism and wartime propaganda.
The author identifies two functions shared by both media: serving as an information source for the audience and acting as an element of visual design that shapes atmosphere and aesthetics. Video games add a third, guiding function, since signage helps interactive players navigate and progress through open environments. The paper concludes that linguistic landscape is a meaningful narrative and aesthetic tool in these visually dominant media, and it notes that broader conclusions would require analysis of more works across additional genres and languages.
Each row is a game or company this document names, each column a document, oldest first. A mark means that document names it. Select a row to see those documents.
DiGRA · 2026
