Mapping Our Digital Menagerie: A Monster Manual for the Megadungeon
Abstract
Relying on a comparison between the complex spatial organization of our current digital ecosystem and the ones from dungeons in role-playing games, this article analyzes the multiple entities that populate our computers, smartphones and video game consoles. Trolls, bugs, worms, conversational AI agents, NPCs, daemons, ghosts, Trojan horses and others are presented and discussed with a focus on their different degree of agency, ranging from human-controlled to having a certain degree of autonomy. By addressing how we coexist with such beings, this paper contributes to the nascent field of digital folklore.
Submitted: Sept. 20, 2023 | Accepted: Nov. 23, 2023 | Published Dec. 19, 2023 | Language: en
Keywords Agency • Digital culture • Digital folklore • Monster • Megadungeon
Subtags Society Environment 3d data Institutions Modelling Works of Art Technology Participation Communities Publication Visualisation Image data
Copyright © 2023 Nicolas Nova. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/mag/2724-3923/2023/02/005