Rust: The infinite cage

alexandermrl. (2015.) ]]from https://lab.facepunch.com/rust/c4tb/help_show_me_some_good_examples_of_the_rust_community/page/3

Whenever you spawn into a game of Rust, you’re free to roam the landscapes the developers have carved, but simultaneously bound to the restrictions they impose. The geography of freedom and restriction becomes dependant on how much you as the player understand about the world and how you choose to interface with it. The structure, is not unlike the physical world.

This is the second in a three-part series that breaks down elements of Rust, comparing the online game and social network to the physical reality we experience day to day. Last week examined how power shapes our experiences before we’re even born. This week we examine how players of Rust make sense of their geography and how it relates to the concept of the flaneur.

Historically, the concept of the flaneur stems from 19^th Century France, to a time when the increasing population in Paris meant that anonymity amongst a crowd became possible (Walter, 2009). The mix of dense population and confining architecture of arcades meant the flaneur could take in their surrounds at a leisurely pace, unconcerned about their place within it. The flaneur was a by-product of abundance, urban expansion and modernity.

In modern times, the flaneur has a different meaning, Gaylene (1997, para. 1) proposes an evolution of the flaneur that exists specific to cyberspace. The new flaneur can enter onto a webpage anonymously, stroll through without purpose or direction, and then simply vanish again. In Rust, players are another evolution of the flaneur.

Rust, being an online sandbox game, is purpose built not just for the anonymous purposeless strolling, but also for anonymous purposeless construction and destruction. While Gaylene was referring to web browsing as the new frontier for the flaneur, the online game is the next frontier yet again. This is a literal landscape the player must navigate and impact. Reminiscent of the allegory of the cave (Huard, 2007), every object in this landscape is a symbolic copy of an object that exists in the physical world. It is a digital manifestation of those Parisian arcades, where the objects are only of symbolic value and everything can be both seen and impacted with no material consequence to the physical world.

Rust is also, as the author of Neuromancer William Gibson expressed, an “infinite cage.” While seemingly allowing for free expression, it is still bound by those who have constructed the space in the first place. The developers dictate the absolute and relative limits that allow for the game to function. The world of the game is constructed like a map, with a subjective intent for the player (Wood, et al. 2006)

As an adaptable place, the players of Rust often push the limits of the restrictions, as Certeau (1984) once noted: ‘Confronted with a technical infrastructure and a set of “rules of the game,” tactical players may enroll in gentle forms of subversion to make the prefabricated space more “habitable” and better suited to fulfill their needs.’

Overall Rust is one of many online games, both observable and malleable. It is the next frontier of the flanuer. But if Lee’s (2013) Ted talk is anything to go by, there may be another frontier very soon where the barrier between reality, and what can anonymously be observed and impacted, may dissolve even further.

References  

alexandermrl. (2015.). #1 Standing on top of the world. [Image]. Retrieved from https://lab.facepunch.com/rust/c4tb/help_show_me_some_good_examples_of_the_rust_community/page/3

Certeau, M. (1984). BA1002: Our space: Networks, narratives and the making of place, lecture 4: Power. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au 

Gaylene, B. (1997). Passages of the Cyber-Flanuer. Retrieved from http://www.raynbird.com/essays/Passage_Flaneur.html

Huard, R. L. (2007). Plato's political philosophy: The cave. New York: Algora Pub.

TED, Lee, J. (2013, February). Reach into the computer and grab a pixel [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/jinha_lee_a_tool_that_lets_you_touch_pixels#t-285389

Walter, B. (2009) A Turtle on a Leash. Retrieved from 
http://www.onewaystreet.typepad.com/one_way_street/2009/10/a-turtle-on-a-leash.html

Wood, D., Kaiser, W. L., & Abramms, B. (2006). Seeing through maps: Many ways to see the world (New ed.). Oxford: New Internationalist.