98

This paper deals with the place, the staging, and the function of Greek or Roman architectural references in games with a storyline based on ancient times, such as Age of Empires I, Gates of Troy, CivCity: Rome, Caesar IV, Rise of the Argonauts, etc. It shows that the game design does not only serve as the setting for the plot, but that these ancient natural and architectural landscapes fictionalized through such devices as amplification, spectacularization, and decontextualization structure the game and thus partake in the game play.