Summarized, “to know a place fully means both to understand it in an abstract way and to know it as one person knows another” ( Tuan, 1975, p.

In his earliest work (1975), Tuan argues that when we visit places, there is an experience that transcends the labels formally given to the spaces that are being occupied.

The notion of an SoP can be traced back to canonical scholarship in cultural geography by Tuan 1975, 1979). Findings suggest that native West Virginians have a stronger SoP than non-natives prior to the game’s release, but the two groups’ SoP and location recall for WV (as an actual space) converged over the course of gameplay, providing theoretical and empirical grounding for the study of SoP in video games. By following players 2 weeks prior to play, 2 weeks after initial play, and 2 months after initial play, we are able to track the development of both (a) players’ perceptions of SoP in WV and (b) players’ recollection of various locations around WV, with consideration for preexisting affiliations with the state. The current study examines some of this potential by examining players’ experiences in the video game Fallout 76, a game that attempted to move beyond simply recognizing labels or names or locations in West Virginia (WV) and immerse players in a postapocalyptic Appalachian world based on current-day places and cultural pathos of the same. So what, then, of the potential for digital game environments to engender a sense of place (SoP), a concept borrowed from cultural geography to explain the idiosyncratic and emotional connection between people and places ( Tuan, 1974, 1975, 1979) that goes beyond simply recognizing labels or names or locations and beyond senses of being there (i.e., spatial presence), but emerges as a “perception of meaning associated with a site or location” ( Bott, 2000, p. However, games are increasingly set in very real locales, sometimes with very high fidelity to their physical-world counterparts, and designed to closely replicate and simulate these locales (e.g., the 2019 release of The Division 2 includes a nearly 1:1 scale representation of Washington, DC Ubisoft, 2019). Part of this potential relies on dynamics such as spatial presence and interactivity that create a sense of being there-an illusion of nonmediation such that the digital world is experienced as an actual location (Lombard & Ditton, 1997). Video games are lauded for their ability to transport people into unreal scenarios and to help players to escape into fantasy narratives and unattainable locales. Keywords: sense of place, video games, Fallout 76, longitudinal design

Although an early exploration into SoP and video games, these data have implications for SoP considerations in video game research and design. Effects on place recollection (such as recalling location names) were similar but less pronounced. For those no longer playing, T3 SoP scores returned to T1 (preplay) levels. The expected T1 SoP gap was found, but this gap closed for all players at T2, with non-natives experiencing a significant increase in their SoP for WV on par with natives’ feelings of the same. SoP scores were compared between WV natives and non-natives, with the expectation that natives would have greater SoP scores prior to gameplay. A total of 556 players of Fallout 76 were asked about their SoP for and recollection of West Virginia (WV) 2 weeks prior to the game’s launch (T1), with follow-up questions 2 weeks (T2) and 2 months (T3) following the game’s launch.

Invoking Tuan’s cultural–geographic notion of sense of place (SoP), this study examined the potential for video game play to foster a sense of affective familiarity with (emotional connection) and abstract understanding of (place recollection) actual physical locations rendered in digital environments.

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