Reppin' the world in 2D.
OBJECTS OF OBSESSION #7: CARTOGRAPHIC DELIGHTS (PART 1)
A few summers ago I was asked to do a couple of weeks of dog/house sitting for the in-laws - I work in a school so am blessed with the summer off, and therefore had absolutely no excuse, this was compounded by my general lack doing things, so doubly no excuse - not that I wanted one, the dog is a good chum and an enjoyable hang - he made it slightly more difficult to play games though, so I had to resort to playing on an emulated World of Warcraft server, it being simple enough to play on my laptop while balancing a dog.
Anyway, during these two weeks of occasional walks, and lots of sitting, I ended up perusing eBay, as you do, and I inevitably ended up searching for old games. I wrote a post about navigating the virtual world at the time, and this got me looking up all the games that came with maps. These were always my absolute favourite additions to boxed games and was a slight obsession that began the day my dad brought the hefty box for Baldur's Gate home in the late 90s. Accompanying the many discs and user guide was the map – on one side, the Sword Coast, the other, a detailed render of the city after which the game was named. This enamoured us both, I think, as we got my mum to laminate the thing at work to preserve its goodness for all of eternity! It now resides within a folder (as the lamination made it, ironically, unable to be folded), and it sits safely tucked away in my parents’ attic, along with my entire collection of games, much to their annoyance, I’m sure.
My liking of maps was further fuelled by an old ordinance survey map we had of East Sussex, and a massive 1985 version of The Times Concise Atlas of the World, and flicking through these to see the local area or to visualise a trip aboard before heading off was fun, and just typing that sentence has added several decades to my age.
The Agile Rabbit book of Historical & Curious Maps, published in 2005, rekindled my love of maps when I found it a few years ago, and was partially responsible for my little obsessive hunt for more videogame maps, the book lingering in my mind for some time after.
Going back a little further into my childhood, and it was the maps that were included within some of my favourite fantasy books that furthered my intrigue, with the likes of Tolkien, Salvatore, Martin, and Herbert, each of whom included maps within their works. I always appreciated seeing the region within which the story took place laid out at the beginning, it serving as a great primer for the adventures that awaited.
Maps were more a part of life prior to the accessibility of smart phones too, and when working as a photographer, I often had to print out maps prior to my trips, as the locations were usually in obscure places - I was particularly late to the smart phone party, so the relevance of the paper map was probably in decline long before I realised. Those folded pieces of A4 served me well in those early years though.
Linking back to the earlier mentioned map of Brighton, for one of my university works, before settling on my long running [VR]Ography obsession, I used a map of the city as the starting point for a project that tracked local murders. I then went on to photograph the scenes of the crimes and display them with their associated map reference. I went on to develop a second project after this looking a fabricated crimes in the city, producing detailed dossiers which again centred around a map of the city (I might go into these project in some more detail in another post in the future).
Suffice to say, I like maps, but who doesn’t? Right? Right. Good. In the next part, I’ll look at some of the physical videogame maps I collected during that idle summer, and possibly lament in the meantime about how many more might be tucked away in my attic bound collection. One particular favourite example from a game is that of Dishonoured 2, which details the city of Karnaca and the greater Empire of the Isles (I wrote a bit more about Dishonoured here, if you’re interested). I didn’t get the special edition at the time, or subsequently, as it’s so bloody expensive, so this one comes from the artbook for the second game in the series.
What maps have struck you over the years? There are so many sources, both fictional and real. In the next part, we’ll take a look at some of the physical videogame maps I’ve collected. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss part two!
Also, a big thank you to the TYPEDBYTOM Patreon/BMAC supporter(s) this month:
Jamie B