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The playful Karoo: digitizing the South African Anthropocene in video games
Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2025
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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University of Pretoria
2026
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| _version_ | 1869483726950367232 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author2 | Murray, Noëleen |
| author_browse | Murray, Noëleen |
| author_facet | Murray, Noëleen |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | © 2024 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. |
| description | Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2025 |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/107496 |
| institution | University of Pretoria (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-07-01T04:03:35.331Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | University of Pretoria |
| publisherStr | University of Pretoria |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| spelling | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/107496 The playful Karoo: digitizing the South African Anthropocene in video games Murray, Noëleen u13212690@tuks.co.za Hayes, Andrea UCTD Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Anthropocene Play Game Studies Solarpunk Video Games Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2025 The Karoo in South Africa, with its distinctive natural landscape, remains an underexplored setting in video games. In this thesis, I reimagine Jane Rosenthal’s novel, Souvenir (2004), as a virtual reality video game, using its speculative, science-fiction vision of the Karoo to immerse the player in themes around the Anthropocene. My VR prototype and adaptation of Souvenir is titled, A Kindred Karoo, capturing themes from Donna Haraway’s “Chthulucene” (2016) and her concept of “Making Kin” (2016). The novel follows Souvie, a “Barbiclone” who maintains wind turbines and green technologies to support struggling farms (Rosenthal, 2004). Travelling in her airship-like dirigible, she encounters diverse characters and climate challenges, reflecting the Karoo’s transformation. Through this adaptation, from novel to VR video game, I explore how Souvenir’s themes come alive in VR, offering an interactive way to engage with a virtual Karoo. In order to help guide the development of A Kindred Karoo as a prototype, I created a framework around different theories of play, which assisted in shaping the game design methodologies for translating Souvenir into a VR video game. I explored Salen and Zimmerman's (2004) concept of “meaningful play” to refine how game systems and mechanics guide player interaction within the game space. I also explored the MDA framework (Hunicke et al., 2004), which provided insights into designing mechanics, dynamics, and aesthetics for my prototype. Given my focus on play as a tool for critical reflection, I engaged with Mary Flanagan’s “critical play” (2009) to explore how A Kindred Karoo communicates themes of climate change, nature, and the Anthropocene. Additionally, I drew from Brian Sutton-Smith’s “Rhetorics of Play” (1997) and Roger Caillois’ “categories of play” (2001) to consider how the player embodies Souvie and interacts with, or plays in, the virtual Karoo. These theories directly informed the design of the prototype, shaping how play is designed as an act of discovery, exploration, and environmental storytelling. To translate Souvenir into a VR video game, I explored themes of nature, climate change, and environmental storytelling through the lens of the Anthropocene. Haraway’s “Chthulucene” (2016) provided a refreshing alternative to the Anthopocene’s human-centric narratives, and helped to shape how A Kindred Karoo presents the interconnections between humans, technology, and nature. Building on this, I examined Henry Jenkins’ Game Design as Narrative Architecture (2004) to structure my prototype’s virtual world as a storytelling space, designing it so that the story is pushed forward through player exploration. I have also incorporated VR-specific design principles from Çatak et al. (2020) to refine gameplay mechanics and interaction systems, adapting them to the unique affordances of virtual reality. One of the methodologies that I undertook in this thesis involved critically applying the theoretical frameworks explored by analysing their relevance to various case studies, including Daybreak (CMYK, 2023), Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games, 2022), Terra Nil (Free Lives, 2023), Gone Home (Free Lives, 2013), and First Steps (Oculus, 2019). This process allowed me to examine how other game designers have integrated theories of play and the Anthropocene into their work and, in turn, informed how I adapted similar approaches for A Kindred Karoo's prototype. Additionally, I conducted a fieldwork trip to the Karoo in 2023, where I gathered reference photos and videos of the Karoo’s landscape. These references were essential for developing game assets, which I later recreated using Unity and Blender. I have structured this thesis into eight chapters, each building towards the development of A Kindred Karoo as a VR adaptation of Souvenir (2004). Chapter One introduces the project, outlining the theoretical framework and methodologies undertaken. Chapter Two begins constructing the theoretical framework of play, focusing on “meaningful play” (Salen & Zimmerman, 2004) and “critical play” (Flanagan, 2009). Chapter Three expands this framework by exploring Sutton-Smith’s “Rhetorics of Play” (1997) and Roger Caillois’ “categories of play” (2001). Chapter Four shifts to theories and debates around the Anthropocene, introducing Haraway’s “Chthulucene” (2016) and the Solarpunk genre. Chapter Five applies both theoretical frameworks — play and the Anthropocene — to Daybreak (2023), Horizon Forbidden West (2022), and Terra Nil (2023). Chapter Six examines environmental narratives and storytelling techniques in video games, drawing on Henry Jenkins (2004) and an analysis of Gone Home (2013). Chapter Seven takes a more technical perspective, detailing how A Kindred Karoo was developed using VR design principles (Çatak et al., 2020) and includes an analysis of First Steps (2019). Finally, Chapter Eight synthesises these explorations, bringing together insights on play, the Anthropocene, and game design to reflect on how A Kindred Karoo embodies these ideas in its design. UP Postgraduate Doctoral Bursary Anthropology, Archaeology and Development Studies PhD (Development Studies) Unrestricted Faculty of Humanities SDG-07: Affordable and clean energy SDG-12: Responsible consumption and production SDG-13: Climate action 2026-01-22T10:34:36Z 2026-01-22T10:34:36Z 2026-05-22 2025-11-11 Thesis * April 2026 (A2026) http://hdl.handle.net/2263/107496 https://doi.org/10.25403/UPresearchdata.31122877 en © 2024 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria |
| spellingShingle | UCTD Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Anthropocene Play Game Studies Solarpunk Video Games The playful Karoo: digitizing the South African Anthropocene in video games |
| title | The playful Karoo: digitizing the South African Anthropocene in video games |
| title_full | The playful Karoo: digitizing the South African Anthropocene in video games |
| title_fullStr | The playful Karoo: digitizing the South African Anthropocene in video games |
| title_full_unstemmed | The playful Karoo: digitizing the South African Anthropocene in video games |
| title_short | The playful Karoo: digitizing the South African Anthropocene in video games |
| title_sort | playful karoo digitizing the south african anthropocene in video games |
| topic | UCTD Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Anthropocene Play Game Studies Solarpunk Video Games |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/2263/107496 https://doi.org/10.25403/UPresearchdata.31122877 |