In-game Toponyms: Telling the Story and Building the Video Game World

This article deals with video game toponyms as a representation of a toponymic concept – a unit of onomastic knowledge concerning spatial and geographical characteristics of a location. The importance of toponyms in video games lies in the realm of storytelling, as parts of the story are connected t...

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প্রধান লেখক: Kuzmenko, Oleksandra
বিন্যাস: Online
ভাষা:ইংরেজি
প্রকাশিত: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego 2025
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অনলাইন ব্যবহার করুন:https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/159993
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author Kuzmenko, Oleksandra
author_browse Kuzmenko, Oleksandra
author_facet Kuzmenko, Oleksandra
author_sort Kuzmenko, Oleksandra
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description This article deals with video game toponyms as a representation of a toponymic concept – a unit of onomastic knowledge concerning spatial and geographical characteristics of a location. The importance of toponyms in video games lies in the realm of storytelling, as parts of the story are connected to locations, which, in turn, are interlinked. Moreover, toponyms are viewed as a means of building a post-apocalyptic worldview due to their introductory and descriptive functions. Thus, the research issues to be covered are the functions of in-game toponyms in general, the correlation of naming patterns of real toponyms and in-game ones, as well as the role of toponyms in establishing interactivity. In the first part of the analysis, the functions of toponyms in video games are studied. Three main functions can be distinguished here: navigating, storytelling, and world-building. Special cases of intertextuality known as “easter-eggs” are described. The second part deals with the role of toponyms in building a post-apocalyptic worldview of the video game (“Fallout 4”), addressing the correlation of traditional and fictional naming patterns. This paper shows that real-life toponyms’ classifications can be applied to in-game toponyms, with the most frequent being descriptive ones. Special attention is paid to the interactivity and intertextuality of the video game.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-1599932025-05-20T07:48:45Z In-game Toponyms: Telling the Story and Building the Video Game World Kuzmenko, Oleksandra onomastics cognitive onomastics video game toponyms post-apocalyptic thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics This article deals with video game toponyms as a representation of a toponymic concept – a unit of onomastic knowledge concerning spatial and geographical characteristics of a location. The importance of toponyms in video games lies in the realm of storytelling, as parts of the story are connected to locations, which, in turn, are interlinked. Moreover, toponyms are viewed as a means of building a post-apocalyptic worldview due to their introductory and descriptive functions. Thus, the research issues to be covered are the functions of in-game toponyms in general, the correlation of naming patterns of real toponyms and in-game ones, as well as the role of toponyms in establishing interactivity. In the first part of the analysis, the functions of toponyms in video games are studied. Three main functions can be distinguished here: navigating, storytelling, and world-building. Special cases of intertextuality known as “easter-eggs” are described. The second part deals with the role of toponyms in building a post-apocalyptic worldview of the video game (“Fallout 4”), addressing the correlation of traditional and fictional naming patterns. This paper shows that real-life toponyms’ classifications can be applied to in-game toponyms, with the most frequent being descriptive ones. Special attention is paid to the interactivity and intertextuality of the video game. Published 2025-05-20T07:48:43Z 2025-05-20T07:48:43Z 2023-12-18 chapter 9788323374787 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/159993 eng image/jpeg Attribution 4.0 International https://wuj.pl/en/book/onomastics-in-interaction-with-other-branches-of-science-volume-3 https://wuj.pl/in-game-toponyms-telling-the-story-and-building-the-video-game-world Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego Onomastics in Interaction With Other Branches of Science. Volume 3. General and Applied Onomastics. Literary Onomastics. Chrematonomastics. Reports 10.4467/K7478.47/22.23.17741 10.4467/K7478.47/22.23.17741 b56389e6-bd6e-43b9-abc7-9af91c5afc6b c399a3f7-2b80-46ec-b511-77038f45ea82 9788323374787 307-326 open access
spellingShingle onomastics
cognitive onomastics
video game
toponyms
post-apocalyptic
thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics
Kuzmenko, Oleksandra
In-game Toponyms: Telling the Story and Building the Video Game World
title In-game Toponyms: Telling the Story and Building the Video Game World
title_full In-game Toponyms: Telling the Story and Building the Video Game World
title_fullStr In-game Toponyms: Telling the Story and Building the Video Game World
title_full_unstemmed In-game Toponyms: Telling the Story and Building the Video Game World
title_short In-game Toponyms: Telling the Story and Building the Video Game World
title_sort in game toponyms telling the story and building the video game world
topic onomastics
cognitive onomastics
video game
toponyms
post-apocalyptic
thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics
topic_facet onomastics
cognitive onomastics
video game
toponyms
post-apocalyptic
thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics
url https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/159993
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