Can Open-World Games Exist Without Conquest?

An exploration of what the enormous locations in open-world video games push us to do, and what else they are capable of.

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Chapters:
Intro: 0:00
To Conquer a World 3:26
Exploration as Conquest 7:32
Beyond Our Worlds 17:08
Cities Built for Flying 19:50
Climbing the Mountain 28:38
A Road Trip 36:30
Finding a Place in the World 39:34
Outro: 45:29

Games shown, by first appearance (footage captured by me unless otherwise noted):
Elden Ring
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (via Ubisoft)
Final Fantasy X
Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War
Age of Empires II (courtesy of Game Footage Archive)
Oregon Trail (via Gameloft)
BioShock Infinite (via 2K Games)
Build and Discover: America (via Angry Bulls Studio)
Civilization VI (via 2K/Firaxis)
Greedfall (via Focus Entertainment)
Assassin's Creed III (via Ubisoft)
War of Rights (via Campfire Games)
Gun (courtesy of Full Playthroughs)
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (via Nintendo)
Horizon Forbidden West (courtesy of Edgar Vazquez)
Borderlands 3
Halo Infinite
Outer Wilds (via Annapurna Interactive)
Dark Souls
Dark Souls II
Shadow of the Colossus (via Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Dead Space
God of War (2018)
The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures
80 Days (via inkle Studio)
Horizon Zero Dawn (via Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Sunless Sea (via Failbetter Games)
Meghna's talk at GDC 2016 (courtesy of GDC)
Meghna's talk at DiGRA India 2021 (courtesy of DiGRA India/Meghna Jayanth)
Bayonetta
Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods Part 1
StarCraft II
Destiny 2
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
Guardians of the Galaxy
Biomutant
No More Heroes 3
Outriders
Super Mario Odyssey (via Nintendo)
Psychonauts 2
Gravity Rush 2
Death Stranding (courtesy of LongPlayArchive)
Sable
The Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience
Resident Evil Village
Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart
Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Dishonored 2
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Splatoon 2
Monster Hunter Rise
Mass Effect: Legendary Edition
Deathloop
Dying Light 2 (via Techland)
The Last of Us Part II (via Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Stray
Citizen Sleeper

Track listing in order of appearance:
Elden Ring - Opening
Civilization V - Opening Menu Music
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Zora's Domain (Day)
Elden Ring - Limgrave
Shadow of the Colossus (2018) - Prohibited Art
Ori and the Blind Forest - Riding the Wind
Deadly Premonition - Life is Beautiful
Devil May Cry 4 - The Time Has Come
Super Mario Galaxy - Gust Garden Galaxy
Gravity Rush 2 - Main Theme
Gravity Rush 2 - Lei Havina
Gravity Rush 2 - Lei Colmosna
Gravity Rush 2 - Auldnoir - Old Town
Death Stranding - Bridges
Final Fantasy X - Between Ordeals
Gravity Rush 2 - Candle Zone
Death Stranding - Chiralium
Sable - Sansee (Day)
Sable - Beetle's Nest
Sable - Better the Mask

Bibliography and Related Reading:
"Here's Where In Massachusetts The Pilgrims First Landed In 1620 - And It Wasn't Plymouth"
https://www.wgbh.org/news/local-news/...

Timeline of Settlement of North America
http://drupal.library.cmu.edu/chicago...

Excerpt: Who Was First?
https://www.npr.org/2007/10/08/150408...

The First Way of War by John Grenier
https://www.amazon.com/First-Way-War-...

An Indigenous peoples' history of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
https://www.amazon.com/Indigenous-Peo...

Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs By Wallace Stegner
https://www.amazon.com/Where-Bluebird...

The Nutmeg's Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis by Amitav Ghosh (2022), as quoted by Andrew Malmuth.
https://www.lareviewofbooks.org/artic...

"Performing Colonialism" by Brendan Keogh
http://reverseshot.org/features/2189/...

"The Colonialist Undertones of Metal Gear Solid V" by Omar Elaasar
https://www.pastemagazine.com/games/m...

"The Game Changers: Decolonizing Video Games" by Franki Webb
https://www.playthepast.org/?p=6963

"Chasing the Anti-Colonial Video Game" By Zeb Larson
https://uppercutcrit.com/chasing-the-...

"Casual Empire: Video Games as Neocolonial Praxi" by Sabine Harrer
https://olh.openlibhums.org/article/i...

"White Protagonism and Imperial Pleasures in Game Design" by Meghna Jayanth
  / white-protagonism-and-imperial-pleasures-i...