ABSTRACT
This chapter examines Tokyo as a virtually constructed gameworld in three separate texts – Atlus Studios’ Persona 5, Sega's Yakuza series, and Square Enix's The World Ends With You. Each of these texts constructs its own version of Tokyo that, while being recognizable through the use of specific semiotic markers, is also sufficiently different enough to make it a virtual, unreal, space. However, what must be noted is that this space only exists in its entirety when it is interacted upon by the player. Using Lefebvre's conceptualization of social space into spatial practice, representations of space, and representational space, this chapter seeks to look at how the construction of the digital city is not merely a 3D representation thereof, but points to where interactivity and narrative coincide. It is through the locus of these two elements that the player comprehends and navigates game narratives.
