In “The Idea of a Town: Anthropology of Urban Form” (1976), architecture historian Joseph Rykwert defined six archetypes used in Etruscan rites for the foundation of urban settlements, which continued to be used in Classical Greece and Ancient Rome. He proposed to use these same categories for the study of cities in different eras, as a methodology to develop a global urban history. This paper projects Rykwert’s concepts to cities created during the XXI century, specifically those designed for video games with historical themes, and provides the reader with an experimental methodology for assessing digital architectures and environments. Spatial and narrative archetypes will be identified in two different video games, as well as their connections to imaginaries born in the Classic period. In Age of Empires (Ensemble Studios, 1996-2005) urban foundation corresponds to the idea of the town as a place for dominating territory. Their variable structure is grounded on a systemic set of rules that benefits tactic configurations designed by players. In contrast, Bioshock Infinite (Irrational Games, 2013) proposes an immobile storyline built around the city as its leading narrative voice. Its urban spaces direct the action through archetypes such as the “center”, the “labyrinth”, and the “door”.

中文翻译：

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城市原型应用于当代历史小说中的城市研究。帝国时代 III和生化奇兵 Infinite 中的象征性城市结构

在“城镇理念：城市形态人类学”（1976 年）中，建筑历史学家约瑟夫·里克沃特 (Joseph Rykwert) 定义了伊特鲁里亚仪式中用于建立城市定居点的六种原型，这些原型在古典希腊和古罗马继续使用。他提议使用这些相同的类别来研究不同时代的城市，作为发展全球城市史的方法。本文将 Rykwert 的概念投射到二十一世纪创建的城市中，特别是那些为具有历史主题的视频游戏而设计的城市，并为读者提供了一种评估数字架构和环境的实验方法。空间和叙事原型将在两个不同的视频游戏中被识别，以及它们与经典时期诞生的想象的联系。在帝国时代（Ensemble Studios，1996-2005）城市基础对应于城镇作为统治领土的地方的想法。他们的可变结构基于一套系统的规则，有利于玩家设计的战术配置。相比之下，《生化奇兵：无限》（Irrational Games, 2013）提出了一个围绕城市建立的固定故事情节作为其主要叙事声音。它的城市空间通过“中心”、“迷宫”和“门”等原型指导行动。