This work by Gabriele Aroni is highly significant, having implications for the ways in which virtual architectures are evolving structurally, symbolically, and aesthetically, and how video game architecture provides a framework for understanding digital ways of creating texts. Aroni looks penetratingly at the points of contact between digital and real-world architecture and art, utilizing both semiotic concepts and the theory of anticipatory play. Aroni shows that the virtual world is both a representation of the real world and an interpretation of its possibilities, extending it considerably through virtual architecture.

Marcel Danesi, University of Toronto, Canada

Aroni's writing is equally informed on architecture and video games and frequently connects the two in revealing ways. The book shows how virtual architecture is not just a setting for gameplay, but that its influence on level design communicates stories and engages the player.

Grant Tavinor, Lincoln University, New Zealand

[A] profoundly insightful work which can be appreciated by a broad readership, from scholars interested in semiotics, to game studies, to architecture, and the visual arts. It is also of interest to game designers and creatives ...The theory and scholarship are solid and innovative, and provide a fresh insight on a still young medium.

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law