![]() ![]() ![]() A more suitable metaphor might require a glass of water. Gunter Nitschke in his essay MA: Place, Space, Void says, “The uses of ma point up the fact that the identity of a place is as much in the mind of the beholder as in its physical characteristics.” In this sense, an empty shelf in a supermarket where only a box of cereal remains can take on different forms depending on who you are, the consumer or the owner. It is both the empty page and that which we can write on it. Ma is also thought of subjectively, as in the metaphor “a blank sheet of paper.” It becomes a space on which we project our thoughts. Conceptually, ma is flexible and almost omnipresent. An artist capturing the portrait of a model has to recognize ma between the arm and torso in order to illustrate their dimensions. The white space between words in a poem is ma. Ma is the natural distance between two or more points, or the pauses of thought and emphasis in a conversation. The Japanese have concept called ma which, loosely translated, means “space.” It’s present in nearly all facets of Japanese life: architecture, poetry, art, etiquette, gardening, and Buddhism. There are isolated towns nestled in different corners of the world, but there is no unifying metropolitan nucleus only the remains of buildings and nothing in between. ![]() It is an enormous land, abundant in wildlife, yet bereft of any major cities or dense centers of population. Without spoiling too much, you learn early on that in the 100 years you’ve been asleep Hyrule has been recovering from a war that nearly destroyed it. The premise of this legend begins with its protagonist, Link, waking from a 100 year cryogenic sleep. However, while certainly the biggest Zelda ever made, one of the most stringent criticisms remaining in this version of Hyrule is its overwhelming sense of emptiness. Indeed, exploration is a fundamental principal in the game where everything–all land, sea, and air–is accessible. Nonetheless, much has already been said–and will continue to be said–about the game’s freedom to let a player explore. Its influence continues to extend beyond the industry as a new standard for open world rpg games, presenting its case as a “forever” game of everlasting quality. Just two years after its release and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is already a classic. ![]()
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