Beyond games as political education – neo-liberalism in the contemporary computer game form
| Autor: | Sebastian Möring, Olli Tapio Leino |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: |
Game mechanics
Multimedia 05 social sciences 050301 education 050801 communication & media studies computer.software_genre Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design Institut für Künste und Medien Computer Science Applications Computer game Liberalism (international relations) Human-Computer Interaction 0508 media and communications Game design Aesthetics Game studies Sociology Video game design 0503 education computer Metagaming Global game |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds. 8:145-161 |
| ISSN: | 1757-191X |
| DOI: | 10.1386/jgvw.8.2.145_1 |
| Popis: | This article introduces the juxtaposed notions of liberal and neo-liberal gameplay in order to show that, while forms of contemporary game culture are heavily influenced by neo-liberalism, they often appear under a liberal disguise. The argument is grounded in Claus Pias’ idea of games as always a product of their time in terms of economic, political and cultural history. The article shows that romantic play theories (e.g. Schiller, Huizinga and Caillois) are circling around the notion of play as ‘free’, which emerged in parallel with the philosophy of liberalism and respective socio-economic developments such as the industrialization and the rise of the nation state. It shows further that contemporary discourse in computer game studies addresses computer game/play as if it still was the romantic form of play rooted in the paradigm of liberalism. The article holds that an account that acknowledges the neo-liberalist underpinnings of computer games is more suited to addressing contemporary computer games, among which are phenomena such as free to play games, which repeat the structures of a neo-liberal society. In those games the players invest time and effort in developing their skills, although their future value is mainly speculative – just like this is the case for citizens of neo-liberal societies. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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