Political Communication in Digital Horror Games
Political Communication in Digital Horror Games
Political Communication in Digital Horror Games
By Eugen Pfister
November 05, 2020
Summary
"Class struggle, immigration, emancipation,liberalism, the processing of US „Indian politics" and unethical science: these are all topics that we would more likely expect to find in the political pages of our daily newspapers, but which are a „natural" part of horror games.
In the following, I will therefore examine in more detail the question of why, based on theories and findings from the history of politics and ideas, an analysis of political ideas in digital games is not only useful but also allows new insights into the politics and society of immediate contemporary history.
So in the following paragraphs I will briefly leave the horror aside in order to reflect on the political dimensions of digital games, independent of genre.
", then this would limit the search for the political in games to the representation/staging and ludification of classical political actors.
"Although political history has not dealt with digital horror games, it has increasingly turned to the question of political communication, because „only through communication do meanings or formations of meaning emerge that can be brought together with social structures. Fragile forms of social order only become permanent and more complex structures „if this stability is guaranteed by the shaping of communication itself".
In the case of digital games and popular culture in general, we have to assume that, although unconsciously, political statements are also the result of a media logic, so as with the news media, we are not dealing with a „pure" public sphere.
Making genuinely international political ideas visible can also help us to better understand contemporary political processes, such as the unprecedented international success of authoritarian right-wing leaders.
"Nevertheless, I would argue that horror games are particularly suited as a starting point, because the „horror genre" has been well researched in film, literature and increasingly also in digital games, even though there have not yet been any specific research on digital horror games in terms of political history.
For the time being, we shall limit the projectto producing an inventory of clearly identifiable political statements and a first impression of their frequency and distribution from the standpoint of political history or actually the history of ideas.
Based on this catalogue - and here we come to the core of our project - the rhetorical design, the political language in horror games is to be explored.
Reference
Pfister, E. (2020, November 05). Political communication in digital horror games. Retrieved June 15, 2021, from https://hgp.hypotheses.org/1062