Playing Dystopia: Nightmarish Worlds in Video Games and the Player's Aesthetic Response

Gerald Farca

Open Access Published by transcript Verlag 2018

Playing Dystopia

Nightmarish Worlds in Video Games and the Player's Aesthetic Response

Gerald Farca

Volume 8 in the series Bild und Bit

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783839445976

Overview
Contents

About this book

Video games permeate our everyday existence. They immerse players in fascinating gameworlds and exciting experiences, often inviting them in various ways to reflect on the enacted events.
Gerald Farca explores the genre of dystopian video games and the player's aesthetic response to their nightmarish gameworlds. Players, he argues, will gradually come to see similarities between the virtual dystopia and their own ›offline‹ environment, thus learning to stay wary of social and political developments.
In his analysis, Farca draws from a variety of research fields, such as literary theory and game studies, combining them into a coherent theory of aesthetic response to dystopian games.

Author / Editor information

Gerald Farca, born in 1983, did his doctorate at the University of Augsburg (English Literature) and is a member of the Augsburg Cultural Ecology Research Group. In 2016, the digital culture and game studies scholar worked as a visiting researcher and lecturer at the Center for Computer Games Research of the IT University in Copenhagen.

Reviews

»Farcas work [...] provides a valuable perspective on the video game narrative and the relationship between play, player, and video game.«
Journal of Fantastic in the Arts, 31/3 (2020)
»A valuable perspective on the video game narrative and the relationship between play, player, and video game.«
Ashley P. Jones, Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, 31/3 (2020)

»Farca ist ein Grundlagenwerk des Computerspiel(en)s gelungen, das Strukturen des Spiels mit den Aktivitäten der Spieler verbindet.«
Lothar Mikos, tv diskurs, 1 (2020)

Besprochen in:
gmk-Newsletter, 9 (2019)

Supplementary Materials

Leseprobe

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	1
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	5
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	9
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	11
Part I: Towards the Video Game Dystopia
Preface to Part I Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	35
1. Utopia and the Dream of a Better World Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	37
2. Dystopia: Nightmarish Worlds as Distorted Anxiety Dreams Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	65
3. Warning, Effectiveness, and Targets of the Video Game Dystopia Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	113
Part II: Playful Trial Actions in Estranged Gameworlds
Preface to Part II Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	155
4. Towards the Implied Player Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	159
5. Estrangement Through World and Agency Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	251
Part III: Playing Dystopia
Preface to Part III Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	323
6. Night-Time Dreams and Wish-Fulfilment: The Struggle for Utopia in BIOSHOCK INFINITE Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	325
7. THE LAST OF US and the Journey to Nature Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	373
8. Horizons and the Video Game Dystopia Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	403
List of Abbreviations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	409
Glossary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	411
Ludography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	415
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	417

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: transcript Verlag
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 434
Keywords: Utopia; Dystopia; Science Fiction; Culture; Phenomenology; Media; Computer Games; Media Aesthetics; Digital Media; Sociology of Technology; Media Studies

eBook

Published: November 27, 2018
ISBN: 9783839445976