Anito: Paglalaro sa Lunan ng mga Arketipo at Laylayan

Abstract

Digital gaming is one of the emerging phenomena in global media and culture industries. At present, Anito Entertainment is an organization considered as the first game developer in the Philippines for its role-playing game Anito: Defend a Land Enraged. The latter contains a discourse on some aspects of the Philippine historical narrative in the 16th century, including a presentation and understanding of the gamescape and the archetypal characters in Philippine literature. Since the game is interactive, the unfolding and ending of the narrative depends of the decisions made by the gamer, i.e., the character that is within the game and who handles the game’s control buttons. This study analyzes how the virtual character and the actual gamer struggle within the complexities of the period of colonialism, while addressing selected issues pertaining to marginalization in the present, post-colonial time.