The Critical Power of Virtual Dystopias

Abstract

This article explores the capacity of video games and virtual worlds to function as critical utopias or dystopias. A theme of utopian thinking over the past century has been that utopian fantasies offer a critical perspective on the real world. I argue that video games and virtual worlds have generally failed to offer utopian fantasies that can perform a critical function because of their tendency of mirroring the real world, but I show that dystopian video games tend to be very effective in presenting critical themes. Moreover, I argue that video games create critical dystopias in ways that display the unique strengths of the medium. Virtual dystopias rely on a combination of engaging narrative elements and gameplay mechanics, which come together to create dynamic worlds in which players are active participants.

“War…war never changes”: exploring explicit and implicit encounters with death in a post-apocalyptic gameworld

“…The reactions of players expand upon the explicit encounter with death through discussions of object and human features which facilitate moments of self-reflection around broader notions of dying and mortality: the critical dystopia of Fallout 4 facilitates the contemplation of death, the dead, and what should or should not continue to be remembered once the bombs fall (Schulzke, 2014).…”

“…Using these observations about skeletons alongside a player-created travelogue, both featured in online games magazines, this paper will explore narrative discourses of death in Fallout 4 and consider how these extra-narratives -stories that are developed by players externally to the gameworld -can be understood in relation to explicit and implicit encounters with death, reflecting what (Schulzke, 2014) calls the power of 'critical dystopias' in helping frame the present. In doing so, the intention is to underscore how depictions of dying and the dead enable us to engage in speculation (by proxy) on our own mortality, but also how representations of death are spatial, manufactured through environmental design and manifest in multiple narrative dynamics (the programmed story line, the role of the avatar, the agency of the player).…”

La Bogotá distópica: los cómics sobre una ciudad en caos

“…Desde esta perspectiva, esta sería una aproximación al concepto de distopía crítica propuesto por Schulzke (2014).…”

Brigman Award Winner: A Model for Conscientious Play: The Moral Tightrope of StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void

“…The corruption of a network that a group uses to link themselves together and take unilateral action, which is ostensibly for the common good, is a largely dystopian view of where our society could be headed. Marcus Schulzke notes that “the creation of dystopias that highlight current problems is an indictment of the status quo and a demand for change. However, in the case of dystopias the critical force is based on showing the potential outcome of allowing social problems to persist or warning against specific alternative social forms that should be avoided” (323).…”