Virtual Total Control: Escaping a Simulated Prison

Abstract

Previous studies have examined media portrayals of total control and institutionalization in prison, and a few studies have considered the connection between media portrayals and depictions of prison escape attempts. The current inquiry seeks to fill this gap in the literature through an autoethnographic case study of the video game The Escapists, in which players assume the role of an inmate whose ultimate goal is to escape prison amid an environment populated by other nonplayer character inmates and guards. In this inquiry, specific attention is paid to the player's experiences as a subject of control from guards, inmates, surveillance systems, and the prison construct, and how these interactions contextualize and potentially motivate the player to attempt escape. Connections between virtual and real-world escape attempts are discussed. Conceptual and theoretical links between total control and interactive experiences of simulated prison life, as well as implications of this study, are examined.

(Mis)Representations of Prison: Gender- and Prison-Themed Video Games

“…Although many games feature a prison or jail in a minor portion of the story line, they do not have, as their central theme or setting, prisons or prisoners. As such, we narrowly define a prison-themed video game as previously used by Levan and Downing (2016), in which Mason's (2003) definition of a prison film was adopted: Prison-themed video games "concern civil imprisonment and are mainly set within the walls of a prison or use prison as a central theme" (p. 8). Despite the vast library of video game titles available, there are a mere handful of games that focus exclusively on or take place primarily within a prison.…”

“…Prison video games are a relatively new line of research (see, e.g., Downing & Levan, 2016; Levan & Downing, 2016; Macmillan & Page, 2009; Moran & Etchegoyen, 2017; Oleszkiewicz, Kanonowicz, Sorokowski, & Sorokowska, 2018). Such games have the potential to be spaces of double exclusion (Crawford, 2005) and masculinization: Players exist in a fictional masculinized space (prison) within another masculinized virtual space (video game).…”

“…The discourse on prisons and punishment has become more salient and is now taking place in various forms of popular media including video games. Prior work on prison-themed games (see Downing & Levan, 2016; Levan & Downing, 2016) has examined the permeation of cultural ideas about prison in the development of prison games, their consumption, and the player communities (e.g., forums) surrounding them. Although mass incarceration has had an impact on public consciousness, arguably there has not been a corresponding recognition of the gendered ways in which “doing time” is represented in popular culture.…”

Prisonisation of the city as manifestation of hybrid culture (Siberian case)

“…At the junction of Game studies and Postcolonial studies the interesting research projects comprehending representation of a discourse of the power, identity in space of a computer game are born. For example, K. Levan and S. Downing [6] study simulation of escape from prison in a computer game. The player appears as the prisoner who is under observation of protection and has to escape from prison.…”

Hybrid Culture Discourse: Prisonization of the City (Siberian Case)

“…Это наиболее ярко репрезентируется в компьютерных играх, где эта разница восприятия антропологических отличий становится наглядной. Например, К. Леван, С. Даунинг [Levan, Downing 2019] изучают симуляцию побега из тюрьмы в компьютерной игре. Игрок предстает в роли заключенного, который находится под наблюдением охраны и должен сбежать из тюрьмы.…”