Cultural Politics of Games
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Mathias Fuchs
Abstract
This article describes how computer games draw from and produce cultural practices that inform politics. The repetitiveness of playing games and experiencing intensive affective states make games the perfect vehicle for the generation of emotion and meaning. Games can ‘attune’ us to gestures, body postures, movements, phrases, visual patterns, and soundscapes. These assets - as game designers would call them - can be perceived and identified as belonging to certain ‘pathos formulae’ or ‘emotionally charged visual trope[s].' Playing games elicits emotional responses that are triggered by these tropes and that grow with repetition. They are gateways into the social and material world4 and produce collective politics and social alliances.
Abstract
This article describes how computer games draw from and produce cultural practices that inform politics. The repetitiveness of playing games and experiencing intensive affective states make games the perfect vehicle for the generation of emotion and meaning. Games can ‘attune’ us to gestures, body postures, movements, phrases, visual patterns, and soundscapes. These assets - as game designers would call them - can be perceived and identified as belonging to certain ‘pathos formulae’ or ‘emotionally charged visual trope[s].' Playing games elicits emotional responses that are triggered by these tropes and that grow with repetition. They are gateways into the social and material world4 and produce collective politics and social alliances.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter 1
- Contents 5
- Introduction 9
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Part I: Political Dimensions in Digital Imagery
- Image-Transaction 19
- Digital Art’s Political Impact 34
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Part II: “Freedom Act” Aestheticization of Surveillance, Counterveillance, and Participatory Agendas
- Coping with Uncertainty 55
- Cultural Politics of Games 78
- Artistic Research and Technocratic Consciousness 87
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Part III: Touching Communication Strategies
- Social Broadcasting 105
- From Celestial Maneuvers to Atmospheric Turmoil 126
- When Are We? 140
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Part IV: Technopolitics and Artistic Agency Global Ecology in New Media Art
- Physical Computing and the Political Economy of Machines 161
- Countering Capitulation 173
- Capitalocene Art 194
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Part V: Machine Learning, Data Visualizations, and Architecture The (In)visible Infrastructures of Information Systems
- Double-bind Information Systems in the Work of Teresa Burga 213
- Entangled Realities 228
- Facebook’s MPK 20 Headquarters designed by Frank Gehry 242
- Authors 257
- Illustrations Credits 264
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter 1
- Contents 5
- Introduction 9
-
Part I: Political Dimensions in Digital Imagery
- Image-Transaction 19
- Digital Art’s Political Impact 34
-
Part II: “Freedom Act” Aestheticization of Surveillance, Counterveillance, and Participatory Agendas
- Coping with Uncertainty 55
- Cultural Politics of Games 78
- Artistic Research and Technocratic Consciousness 87
-
Part III: Touching Communication Strategies
- Social Broadcasting 105
- From Celestial Maneuvers to Atmospheric Turmoil 126
- When Are We? 140
-
Part IV: Technopolitics and Artistic Agency Global Ecology in New Media Art
- Physical Computing and the Political Economy of Machines 161
- Countering Capitulation 173
- Capitalocene Art 194
-
Part V: Machine Learning, Data Visualizations, and Architecture The (In)visible Infrastructures of Information Systems
- Double-bind Information Systems in the Work of Teresa Burga 213
- Entangled Realities 228
- Facebook’s MPK 20 Headquarters designed by Frank Gehry 242
- Authors 257
- Illustrations Credits 264
