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

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.

About the author

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.

Report

»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) 20220110

Product details

• Authors: Gerald Farca
• Publisher: Transcript
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.01.2018
• EAN: 9783837645972
• ISBN: 978-3-8376-4597-2
• No. of pages: 434
• Dimensions: 151 mm x 224 mm x 27 mm
• Weight: 618 g
• Illustrations: 3 SW-Abb., 21 Farbabb.
• Series: Bild und Bit. Studien zur digitalen Medienkultur; Bild und Bit; Bild und Bit. Studien zur digitalen Medienkultur; Bild und Bit; Studies of Digital Media Culture (COL); Studies of Digital Media Culture
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Humanities (general); Social sciences, law, business > Media, communication > Media science