Videogames and Postcolonialism : Empire Plays Back

Description

This book focuses on the almost entirely neglected treatment of empire and colonialism in videogames. From its inception in the nineties, Game Studies has kept away from these issues despite the early popularity of videogame franchises such as Civilization and Age of Empire. This book examines the complex ways in which some videogames construct conceptions of spatiality, political systems, ethics and society that are often deeply imbued with colonialism. Moving beyond questions pertaining to European and American gaming cultures, this book addresses issues that relate to a global audience – including, especially, the millions who play videogames in the formerly colonised countries, seeking to make a timely intervention by creating a larger awareness of global cultural issues in videogame research. Addressing a major gap in Game Studies research, this book will connect to discourses of post-colonial theory at large and thereby, provide another entry-point for this new medium of digital communication into larger Humanities discourses. Front Matter ....Pages i-vii Videogames and Post colonialism: An Introduction (Souvik Mukherjee)....Pages 1-28 The Playing Fields of Empire: Empire and Spatiality in Videogames (Souvik Mukherjee)....Pages 29-52 Playing the Hybrid Subject: The Slave and the Subaltern in Videogames (Souvik Mukherjee)....Pages 53-73 Playing Alternative Histories: Post colonialism, History, and Videogames (Souvik Mukherjee)....Pages 75-99 Rethinking (Post) Colonialism in Videogames: Toward a Conclusion (Souvik Mukherjee)....Pages 101-112 Back Matter ....Pages 113-120