Culteral Imperialism, Judith Butler and Computer Games
Started reading “How to read Donald Duck” today, and something Kunzle said in the introduction jogged the brain a bit and brought together a few different thoughts:
If we are talking about games and development, then we cant look only at the cultural imperialism which is imposed (in terms of both morals and values they hold and the viewpoint/bias they hold counter strike vs. night of bush capture) bus also the fact that these values are then hidden as “natural” within the current world system.
We cannot deny that we live in a world which by in large is “run” by a capitalist system built upon a generally Christian/Western morality base. When this coincides with the content and storyline of a computer game, then it is seen as acceptable (i.e. counter strike) otherwise, it is shunned as a propaganda tool made by extremists (i.e. night of bush capture).
Judith Butler (I think it was her) wrote about how systems (specifically the “male” in the gender system) create a power hierarchy, legitimize it and then hide the creation of it to make it seem natural…or something like that - I’m trying to track down the exact argument to see if it applies.
But, if it is the argument I think it is, then we can see how that could fit into the system of cultural imperialism in gaming quite closely - the “it’s just a game” and the western-centric view of acceptable content come together to create a system where we play “a game” and dont question where that content came from, the bias it may represent, or the impact it may be having on a population’s collective psyche.
So, thought o’ the day:
Do computer games present themselves as naturally “just a game” when in fact they are an outgrowth of a military-industrial-academic-entertainment complex (Ed Halter and others) imposing a western system of what is right, wrong and indecent upon the rest of the world?
Does this then play into the legitimization of certain actions by western governments - such as the war on terror (counter strike is good, NoBC is bad - attacking islam is good, attacking bush is bad?) or perhaps the distribution of foreign aid based on the rules of games like Civilization or Sim City.