Description
Analysis of videogames as an artefact of culture and conflict is emerging as a useful tool within the International Relations (IR) discipline, and IR scholars are increasingly receptive of the power videogames possess. Though aspects of this literature addresses sci-fi and games set in the future within the broader context of conflict, an interesting question arises when considering how these games specifically affect our imaginings on the future of war: videogames have the capacity to behave not just as sites of knowledge construction, replication, modification, and rejection, but also as sites of interactive speculation, where one can ‘play’ within, and with, futures.
Based on my PhD research utilising surveys and focus groups with videogame players, this presentation develops an analysis of the role videogames play in norm and myth construction in public discourse on the future of war. To understand the importance of videogames in shaping our understanding of the future of war, I observe the relationship players form between videogames and narratives of futures. In addition, I discuss how videogames function within a wider network of popular culture operating within the military-industrial-media-entertainment network, and specifically as a medium for hegemonic futurism.
