Thomas Spies, PhD, from the University of Cologne gives a guest lecture on critical video game design with the example of Disco Elysium (ZA/UM 2020).
As a significant cultural asset of our time, video games are part of (political) communication. At the same time, the globally active video game industry is an economic system shaped by capitalism - a system that in turn shapes the cultural goods that arise from it. This will be exemplified by the video game Disco Elysium. By analysing the levels of representation, production and distribution, it will be shown to what extent the anti-capitalist and anti-fascist social critique inherent in Disco Elysium comes into conflict with the necessity of financing Estonian production and the desired international competitiveness.
The guest lecture by Thomas Spies is arranged by the ENCODE research network and funded by the Erasmus+ framework.