“Liberty for Androids!”: Player Choice, Politics, and Populism in Detroit: Become Human
In this article, I analyze the 2018 video game Detroit: Become Human as a potentially political text from the perspective of literary and cultural studies. I argue that it features and presents narrative choices in a way that encourages players to make decisions not solely for personal or empathetic...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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European Association for American Studies
2021-09-01
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| Series: | European Journal of American Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/17360 |
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| author | Stefan Schubert |
| author_facet | Stefan Schubert |
| author_sort | Stefan Schubert |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In this article, I analyze the 2018 video game Detroit: Become Human as a potentially political text from the perspective of literary and cultural studies. I argue that it features and presents narrative choices in a way that encourages players to make decisions not solely for personal or empathetic reasons but also through a political contemplation, and I contend that the manner in which the game narratively presents individual agency and populist imaginations of “the people” complicates this political project. To do so, I first present an approach to narrative, agency, and politics in video games more generally, before then discussing questions of agency and politics in Detroit: Become Human on three levels: in its narrative presentation, in how the gameplay politicizes player choice, and in how both the narrative and the ludic elements in the game complicate its interest in politics. This contribution thus suggests ways of both studying the connections of agency and politics in video games and culturally contextualizing this particular way of representing (a)political choices. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-967963de8f32443da9ddff8795b78176 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1991-9336 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2021-09-01 |
| publisher | European Association for American Studies |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Journal of American Studies |
| spelling | doaj-art-967963de8f32443da9ddff8795b781762025-01-06T09:08:41ZengEuropean Association for American StudiesEuropean Journal of American Studies1991-93362021-09-0116310.4000/ejas.17360“Liberty for Androids!”: Player Choice, Politics, and Populism in Detroit: Become HumanStefan SchubertIn this article, I analyze the 2018 video game Detroit: Become Human as a potentially political text from the perspective of literary and cultural studies. I argue that it features and presents narrative choices in a way that encourages players to make decisions not solely for personal or empathetic reasons but also through a political contemplation, and I contend that the manner in which the game narratively presents individual agency and populist imaginations of “the people” complicates this political project. To do so, I first present an approach to narrative, agency, and politics in video games more generally, before then discussing questions of agency and politics in Detroit: Become Human on three levels: in its narrative presentation, in how the gameplay politicizes player choice, and in how both the narrative and the ludic elements in the game complicate its interest in politics. This contribution thus suggests ways of both studying the connections of agency and politics in video games and culturally contextualizing this particular way of representing (a)political choices.https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/17360agency; narrative; politics; populism; science fiction; video games |
| spellingShingle | Stefan Schubert “Liberty for Androids!”: Player Choice, Politics, and Populism in Detroit: Become Human European Journal of American Studies agency; narrative; politics; populism; science fiction; video games |
| title | “Liberty for Androids!”: Player Choice, Politics, and Populism in Detroit: Become Human |
| title_full | “Liberty for Androids!”: Player Choice, Politics, and Populism in Detroit: Become Human |
| title_fullStr | “Liberty for Androids!”: Player Choice, Politics, and Populism in Detroit: Become Human |
| title_full_unstemmed | “Liberty for Androids!”: Player Choice, Politics, and Populism in Detroit: Become Human |
| title_short | “Liberty for Androids!”: Player Choice, Politics, and Populism in Detroit: Become Human |
| title_sort | liberty for androids player choice politics and populism in detroit become human |
| topic | agency; narrative; politics; populism; science fiction; video games |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/17360 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT stefanschubert libertyforandroidsplayerchoicepoliticsandpopulismindetroitbecomehuman |