Playing Dystopia

Video games permeate our everyday existence. They immerse players in fascinating gameworlds and exciting experiences, often inviting them in various ways to reflect on the enacted events. Gerald Farca explores the genre of dystopian video games and the player's aesthetic response to their nightmarish gameworlds. Players, he argues, will gradually come to see similarities between the virtual dystopia and their own >offline< environment,="" thus="" learning="" to="" stay="" wary="" of="" social="" and="" political="" developments.="" in="" his="" analysis,="" farca="" draws="" from="" a="" variety="" of="" research="" fields,="" such="" as="" literary="" theory="" and="" game="" studies,="" combining="" them="" into="" a="" coherent="" theory="" of="" aesthetic="" response="" to="" dystopian="">