These Games Smash Fascism (TGSF) is (or will be at the time of this writing) a multichannel scholarly project stemming from my dissertation work in media studies examining oppressive and liberational rhetorics found in the mechanics and themes of games and play.
As discrete systems, games are works that communicate through a combination of mechanics, objects, design, and aesthetics. These attributes form a medium that entertain players while providing a platform to solve puzzles and act out in ways that they might not be permitted in the outside world.
In many games, fascism and oppressive regimes are positioned as the targets of the player’s missions and gameplay. Killing Nazis and Klansmen makes for a good fun in the Wolfenstein series. But those are easy and obvious – both of these extremist groups have become tropes of local and global evil. But what other, less obvious, qualities denounce extremism? How does religious practice, for example, in Wolfenstein: New Colossus suggest that resistance takes many forms outside of violence? Even more subtle representations of real-world phenomena can convey anti-fascist themes: the stark distinction between urban and rural forms of decay in Wolfenstein: New Colossus echo our own American ideals and values are embodied in these spaces.
But this is low-hanging fruit. To truly see how fascism is represented in games, we need to be willing to see how games – even those in which we may revel in the slaughter of evil – communicate oppressive agendas in more subtle ways. This isn’t usually intentional. Games, as well as those who create them, are prodcuts of their times after all. Can it be argued that games as systems maintain oppressive forms of control by their very nature? We also cannot ignore the exploitative labor practices and production demands!
For this project, I’ll examine games to better view the strata of fascism games, how oppression is represented but also preserved and enforced in more subtle ways. This project will rely on a large and still-growing library of scholarship to discuss this but also give me an opportuniity to better define and actually perceive fascism as it occurs in the medium of games.
Games of Resitance and Liberation
Conversely, games may also assert resistance to fasicm. Although the structures within games might represent power dynamics, not all games implicitly support oppression; some require collaboration over competition. Some require players live out the experiences of the oppressed. Some require players to work with the tools of the oppressors to understand better how the powerful manipulate and exploit citizens.
As the craft of gamemaking has become more popular and the tools to create them have become accessible, games have been used to share our responses to injustice. As I’ve argued elsewhere, games and play have historically been forms of resistance to domination. Contemporary videogames and boardgames carry on this tradition: games like Rhea Zakich’s Ungame (Talicor, 1973) work against competitive mechanics found in most boardgames; Space Cats Fight Fascism (The TESA Collective, 2018) is another clear act of resistance but one that is also published by a worker-owned operation with a social justice mission.
So what other games of liberation and resistance are there? Do those, like Space Cats, successfully portray the brutality of fascism? How exactly do coopoeration and dialog as game mechanics also resist elements of neoliberalism?
The Project: These Games Smash Fascism
This project is about the relationship between games and the shadow of fascism that is re-emerging across the Western hemisphere. There are (for now) several questions that will guide my work:
- What is fascism? During the previous Orange Regime, the label “Antifa” was a common label taken up and ascribed to reactionaries. To this day, however, my at-hand definition is fairly rote and fails to connect with the events, people, and theories that help to understand fascism better.
- How is fascism represented in games? This is an easier question to address. We will look at how games like Bioshock: Infintite (2K Games, 2013) explicitly portray fascism and nationalism and others where the symbolism and themes more implicity suggest influence by fascist perspectives.
- How does the gaming industry and culture relate to oppression? Beyond the games themselves, how does the creation, publication, and play of games maintain or support fascist worldviews?
- Ultimately, however, this project is really about answering the question for which this project is named: how do games smash fascism? My central thesis is that games are a cultural medium that is designed in relationship to the environment in which they are created. Sure, I’ll use this as an excuse to play Wolfenstein (but does the franchise truly “smash”?). But I also want to celebrate those works that present an undeniable counterpoint to some aspect of fascism.
This project also serves a handful of practical and professional purposes. Building off of my graduate studies in games, I want this site to provide:
- An accountable, ongoing format for revisiting that earlier work
- A platform for developing a cohesive public-facing resource for dialog
- A hub for multichannel media work that focuses on this subject
More on my motivations are forthcoming but in the meantime, my ultimate goal is to refine and dedicate my skills and interests to the undoing of extremism. It is part of my response (because one day of despair was enough) to what will likely be the forthcoming Christian-nationalist agenda that will influence American policy.
In solidarity,
Kris Purzycki
This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0