scholarly journals ‘Choose, collect, manage, win!’: Neoliberalism, enterprising culture and risk society in video game covers

Author(s):  
Mercè Oliva ◽  
Óliver Pérez-Latorre ◽  
Reinald Besalú

This article aims to identify the relationship between video games and neoliberal values. To fulfil this aim, it analyses the covers of the 20 top-selling video games in the United States each year from 2010 to 2014 (a total of 80 different games). Video game covers are a type of paratext, that is, texts that accompany another text to promote it and to guide its reading. Thus, video game covers choose and highlight some of the games’ features over others, and by doing that they construct a discourse. In this article, it is argued that regardless of genre, the covers analysed convey and promote neoliberal values, such as freedom and choice, entrepreneurship, consumption and accumulation of goods, customization, novelty, individualism and meritocracy. This promotion of neoliberal values is combined with an appeal to the concerns of ‘risk society’. Thus, the covers of the top-selling video games play on fears linked to the new context created by the economic crisis while at the same time legitimizing the neoliberal ideal of the ‘enterprising self’ as a model for dealing with it.

Author(s):  
Christopher J. Ferguson

The issue of video game violence continues to attract attention from the legal and policy communities, particularly in the wake of mass shootings. However, focusing on video game violence has generally not resulted in successful legal or public policy. In part this is because the science upon which beliefs of “harm” in video game violence are based remains inconsistent and heavily disputed. The current article examines several issues. First, the article examines the current evidence about video game violence influences on negative outcomes in players. Second, the article concerns itself with the application of video game science to several recent legal cases, involving both criminal prosecutions and attempted regulation/censorship of video game violence in the United States. Finally, the manuscript addresses several common talking points used in legal cases and by policy makers and examines whether these talking statements survive careful scientific scrutiny. It is advised that, consistent with the legal decisions and government reviews in the United States, Sweden, Australia, and elsewhere, current evidence does not support the regulation of violent video games, and legal or policy attempts to connect video game violence to specific crimes are unlikely to survive careful scrutiny.


Author(s):  
Carmen Van Ommen ◽  
Barbara S. Chaparro

According to a survey conducted by the CDC, it is estimated that 26% of Americans are living with a disability. Of those with disabilities in the United States, it is estimated that 33 million play video games. People with disabilities face many barriers in gaming, which is likely to impact game satisfaction. Measuring game satisfaction among this population can be problematic if the scale is not adapted to their needs, which can vary significantly based on the disability. To understand how best to assess game satisfaction among these populations, we discuss the issues people with cognitive, sensory, and/or motor disabilities may face when completing assessment scales and then use the validated Game User Experience Satisfaction Scale (GUESS) as a framework for understanding the game design issues that may impact satisfaction.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Y. Bayeck ◽  
Tutaleni I. Asino ◽  
Patricia A. Young

Studies investigating the representation of Africans and other ethnicities are scarce in video game literature. Using a content analysis approach, this paper examines Africans’ representation in ten of the most popular games of 2014 in the United States based on industry market research reports. The findings show that Africans are underrepresented in video games explored in this study. The study also reveals that African characters in these games did not play leading roles in the storyline. Results are discussed as they pertain to Africans’ representation in video games, media effect, and media literature. This exploratory study broadens the discussion on representation in video games to other ethnicities and shows the need for studies on representation in contemporary video games that include understudied ethnicities.


Author(s):  
Vittoria Ferrandino ◽  
Valentina Sgro

<p>Il contributo in oggetto si propone di approfondire i rapporti tra le corporazioni e i gruppi industriali italiani da un’ottica particolare, quella dell’associazionismo che si concretizza con l’American Chamber of Commerce in Italy, instituita nel 1915 per agevolare le relazioni commerciali tra Italia e Stati Uniti. La grave crisi economica del 1930 e del 1931 e, poco dopo, le gravissime restrizioni portate agli scambi con l’estero dal programma autarchico del Governo fascista, influirono notevolmente sullo sviluppo della Camera. L’autorità dell’istituzione venne a diminuire, i rapporti con gli Stati Uniti si fecero più rari e il numero dei soci diminuì notevolmente.<strong> </strong>Alle corporazioni furono affidate le autorizzazioni sui nuovi impianti, la costituzione delle compagnie per la valorizzazione dell’Africa orientale italiana, il controllo sulle iniziative economiche nelle colonie, la collaborazione col fisco nella determinazione e nell’applicazione dei tributi ed infine il controllo sul commercio estero e sulle valute. Di conseguenza, la funzione che lo Stato avrebbe dovuto esercitare servendosi delle corporazioni finì col ricadere nelle mani dei grandi industriali, che le dominavano attraverso i loro rappresentanti. Da un lato, quindi, vi erano le corporazioni, che garantivano piena libertà ai gruppi industriali, avallandone le scelte; dall’altro lato, invece, vi erano le autorità governative che riconoscevano i limiti di competenza e d’intervento di quelle istituzioni e la necessità di una migliore definizione degli obiettivi.</p><p>This contribution aims to examine the relationship between corporations and the Italian industrial groups from a particular perspective, which is that of associations through the American Chamber of Commerce in Italy, established in 1915 to facilitate the commercial relations between Italy and the United States. The economic crisis of 1930 and 1931 and, shortly after, the very serious restrictions on foreign trade of the Fascist government program influenced significantly on the Chamber’s development. The authority of the institution was to decline, the relations with the United States became more and more rare and the number of members decreased considerably. Corporations obtained the authorizations on new systems, the establishment of companies for the development of the Italian East Africa, the control on economic initiatives in the colonies, the cooperation with the tax authorities in the determination and application of taxes, and finally control over foreign trade and currencies. So the function that the State should have exercised using the corporations ended up falling into the hands of big businessmen, who ruled through their representatives. Therefore, Corporations guaranteed full freedom to industry groups supporting them, and government authorities recognized the competence and intervention limits of those institutions and the need for a better definition of the objectives.</p>


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-102
Author(s):  
Ross Dannenberg ◽  
Josh Davenport

Video game litigation in the United States is neither new nor infrequent, and video game developers can learn valuable lessons from cases won, and lost, by others before them. This article examines the evolution of United States intellectual property law from historically narrow roots to classifying video games as an art form deserving broad free speech protection. This article examines seminal cases in a variety of IP areas, including not only copyrights, but also reverse engineering, derivative works, patents, trademarks, rights of publicity, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, contracts, and freedom of speech. These cases explore the factual and legal limits of American jurisprudence in video game law, including how one's own expression can be limited by the rights of others, permissible and fair use and of others' IP, and the impact these cases have had in the industry. As video games have leveled up into a multi-billion dollar industry, the law has leveled up, too, and this article is the primer you need to level up with it.


2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marisa L. Beeble ◽  
Deborah Bybee ◽  
Cris M. Sullivan

While research has found that millions of children in the United States are exposed to their mothers being battered, and that many are themselves abused as well, little is known about the ways in which children are used by abusers to manipulate or harm their mothers. Anecdotal evidence suggests that perpetrators use children in a variety of ways to control and harm women; however, no studies to date have empirically examined the extent of this occurring. Therefore, the current study examined the extent to which survivors of abuse experienced this, as well as the conditions under which it occurred. Interviews were conducted with 156 women who had experienced recent intimate partner violence. Each of these women had at least one child between the ages of 5 and 12. Most women (88%) reported that their assailants had used their children against them in varying ways. Multiple variables were found to be related to this occurring, including the relationship between the assailant and the children, the extent of physical and emotional abuse used by the abuser against the woman, and the assailant's court-ordered visitation status. Findings point toward the complex situational conditions by which assailants use the children of their partners or ex-partners to continue the abuse, and the need for a great deal more research in this area.


Author(s):  
Steven Hurst

The United States, Iran and the Bomb provides the first comprehensive analysis of the US-Iranian nuclear relationship from its origins through to the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015. Starting with the Nixon administration in the 1970s, it analyses the policies of successive US administrations toward the Iranian nuclear programme. Emphasizing the centrality of domestic politics to decision-making on both sides, it offers both an explanation of the evolution of the relationship and a critique of successive US administrations' efforts to halt the Iranian nuclear programme, with neither coercive measures nor inducements effectively applied. The book further argues that factional politics inside Iran played a crucial role in Iranian nuclear decision-making and that American policy tended to reinforce the position of Iranian hardliners and undermine that of those who were prepared to compromise on the nuclear issue. In the final chapter it demonstrates how President Obama's alterations to American strategy, accompanied by shifts in Iranian domestic politics, finally brought about the signing of the JCPOA in 2015.


Contention ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
AK Thompson

George Floyd’s murder by police on 26 May 2020 set off a cycle of struggle that was notable for its size, intensity, and rate of diffusion. Starting in Minneapolis, the uprising quickly spread to dozens of other major cities and brought with it a repertoire that included riots, arson, and looting. In many places, these tactics coexisted with more familiar actions like public assemblies and mass marches; however, the inflection these tactics gave to the cycle of contention is not easily reconciled with the protest repertoire most frequently mobilized during movement campaigns in the United States today. This discrepancy has led to extensive commentary by scholars and movement participants, who have often weighed in by considering the moral and strategic efficacy of the chosen tactics. Such considerations should not be discounted. Nevertheless, I argue that both the dynamics of contention witnessed during the uprising and their ambivalent relationship to the established protest repertoire must first be understood in historical terms. By considering the relationship between violence, social movements, and Black freedom struggles in this way, I argue that scholars can develop a better understanding of current events while anticipating how the dynamics of contention are likely to develop going forward. Being attentive to these dynamics should in turn inform our research agendas, and it is with this aim in mind that I offer the following ten theses.


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