scholarly journals Disco Elysium as Gothic fiction

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-42
Author(s):  
Julian Novitz
Keyword(s):  
Detective Fiction ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Urban Spaces ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Commentary ◽  
Gothic Fiction ◽  
The Uncanny ◽  
History Of ◽  
Role Playing Game

Abstract Disco Elysium demonstrates many hallmarks of the Gothic through its storyline and representational elements, particularly its emphasis on the instability of its protagonist, the sense of decline and decay conveyed through its setting, and the interconnected secret histories that are revealed through exploration. Furthermore, many of the game’s stylistic and ludic features, such as its dense description and emotive language, and its overwhelming array of options, interactions, and responses, can be understood as engagements with the uncanny and disorienting excess of the Gothic tradition. These Gothic elements manifest most frequently through the game’s attempt to represent psychological complexity within its role playing system, its depictions of urban spaces, and its approach to questions of unresolved memory and history. The presence of these Gothic features in Disco Elysium work to contest the game’s categorisation as a ‘detective role playing game.’ While the genres are closely connected, detective fiction typically follows a trajectory in which the history of the central mystery becomes progressively clearer through the accumulation of information and detail, whereas the Gothic traditionally seeks to maintain and heighten a sense of disorientation. Exploring the tension between Disco Elysium’s Gothic elements and its status as a detective game allows for a richer appreciation of the political and social commentary that emerges from both its narrative and gameplay.

scholarly journals Epäonnistumisen poliittinen ideologia Disco Elysium -pelissä

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 8-24
Author(s):  
Pekka M. Kolehmainen
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Ideologies ◽  
The World ◽  
Role Playing Game ◽  
Game Developers ◽  
The City

Artikkeli tutkii poliittisten ideologioiden esittämistä Disco Elysium -pelissä (Viro 2019) epäonnistumisen tematiikan kautta. Virolaisen indie-peliyhtiö ZA/UM:n kehittämässä, fiktiiviseen maailmaan sijoittuvassa roolipelissä pelaajan tehtävänä on selvittää poliittisesti motivoitunut lynkkaus Revacholin kaupungin telakka-alueella. Tehtävää vaikeuttaa protagonistin ennen pelin alkua ottama humalaputki, jonka jäljiltä hän ei kykene muistamaan nimeään, persoonaansa tai edes maailmaansa. Artikkeli kysyy, miten absurdin humoristinen mutta synkkä peli rakentaa kuvauksia erilaisista poliittisista ideologioista (kommunismista, fasismista, kapitalismista ja sentrismistä) ja mahdollistaa pelaajan kanssakäymisen näiden ideologioiden kanssa epäonnistumisen kautta. Artikkeli pohtii epäonnistumista sekä pelimekaanisena että pelin maailmaan rakennettuna temaattisena elementtinä. Lähipeluun avulla se tuottaa analyysia pelin esittämästä maailmasta ja sen pelillisistä ratkaisuista ja kontekstualisoi sitten löydöksiään suhteessa pelin kehittäjien näkemyksiin työstään sekä pelin vastaanottoon kriitikoiden parissa. Artikkeli väittää, että pelimekaanisten ratkaisuidensa avulla peli esittää epäonnistumisen kautta näkemyksiä kuvailemistaan ideologioista ja rakentaa samalla laajempaa maailmankuvaa, jonka keskiössä on epäonnistumisen oma ideologisuus.   Disco Elysium and the political ideology of failure   The article explores the portrayal of political ideologies in the video game Disco Elysium (2019) through the thematic of failure. Developed by an Estonian indie game company ZA/UM, the role-playing game sets player in a fictive world and tasks him with solving a politically motivated lynching at the industrial harbor district of the city of Revachol. The mission is hindered by the protagonist’s drinking binge prior to the start of the game, which has caused him to forget his name, persona and even his world. The article questions how the absurdly humorous and yet dark game constructs its depictions of political ideologies (communism, fascism, capitalism, and centrism) and enables the player to interact with these ideologies through the notion of failure. The article examines failure as both a game mechanical and a thematical element built into the game’s world. Through the method of close-playing, it produces analysis of the world produced by the game as well as its game mechanical decisions. It then contextualizes its findings in relation to the pronouncements of the game developers regarding their work as well as the game’s reception among critics in international gaming media. The article argues that through its game mechanical decisions, the game uses failure to create arguments regarding the political ideologies it depicts. It uses these arguments to create a wider worldview, at the heart of which lies an ideology of failure.

scholarly journals Presidential Election as a Postmodern Mirror

2021 ◽  
pp. 11-27
Author(s):  
Mykhailo Yuriy
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Election ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Real ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Role Playing Game ◽  
The Right ◽  
Ukrainian Society

The article gives signs of postmodern. It is stated that the postmodern is an anti-fundamentalist paradigm, which proclaims that there is nothing predetermined, true without a doubt, once and for all that is given. Mosaic, eclectic, kaleidoscopic, fragmentary, combining the incompatible, where everything is a game, are inherent in him as a type of consciousness. The game has a policy associated with the carnival, in politics, as in the carnival, there is a lot of mummery. Not a single politician is free from travesty, role-playing game. Myths, legends, images, ideal political biographies, the creation and support of images, the right political move is a political routine, which is manifested in the actions of Ukrainian politicians, for whom politics is a guarantee for business. Ukrainian politics is not a decision of public, but personal affairs, from which the whole country suffers. And here on the stage of this acting, which is called Ukrainian politics, in the presidential race comes the real showman. If politicians play a show, then why should a showman not play a politician. This is where the illusion of the political life of Ukrainian society manifests itself.

scholarly journals Another Endless November: AOL, WoW, and the Corporatization of a Niche Market

2009 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ray Op'tLand
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
World Of Warcraft ◽  
Niche Market ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of ◽  
America Online ◽  
Market Leader ◽  
Role Playing Game ◽  
Future Growth

The entrance of World of Warcraft (WoW) into the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMO) market has drastically altered conceptions of how popular a virtual world could be. Currently servicing over 12 million monthly subscribers (Woodcock, 2008), it has vastly exceeded expectations, and has brought with it more new users to persistent virtual worlds than any other product before it. However, while there has been much academic work exploring developments within the game itself (Bainbridge, 2007; Duchenault, et al., 2006; Castronova, 2007), the processes by which this explosive growth has occurred have been under-explored. The growth of World of Warcraft relative to the MMO market can only be explained via its extrinsic characteristics of the game and how these characteristics interact with processes of standardization and diversification with relative to the market as a whole. In this paper, I propose that the process that enabled WoW to rise to its current position as market leader amongst MMOs is remarkably similar to that employed by America Online (AOL) in the early 1990’s, and that the growth of both firms are evidence of the standardizing influence that a globalizing process such as McDonaldization has when it enters a niche market. The parallels that may be drawn between these cases may be instructive in understanding the future growth of MMOs and other virtual environments. I will examine the history of the two firms to find evidence of commonalities between them. I will also outline the parallel corporatist models of McDonaldization and Disneyization as proposed by Ritzer (2000) and Bryman (2004). The process by which these firms grew to dominate their spheres will be examined in this context. I will conclude with an examination of what this growth may mean for the future of the MMO industry.

The Social Origins and Provenance of the English Bishops during the Reign of Edward II

1959 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 51-79
Author(s):  
K. Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Early Career ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Origins ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
Edward Ii ◽  
The Social ◽  
Complete Study ◽  
History Of

During the last twenty or twenty-five years medieval historians have been much interested in the composition of the English episcopate. A number of studies of it have been published on periods ranging from the eleventh to the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. A further paper might well seem superfluous. My reason for offering one is that most previous writers have concentrated on analysing the professional circles from which the bishops were drawn, and suggesting the influences which their early careers as royal clerks, university masters and students, secular or regular clergy, may have had on their later work as bishops. They have shown comparatively little interest in their social background and provenance, except for those bishops who belonged to magnate families. Some years ago, when working on the political activities of Edward II's bishops, it seemed to me that social origins, family connexions and provenance might in a number of cases have had at least as much influence on a bishop's attitude to politics as his early career. I there fore collected information about the origins and provenance of these bishops. I now think that a rather more careful and complete study of this subject might throw further light not only on the political history of the reign, but on other problems connected with the character and work of the English episcopate. There is a general impression that in England in the later middle ages the bishops' ties with their dioceses were becoming less close, and that they were normally spending less time in diocesan work than their predecessors in the thirteenth century.

Prospects for the use of modern technologies to increase student involvement

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-33
Author(s):  
Iu. V. Amelina ◽  
R. V. Amelin
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
State University ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
It Education ◽  
Interaction Plot ◽  
Role Playing Game ◽  
Live Action

The article discusses the prospects of role-playing games in the educational process to increase students’ motivation and involvement, as well as the possibility of modern information technologies (primarily social networks) for constructing innovative forms of such games. The author’s format of the live-action role-playing game is presented. It was developed and tested at the Saratov State University. It involves the integration of numerous educational tasks into a single plot, within which each participant plays a role and communicates with other participants to complete tasks. The main interaction, plot development and group activities occur in dialogs, conversations and groups of social networks. This approach has shown its viability in teaching legal disciplines, and also has prospects for use in IT education.

Essays of a “comparatively progressive” economist (On the 150th birth anniversary of Vladimir Geleznoff)

2019 ◽  
pp. 135-145
Author(s):  
Viktor A. Popov
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
The Political ◽  
Russian History ◽  
Working Ability ◽  
Intellectual Inquiry ◽  
History Of

Deep comprehension of the advanced economic theory, the talent of lecturer enforced by the outstanding working ability forwarded Vladimir Geleznoff scarcely at the end of his thirties to prepare the publication of “The essays of the political economy” (1898). The subsequent publishing success (8 editions in Russia, the 1918­-year edition in Germany) sufficiently demonstrates that Geleznoff well succeded in meeting the intellectual inquiry of the cross­road epoch of the Russian history and by that taking the worthful place in the history of economic thought in Russia. Being an acknowledged historian of science V. Geleznoff was the first and up to now one of the few to demonstrate the worldwide community of economists the theoretically saturated view of Russian economic thought in its most fruitful period (end of XIX — first quarter of XX century).

PENERAPAN FINITE STATE MACHINE UNTUK PENGENDALIAN ANIMASI PADA VIDEO GAME RPG NUSANTARA LEGACY

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Mustofa Mustofa ◽  
Sidiq Sidiq ◽  
Eva Rahmawati
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Finite State Machine ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
State Machine ◽  
Game Development ◽  
Development Life Cycle ◽  
Finite State ◽  
Role Playing Game

Perkembangan dunia yang dinamis mendorong percepatan perkembangan teknologi dan informasi. Dengan dorongan tersebut komputer yang dulunya dibuat hanya untuk membantu pekerjaan manusia sekarang berkembang menjadi sarana hiburan, permainan, komunikasi dan lain sebagainya. Dalam sektor hiburan salah satu industri yang sedang menjadi pusat perhatian adalah industri video game. Begitu banyaknya produk video game asing yang masuk ke dalam negeri ini memberikan tantangan kepada bangsa ini. Tentunya video game asing yang masuk ke negara ini membawa banyak unsur kebudayaan negara lain. Ini semakin membuat kebudayaan nusantara semakin tergeserkan dengan serangan kebudayaan asing melalui berbagai media. Maka dari itu peneliti mencoba untuk menerapkan Finite State Machine dalam merancang sebuah video game RPG (Role-Playing game) yang memperkenalkan kebudayaan. Dalam perancangan video game ini peneliti menggunakan metode GDLC(Game Development Life Cycle) agar penelitian ini berjalan secara sistematis. Dalam suatu perancangan video game tedapat banyak elemen, pada penelitian ini penulis lebih fokus pada pengendalian animasi karakter yang dimainkan pada video game ini. Dari perancangan yang dilakukan, disimpulkan bahwa Finite State Machine dapat digunakan untuk pengendalian animasi yang baik pada video game RPG. Diharapkan video game ini dapat menjadi salah satu media untuk mengenalkan kebudayaan nusantara

A Confrontation between Two Doctrines: The Birth of Struggle for Hegemony in Hebrew Children's Literature during the 1930s and 1940s

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
YAEL DARR
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Educational System ◽  
Single Channel ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
The Political ◽  
Literary Creation ◽  
History Of ◽  
High Level ◽  
First Time ◽  
Literary Quality

This article describes a crucial and fundamental stage in the transformation of Hebrew children's literature, during the late 1930s and 1940s, from a single channel of expression to a multi-layered polyphony of models and voices. It claims that for the first time in the history of Hebrew children's literature there took place a doctrinal confrontation between two groups of taste-makers. The article outlines the pedagogical and ideological designs of traditionalist Zionist educators, and suggests how these were challenged by a group of prominent writers of adult poetry, members of the Modernist movement. These writers, it is argued, advocated autonomous literary creation, and insisted on a high level of literary quality. Their intervention not only dramatically changed the repertoire of Hebrew children's literature, but also the rules of literary discourse. The article suggests that, through the Modernists’ polemical efforts, Hebrew children's literature was able to free itself from its position as an apparatus controlled by the political-educational system and to become a dynamic and multi-layered field.

The Use and Misuse of Religious Language: Zionism and the Palestinians

2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Wetherell
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Figurative Language ◽  
Religious Language ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Scientist ◽  
Late 19Th Century ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Title Deed ◽  
History Of ◽  
Land Question

Every discipline which deals with the land question in Canaan-Palestine-Israel is afflicted by the problem of specialisation. The political scientist and historian usually discuss the issue of land in Israel purely in terms of interethnic and international relations, biblical scholars concentrate on the historical and archaeological question with virtually no reference to ethics, and scholars of human rights usually evade the question of God. What follows is an attempt, through theology and political history, to understand the history of the Israel-Palestine land question in a way which respects the complexity of the question. From a scrutiny of the language used in the Bible to the development of political Zionism from the late 19th century it is possible to see the way in which a secular movement mobilised the figurative language of religion into a literal ‘title deed’ to the land of Palestine signed by God.

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