Reflecting on Games of Empire in retrospect.

Paweł Gąska

Abstract


This article features an analysis of one of the most prominent books in the development of critical theory on video games: Games of Empire by Nick Dyer-Witheford and Greig de Peuter. Since its publication in 2009 already 8 years have passed. This might seem like a short moment from an academic viewpoint, but its really long, if we consider all the changes happening every day in New Media. This poses two questions: is the content of this book still relevant, and did the passage of time proved it correct or wrong? This article tries to answer these questions, by comparing the arguments from the book (especially concepts like futuristic accumulation) with the actual state of the game industry in a year 2017 (especially issues concerning microtransactions).


Keywords


Games of Empire; Empire; Hardt & Negri; Dyer-Witheford & de Peuter; video games; digital games; critical theory in game studies; criticism of capitalism; futuristic accumulation; microtransactions

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References


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