The Authoritarian Potentials of Monomythic Game Design

• In Event: Games, Virtual Technologies, and STS - I

Abstract

As video games rose to prominence in the 1970-80s, a particular design paradigm crystalized as the enduring core of popular gaming: a specific instantiation of the hero’s journey, derived from Joseph Campbell’s theory of the classical monomyth. Many contemporary video games and theories of design still follow this formula, persistently delivering “only you can save the world” scenarios that confirm the paramount importance and supreme power of individual player-protagonists. My paper argues that repeated performances of these subject positions in gameplay carry potentials for shaping player subjectivities with distinctly authoritarian qualities.

Of course, occupying heroic positions in video games is by no means an exclusive determinant of player response in messy, fluctuating gameplay assemblages and mangles of play. These designs are not inherently authoritarian on their own. Yet, the authoritarian significance of these designed experiences is distilled within and reinforced by hate-based movements in hegemonic gaming culture, such as the “SJWs-are-NPCs” meme.

To conduct this analysis, I draw on approaches from both media studies and STS, showing how they may work synchronously to intervene in game design, interpretative strategies, and research agendas. I combine textual readings of specific games with broader considerations about Campbell’s work in American mythic socialization. I then examine the interrelations of game design education, the AAA games industry, and “toxic gamer culture” in the perpetuation of these monomythic structures. And finally, I suggest that trends in game studies itself may perpetuate gaming’s authoritarian potentials.

Author

• Stephanie Jennings, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute