Disruptive Conflicts in Computopic Space

Abstract

Can you imagine a radically different world? In our times dominated by neoliberal capitalism, we seem to lack not only viable alternatives, but also the capacity to envision anything outside of the status quo. In this PhD thesis, I show that videogames can be a potential source of inspiration and stimuli for radical political imagination beyond the known. To do so, I develop a theoretical and methodological framework for the study of videogames as ideational spaces and stimuli to the imagination, and demonstrate the initial claim by applying this framework in an analysis of several Japanese sf games