The video games “Last of Us” (2013) and “Last of Us 2” (2020) caused heated discussions during their release periods. While the first game prompted players’ to reflect on their moral compass through depictions of difficult decisions in crisis situations, the second instalment, published in the middle of the corona-pandemic, caused a polarizing controversy about (…)

With the rise of participatory media over the past decades, a ‘new culture of learning’ (Gee 2008; Thomas and Brown 2011) has been described, in which people develop expertise in domains outside formal education, vocational training or structured apprenticeships. Ito et al. (2009: 17) coined the term ‘geeking out’ for media-rich informal learning processes, in (…)

Post-Doc Project Much research in game studies has focused on game communities and their effects on people and society. But with this project I argue that we need a better theoretical grounding for how game communities form, and how they are then negotiated and maintained. What are the forces, influences and affordances that shape this (…)

Postdoc project Video game cultures are central parts of contemporary societies. In addition to economic interests, due to the economic significance of the video game industry, this also involves socio-cultural and political discourses. Video games and video game cultures can be understood as expressions of globalized media cultures. However, they also have to be perceived (…)

The research project deals with the multiple entanglements of gaming and constructions of national identity by linking two research perspectives that are often perceived as contrary to each other - media aesthetics and communication studies. Particular attention is paid to the question of the extent to which concepts of national identity not only formulate "the own", but also "the other" in contrast to it, in order to find out to what extent constructions of nation within games can possibly transmit or even consolidate social inequalities in times of profound mediatization.

Project management: Prof. Dr. Kerstin Radde-Antweiler (ZeMKI-Lab “Medien und Religion”) Research network/cooperation: University of North Carolina, Dalhousie University, University of Helsinki Funding institution: University of Helsinki Future Development Fund The role of media for the construction of cultural heritage and national identities is well accepted and partly researched already. However, much the research is so (…)