Biopolitical Games: Identifying Obscured Mechanisms in Applied Games.

Abstract

The thesis positions games as a contemporary artifact of biopolitics, thereby constructing understandings about the ambiguity and power of video games in society. Through adopting the work of Michel Foucault on biopolitics, this thesis is set up as a critical and explorative research into the power relations of applied games in society. Multiple aspects of Foucault’s biopolitics are analyzed in order to specify the exercise of applied games and to inform contemporary scientists, developers and players about the power of games. This thesis reveals that there are similarities between the exercise of biopolitics and of games in society. Linking biopolitics with multiple applied games, game development methods and game research reveals that contemporary applied games can be used as instruments of modern governability and as mechanisms for security, regulation and economics within society. Therefore, this thesis gives explorative insight into how biopolitical games are developed and used to impact the population.