Games, doxa, and meaning-making

Project description

Games have a significant presence in our culture, in a variety of forms. They are analog and digital, can be played at home or on the go, by a single player or several. Given the pervasiveness of gaming, the influence of game-like systems in other domains, and the emergence of a public political sphere around gaming, it is imperative that we develop a deeper understanding of the ways in which games serve to convey and create meaning, and cultivate our ability to critically examine them.

This dissertation project aims to investigate games as a medium - how we through them establish, negotiate, and enact understandings of ourselves, others and the world. The focus is on games as a meaning-making expression where ideas, beliefs, and values take shape. Using media theory, semiotics, and rhetoric, I want to develop our understanding of how games carry, and create, meaning.