How Gandhi went Nuclear: Potentiality of Archiverse in Sid Meier's Civilization VI

• Authors: Jakub Alejski , Elżbieta Kowalska
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

"Nuclear Gandhi" is a surprising and controversial image of an Indian leader - Mahatma Gandhi. Often portrayed against the backdrop of nuclear explosions, his poses and styles clearly are suggesting awe and admiration for the ongoing mass destruction. This image is related to Sid Meier’s Civilization VI – one of the most influential video games in the history of gaming. The aim of the article is to analyse this particular case study and consider processes from many different angles that led to the emergence of this controversial phenomenon. To do so, the notion of archiverse is introduced - an assemblage (after Jane Bennett) of all cultural, political, economic and technological archives performed by the user. By following the connections between different, often seemingly distant data and contexts, it is possible to propose an archive-centric perspective on video game study.

Keywords

EN

new materialism; media culture; archive; game studies; assembalge; software studies; art and science

• Publisher: AGH University of Science and Technology
• Journal: Studia Humanistyczne AGH
• Year: 2021
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 7-21

Dates

published

2021-03-31

received

2020-10-25

revised

2020-12-22

accepted

2020-12-23

Contributors

author

Jakub Alejski

• Katedra Teatru i Sztuki Mediów, Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu, Polska

author

Elżbieta Kowalska

• Katedra Teatru i Sztuki Mediów, Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu, Polska

Identifiers

DOI

10.7494/human.2021.20.2.7