Dijital oyunlarda biyopolitik söylem ve anlatı: “The Sims 4” örneği”
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Dosyalar
Tarih
2021
Yazarlar
Dergi Başlığı
Dergi ISSN
Cilt Başlığı
Yayıncı
İstanbul Ticaret Üniversitesi
Erişim Hakkı
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Özet
Bu çalışmada tarihsel süreç içerisinde dönüşen oyun alanının dijitalleşme ile birlikte canlıların türü için doğal bir dürtü olmaktan çıkarak biyoiktidar teknolojisinin stratejileri için kullandığı ve bu yönüyle bir tür dispozitife dönüştüğü düşünülmektedir. Bir diğer ifadeyle temelde canlıların türü için gerekli olan oynama dürtüsünün üzerine inşa edilen sıfırdan tasarlanan, kurgulanan ve üretilen bir iktidar teknolojisinin dispozitifi olan dijital oyunlarla birlikte biyoiktidarın yalnızca gerçek yaşamı kuşatmakla kalmadığı dijital oyunlarda yer alan sentetik yaşamı dahi kuşattığı varsayılmıştır. Bu varsayım doğrultusunda çalışmada dijital oyunlar, yeni bir (biyo)iktidar tekniği olarak konumlandırılarak içerisinde yer aldığı düşünülen biyopolitik söylem ve anlatılar sorunsallaştırılmıştır. Böylece çalışmada dijital oyunların hem anlatısallığına hem de etkileşimselliğine gömülü olan biyopolitik söylem ve anlatıları tartışmaya açmak hedeflenmiştir. Çalışmanın sahip olduğu bu düşünce ışığında “Dijital oyunlarda biyopolitik söylem ve anlatılar nasıl ve ne şekilde yer almaktadır?” sorusuna yanıt aranmıştır. Bu konu odağında dijital oyunlara biyopolitik yaklaşımla birlikte hem ulusal hem de uluslararası literatüre katkı sunmak amaçlanmıştır. Çalışma teorik ve uygulamalı olmak üzere iki kısımdan oluşmaktadır. Çalışmanın teorik kısmında biyopolitika kavramına yönelik bir soruşturma gerçekleştirilmiştir. Ardından dijital oyunların biyopolitika ile ilişkisine değinilmiştir. Uygulama bölümünde ise dijital oyunlarda yer alan söylem ve anlatı biyopolitika kıskacında The Sims 4 örneği üzerinden eleştirel söylem çözümlemesi yöntemiyle tartışmaya açılmıştır. Araştırmadan elde edilen bulgulara göre günümüzün popüler oyunlarından biri olan The Sims 4’ün içerisinde yer alan özne, beden, yaşam-ölüm, nüfus, ilişki ağı ve mekân gibi unsurlara bakıldığında biyopolitik söylemi destekler nitelikte olduğu görülmüştür.
Extended Abstract: From the past to the present, the concepts of “game” and “play” have an important place in our lives. Although time and place changed, the need to “play” continued to be a part of human life. According to traditional ludology theorists like Huizinga, Caillois, “play” is an impulse that goes beyond the limits of the basic biological and physiological characteristics "necessary for the species of living things. For the classical game theorists, “play” is the main source of culture, art, literature, law, war, and even civilization. The “game” and “playing” practices have undergone change and transformation with the effect of digitalization. Considering the developments in the light of information and communication technologies, games have become playable regardless of time and place. Therefore, gaming and playing practices have now turned into an activity taking place in virtual space. In this study, it is thought that the field of "game" and "play" that has transformed in the historical process has ceased to be a natural impulse for the species of living things, and has turned into a kind of dispositive (mechanism) in this respect, which is used for the strategies of biopower technology. In other words, with digital games, which are the dispositive of power technology designed from scratch, constructed and produced on the impulse to play essentially for the species of living things, it is assumed that biopower does not only encompass real life but even the synthetic life involved in digital games. In line with this assumption, the study aims to discuss and analyze the discourses and narratives embedded in both the narrative and interactivity of digital games, which are positioned as a new power technique of biopolitics. In this focus, it is aimed to contribute to both national and international literature with the biopolitical approach to digital games.Therefore, this study, which positions digital games as an extension of biopolitics, is intended to be a source and at the same time a basis for future studies. Biopower is a governmentality practice through the use of numerous and diverse fine techniques, in particular the use of statistics, medicine, biology, and probability, to achieve the control of bodies and the regulation of the population. According to Foucault, the creation of new power techniques also brings along new governmental relationships. New power techniques, which bring new power governmental relations with them, produce, circulate and reproduce a certain powerknowledge relationship through dispositive (apparatuses). Today, it is a known fact that biopower has reached a new dimension in body and population control, control and surveillance by articulating neoliberal governmentality and using new power dispositions. It is thought that one of these “new” dispositive is digital games from new media tools. Based on the academic literature, it can be said that in the 21st century, all kinds of new media tools are an important dispositive used to reach the masses of the dominant discourses built with the effect of their digitality feature and to subjectively internalize these discourses. Considering the developments in media and communication technologies in recent years, it can be argued that digitality, which touches many areas of social life, is a "dispositive" used for subjectivation as an extension of "governmentality" in a Foucauldian term. However, the purpose of this study is not how individuals internalize biopolitical discourses. It focuses on a much more specific question than that: How can the discourses and narratives in digital games which are dispositive of biopower, be reconsidered in the focus of biopolitics? The study, shaped in the context of this thought ecology, consists of two parts as theoretical and practical. In the theoretical part of the study, the concept of biopolitics, which forms the backbone of the study, and its relationship with biopolitics are explained. In the practical part, the discourse and narrative in digital games were opened to discussion with the method of critical discourse analysis based on the example of The Sims 4 in the light of biopolitics. The reason why this sample was preferred in the study can be expressed as being one of the most popular games in the history of digital games, as well as its suitability for the purpose and scope of the research. In this study, the limits of the critical discourse analysis method were expanded to cover the new media environment by accepting digital games as a subject-building discourse with a Foucauldian expression. Because discourse; a meta-action is a social practice that produces power relations and subjectivity. The findings obtained from the study were interpreted with a deconstructionist approach. According to the findings obtained from the research, it is seen that the elements such as subject, body, life, death, population, the relationship between subjects, and space in The Sims 4, one of today's popular games, support biopolitical discourse. As a result of the study, it was suggested that "digital game literacy" should be popularized in the society and thus the gamers should be aware of the whispering of the games as a “conscious individual”, for leaving their “subject” position.
Extended Abstract: From the past to the present, the concepts of “game” and “play” have an important place in our lives. Although time and place changed, the need to “play” continued to be a part of human life. According to traditional ludology theorists like Huizinga, Caillois, “play” is an impulse that goes beyond the limits of the basic biological and physiological characteristics "necessary for the species of living things. For the classical game theorists, “play” is the main source of culture, art, literature, law, war, and even civilization. The “game” and “playing” practices have undergone change and transformation with the effect of digitalization. Considering the developments in the light of information and communication technologies, games have become playable regardless of time and place. Therefore, gaming and playing practices have now turned into an activity taking place in virtual space. In this study, it is thought that the field of "game" and "play" that has transformed in the historical process has ceased to be a natural impulse for the species of living things, and has turned into a kind of dispositive (mechanism) in this respect, which is used for the strategies of biopower technology. In other words, with digital games, which are the dispositive of power technology designed from scratch, constructed and produced on the impulse to play essentially for the species of living things, it is assumed that biopower does not only encompass real life but even the synthetic life involved in digital games. In line with this assumption, the study aims to discuss and analyze the discourses and narratives embedded in both the narrative and interactivity of digital games, which are positioned as a new power technique of biopolitics. In this focus, it is aimed to contribute to both national and international literature with the biopolitical approach to digital games.Therefore, this study, which positions digital games as an extension of biopolitics, is intended to be a source and at the same time a basis for future studies. Biopower is a governmentality practice through the use of numerous and diverse fine techniques, in particular the use of statistics, medicine, biology, and probability, to achieve the control of bodies and the regulation of the population. According to Foucault, the creation of new power techniques also brings along new governmental relationships. New power techniques, which bring new power governmental relations with them, produce, circulate and reproduce a certain powerknowledge relationship through dispositive (apparatuses). Today, it is a known fact that biopower has reached a new dimension in body and population control, control and surveillance by articulating neoliberal governmentality and using new power dispositions. It is thought that one of these “new” dispositive is digital games from new media tools. Based on the academic literature, it can be said that in the 21st century, all kinds of new media tools are an important dispositive used to reach the masses of the dominant discourses built with the effect of their digitality feature and to subjectively internalize these discourses. Considering the developments in media and communication technologies in recent years, it can be argued that digitality, which touches many areas of social life, is a "dispositive" used for subjectivation as an extension of "governmentality" in a Foucauldian term. However, the purpose of this study is not how individuals internalize biopolitical discourses. It focuses on a much more specific question than that: How can the discourses and narratives in digital games which are dispositive of biopower, be reconsidered in the focus of biopolitics? The study, shaped in the context of this thought ecology, consists of two parts as theoretical and practical. In the theoretical part of the study, the concept of biopolitics, which forms the backbone of the study, and its relationship with biopolitics are explained. In the practical part, the discourse and narrative in digital games were opened to discussion with the method of critical discourse analysis based on the example of The Sims 4 in the light of biopolitics. The reason why this sample was preferred in the study can be expressed as being one of the most popular games in the history of digital games, as well as its suitability for the purpose and scope of the research. In this study, the limits of the critical discourse analysis method were expanded to cover the new media environment by accepting digital games as a subject-building discourse with a Foucauldian expression. Because discourse; a meta-action is a social practice that produces power relations and subjectivity. The findings obtained from the study were interpreted with a deconstructionist approach. According to the findings obtained from the research, it is seen that the elements such as subject, body, life, death, population, the relationship between subjects, and space in The Sims 4, one of today's popular games, support biopolitical discourse. As a result of the study, it was suggested that "digital game literacy" should be popularized in the society and thus the gamers should be aware of the whispering of the games as a “conscious individual”, for leaving their “subject” position.
Açıklama
Anahtar Kelimeler
Biyopolitika, Biyoiktidar, Dijital Oyunlar, Söylem, Anlatı, Biopolitics, Biopower, Digital Games, Discourse, Narratives
Kaynak
Intermedia Uluslararası Hakemli İletişim Bilimleri E-Dergisi
WoS Q Değeri
Scopus Q Değeri
Cilt
8
Sayı
14
