The Politics of Games and the Game of Politics Aspects of Political Imagination in Computer Games

Abstract

This article deals with politologically relevant dimensions of contemporary computer games, in particular with their entertainment media presentation of politics or political culture. Based on the building blocks of a political theory of games, some forms of the political imagination of popular culture are explored by means of a short case study on the construction and management simulation game Tropico 5 (2014). From the political and economic simulations of this game, in which one slips into the role of the head of an island state, some basic lines of the political as well as some stylistic means of their presentation will be elaborated. The main focus is on examining the images of the exercise of power, statehood and political conflicts as they are conveyed (or criticised) in the game's narratives. These aspects help us to clarify the reservoir of political imagination that can be hidden in game worlds.