Digital games beyond disciplinary and vigilance logic

Abstract

Currently, digital games are situated as the maximum expression of interactivity and as the first choice for entertainment in some countries, such as Spain. In this way, this burgeoning industry appears to be affecting the ways we socialize and learn. Faced with its irrevocable influence, those with new types of images emerging with the digitalization of the media, some scholars such as the artist and theorist Trevor Paglen have wondered: “what is seeing and what does seeing mean in this specific historic moment?”. It is a question which, bearing in mind the arguments of many experts in the field, should be answered as follows: something with direct repercussions on the social, ethical and political terrain. Driven by these concerns, the article analyzes the creation of behaviors and routine habits via digital games and the link between this industry and the educational and vigilance needs of capitalism, particularly in the field of military discipline. In a final discussion, the door is left open to other developments based on this research. This poses a series of challenges connected to an ecological approach to perception and learning, guidelines that would certainly affect the structures and logic of digital games. The aim of these aspirations would be to promote sensitive imagination and the fostering of values such as empathy and commitment to the world we live in.