Haiven, Max;
Kingsmith, Adam AT;
Komporozos-Athanasiou, Aris;
(2023)
Board Games as Social Media: Toward an Enchanted Inquiry of Digital Capitalism.
South Atlantic Quarterly
, 122
(4)
pp. 795-809.
10.1215/00382876-10779388.
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Abstract
Can board games be part of challenging the dangerous tide of reactionary cultural politics presently washing over the United States and many other countries? The authors frame this threat to progressive social movements and democracy as entangled with a cultural politics of reenchantment. Thanks in part to the rise of ubiquitous digital media, capitalism is gamified as never before, yet most people feel trapped in an unwinnable game. Here, a gamified reactionary cultural politics easily takes hold, and the authors turn to the example of the QAnon conspiracy fantasy as a “dangerous game” of creative collective fabulation. They explore how critical scholars and activists might develop forms of “enchanted inquiry” that seek to take seriously the power of games and enchantment. And they share their experience designing Clue-Anon, a board game for three to four players that aims to let players explore why conspiracy theories are so much fun . . . and so dangerous.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Board Games as Social Media: Toward an Enchanted Inquiry of Digital Capitalism |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1215/00382876-10779388 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1215/00382876-10779388 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | Mames and gamification, digital capitalism, disenchantment, conspiracy theories and conspiracism, board games |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Social Research Institute |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10180077 |
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