Playing and Aspiring Exploring games holistically as vehicles for the capacity to aspire

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Playing and Aspiring

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MA Thesis in Literary Studies: Literature, culture and society Graduate School for Humanities

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Abstract

Cultural minorities often find themselves unwanted by dominant cultures. These minorities can improve their situation through the power of aspiring. Gaining recognition and voice amongst the culturally dominant and gaining oversight of one’s cultural situation and one’s ability to look beyond that situation will increase a person’s capacity to aspire. Aspiring for something better is the first step towards improvement. The video game might be a vehicle that could lend itself well to increase the capacity to aspire for minorities. This research investigates whether and how video games can operate as vehicles for increasing the capacity to aspire of the cultures portrayed within the games. As a case study this research will look into the video games Never Alone and Ayiti: The Cost of Life. The games are approached holistically, investigating the narrative, interaction and play experience.

Key concepts: capacity to aspire, play, play experience, procedural rhetoric, backstory,

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I. Introduction

Migration and global media have made many localities mixtures of different cultures;

sometimes these cultures blend together but often they cause confrontation (Appadurai, 2002, p. 43). Especially issues of migration have raised tensions amongst contemporary western societies. Populist politicians often put forward intercultural struggles as a response policy to the current tensions. Examples hereof are the presidential decree of Donald Trump in January 2017 banning migrants originating from Muslim countries (Loon & Zandstra, 2017) and the refusal of the Italian government, in particular the right wing populist politician Matteo Salvini, to allow the rescue ship Aquarius to dock in an Italian harbour in June 2018 (Ploeg, 2018). Thanks to populist politicians “ethnic plurality, secularism, and cultural hybridity are gradually placed under the pressure of ethnic nationalism, state insecurity and paranoia about migrants” (Appadurai, 2002, p. 44).

As an ethnographer Appadurai has asked himself what role culture has to play in the opposition between classes and welfare; the answer is that culture is instrumental in

developing ideas of the future (Appadurai, 2013, p. 59). Appadurai refers here to the capacity to aspire; a cultural capacity that has a navigational aspect, like a cultural map, and an

awareness aspect in creating voice and recognition. Strengthening the capacity to aspire could help the poor or minorities to “find the resources required to contest and alter the conditions of their own poverty” (Appadurai, 2013, p. 59), economically and socially. A platform which is becoming more significant every day, and which often uses culture as its prime resource, is the video game.

In October 2018 Ubisoft will release a new game in their Assassins Creed franchise called Odyssey (Ubisoft, 2018). Odyssey allows the players to fill the shoes of a Spartan mercenary and travel through ancient Greece, visiting places such as ancient Athens, Sparta or Corinth, in the era of the Peloponnesian wars. In May 2018 Sega released Thrones of

Britannica, an addition to the Total War Saga series (Sega, 2018). In this game players fill the

shoes of a Viking, Welsh, Saxon or other king and vies for domination over the British Isles. Also released in May 2018 was Detroit: Become Human (Playstation, 2018); a game about a future society in which androids serve humans as second-class citizens. The player role-plays three different androids in a story line that revolves around the rights and future of androids in society. The player’s choices will determine the outcome of the game. These games show that

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a substantial part of contemporary video games cover a wide variety of cultural content from

Figure 1 Screenshot of Assassins Creed Odyssey

classical cultures to potential future subjugated social classes. These games offer wide varieties of cultural knowledge in, for example, works of art, buildings, historical figures, languages, geographical information or social behaviours. The games detailed above are also but a few of the hundreds of games produced every year in this growing industry. Games will find their way to many households and the cultural information they carry will influence the opinions and worldview of many of their players. It doesn’t seem unlikely that the cultural information transferred in Assassins Creed Odyssey will be highly influential in determining the view and knowledge of thousands of gamers on the Peloponnesian wars. The game might even influence the players’ views on the entirety of ancient Greece and perhaps the Greek identity. Thus, games could potentially function as a cultural map and thus influence the capacity to aspire.

With games becoming such an important element of contemporary society and because they might potentially be vehicles for the capacity to aspire, they warrant a closer look in terms of the cultural knowledge and values they express. In a YouTube series on

Tropes vs. Women in Video Games Anita Sarkeesian criticizes video games for their sexism

and misogyny (Parkin, 2014). Sarkeesian uses examples of well-known and beloved video games to show how tropes like “the damsel in distress” are frequently used in video games (Sarkeesian & McIntosh, 2013). The game community responded with outrage towards Sarkeesian’s videos, trying to debunk her arguments and silence her; some even sent death

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threats to Sarkeesian (Parkin, 2014). The outraged response by the game community to

Figure 2 Screenshot of Anita Sarkeesian in Damsel in Distress: Part 1

the simple tropes Sarkeesian highlights showcases that cultural issues are a little explored topic in the game community. The Sarkeesian example also shows that gamers award much value to the content produced in the video games and are highly invested in them.

The investment gamers often have in video games can potentially be used to create

cultural awareness. I used to play the game Age of Mythology when I was young. This game is about constructing villages and waging war. The narrative centres around a battle between mythic heroes, mythological creatures and gods. The player can use special units and god powers to win the game by worshipping different gods of Greek, Norse and Egyptian mythologies. Up to this day I still remember the different deities, their characteristics and powers as they were represented in the game. I needed to devise a strategy using the

characteristics and benefits of the gods and deities in the game in order to win. Devising these strategies and playing around with them thus made me familiar with all the mythological aspects of the game. Drawing on this personal experience, it seems to me that the combination of narrative and interaction in video games has incredible potential to familiarize players with the game’s content. As I played these games I often imagined what it would be like to live in this time period and continued to investigate the portrayed cultures.

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Figure 3 The cover of the Age of Mythology game

This imagining seemingly brought me cultural information. Additionally, by imagining something different, or better, one can move beyond their current situation and look for a change; imagining a better future is the first step towards improving once welfare. As mentioned, Appadurai believes that the capacity to aspire to greater things is a cultural capacity and that it is connected with gaining recognition (2013). Only by imagining

someone’s background, by empathizing with a person, can one start to understand the other. These imaginings, with which humanity often tries to look beyond what is there, are

transferred through narratives. One of the two most important elements of video games are narratives. Narratives have always been used by humans to ascribe meaning to experiences, to frame thoughts and to guide actions (Dickey, 2006, p. 252). Narratives provide humans with meaningful examples of interacting with one another and the world; which can be used as a model for action, reaction and to understand the underlying meaning. A person creates an identity through narratives; a person will structure their memories and beliefs through narratives (Jefferson, 2004, p. 441; Habermas, 2000). The narrative component of games could thus function as cultural vehicles and seem to border with interaction. Interaction or

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“One’s humanity is closely linked to the gift of narration and play. Being, in principle, programmable by the player, computer games can help and even inspire us to disclose new worlds and dimensions of the self.” (Mul, 2015, p. 183).

Games provide a playing field, a virtual environment regulated by rules, in which players can experiment with being someone, or something other than themselves. Much like small

children use games, such as playing firemen, soldier or doctor, in order to explore identity possibilities (Lauwaert, 2009), the playing field in games can serve as a safe environment to try on different identities (Mul, 2015). Interacting with video game narratives provides ample ground for contemplations on cultural awareness (Mortara, et al., 2014).

Mutual cultural understanding is necessary to diffuse confrontations in multicultural societies; Appadurai sees herein an important role for the imagination which can be used as a collective tool for transformation and the creation of different possibilities for the future (2002, p. 34), a necessity for the capacity to aspire. Appadurai argues that bringing together skills in cultural production and digital spaces can create more inclusion of minorities in India (Labkultur, 2012). He believes that gaining knowledge of one’s own social and cultural possibilities and increasing cultural recognition and voice amongst the elite will help minorities to improve their welfare (Appadurai, 2013). Culture, in his view, is the main tool for managing social uncertainties and he implores artists to come up with ‘out of the box’ arrangements to help society progress. Imagination is an important tool for doing so.

Appadurai believes that the imagination is a social practice that determines the creation of a locality as much as material social constructions (Appadurai, 2002, p. 34). Image flows from the media create a separate world in the imagination which influences the view on reality. Connecting culture with digital landscapes, using imagination, art and ‘out of the box arrangements’ to affect audiences and thus increase cultural awareness and recognition for cultural minorities through the capacity to aspire might be done with the help of video games.

“Insofar as they [games] are ontological tools that shape our imaginations and enable us to construct new images of ourselves and the world, it is not easy to exaggerate their value in our lives” (Mul, 2015, p. 181).

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This makes video games a highly interesting element to research. This thesis will investigate how, if at all, video games can be a vehicle for the capacity to aspire. Before addressing the research question, I would like to address the research gap this thesis will fill.

The research gap

There are two factors that make the study of games challenging. First, the game industry progresses very swiftly. Not only is the market growing but also the capabilities of computers and games continuously change the appearance of- and possibilities in video games. As a result, game studies research can quickly become outdated. Second is that games come in a wide variety and accordingly game studies research covers a multitude of diverse subjects and research areas. Game content spans different disciplines, which results in a myriad of

different research approaches. Some researchers investigates the link between players and their avatars in games like World of Warcraft from a psychological background (Bessière, Seay, & Kiesler, 2007; Klimmt, Hefner, & Vorderer, 2009; Williams, 2013), while others looks at the historical value of the video game Civilization from a media studies perspective (Chapman, 2013; Galloway, 2006; Uricchio, 2005). The amount of diverse approaches makes the field hard to navigate and a consensus hard to come by. Definitions of ‘play’ differ

amongst researchers and incorrect definitions can even be considered to hinder game research (Malaby, 2007).

Exemplary for the difficulty of handling diverging approaches in games studies was the schism between narratology and ludology. The duality of games, being centred on both narrative and interaction, or ‘play’, has sparked a debate amongst scholars between the narratology and ludology approach to video games which has divided the field of game studies for some time (Voorhees, 2009, p. 257). In this opposition ‘narrativists’ are seen as those that believe games should only be approached from a narratology perspective (Frasca, 2003, p. 1). Similarly, ‘ludologists’ are those that wish to focus on the interactive or ‘play’ elements of video games (p.2). However, I do not wish to go into this debate because I believe neither stand point is useful: video games are very interesting to look at specifically because they combine narrative with interaction. The oppositional debate only serves to disconnect game studies from other fields like narratology (Murray, 2005, p. 3); resulting in limited, one-sided research.

The combination of narrative and interaction in video games could very well be the reason why I still remember the contents of the game Age of Mythology. What is lacking in

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game research is a holistic view of games that incorporates narrative, interaction and play experience and links it to cultural awareness. Instead of only looking at the representation of culture in a game narrative or the way interaction shapes game experience I want to

understand the game as a whole. Researchers like Chan and Šisler have focused on the representation of Asian and Arab cultures in video games, but these researches don’t move beyond the textual symbolism and neglect the interactional component of video games and the influence of the player experience (Chan, 2005; Šisler, 2008). Other research has focused on the educational value of games and genres for learning cultural heritage (Mortara, et al., 2014), or the way in which games can represent cultural worlds and social interactions as cultural training methods (Zielke, et al., 2009), or the way in which the depiction of cultural heritage in war games links to cultural memory (Sterczewski, 2016), but none of these researchers combine narrative, interaction and play experience in order to understand how games as a whole might affect a player’s cultural awareness.

Research question and outline

This thesis research will try to fill the research gap by taking a first step into the direction of establishing a holistic view of video games and relating it to cultural awareness. In order to link video games with cultural awareness this research will use Arjun Appadurai’s theory on the capacity to aspire. The capacity to aspire will be investigated in depth later in this

research. By using a holistic view of games and applying it to the capacity to aspire, this research hopes to create a better understanding of how video games can function as vehicles for the capacity to aspire which might help to improve minority positions in society. This improvement can be created by either providing the navigational aspect of the capacity to aspire, when games are played by members of minority cultures, or by stimulating recognition and voice when the game is played by members of dominant culture. As I am interested in the role video games as a whole can play in conveying cultural knowledge and operating as vehicles for change, in particular the role video games can play in bolstering the capacity to aspire for cultural minorities, the main research question is formulated as follows:

How, if at all, do narrative, interaction and play experience work together in video games to function as a platform through which the cultures portrayed in the game can gain a greater capacity to aspire?

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There are four important sub-questions that need to be addressed to answer the research question: How do narrative, interaction and player experience cooperate in a videogame? How does the capacity to aspire function and relate to video games? How can games function as a cultural map for the portrayed cultures? How can games create

recognition and voice for the portrayed cultures? Chapter Two will address the first sub-question and detail the cooperation between narrative, interaction and player experience in video games. Chapter Three will answer the second sub-question and investigate the capacity to aspire. Chapter Four will detail the methodology of the research. Chapters Five and Six will present the research results and answer the fourth and fifth sub-questions. The conclusion will relate the research results with the theory and conclude the findings of this thesis.

The two games that will be investigated as case studies are: Never Alone and Ayiti.

Never Alone is owned by Upper One Games, the first indigenous game developer, and meant

to showcase Iñupiaq culture and create interest in Alaskan indigenous folklore. Ayiti is owned by UNICEF and also aims to create cultural awareness, in this case into Haitian culture. This research can thus investigate in what sense these games succeed in achieving their goals of spreading cultural awareness.

Never Alone or Kisima Inŋitchuŋa, which means ‘I am not alone’, is a game about the

traditional Iñupiaq tale, Kunuuksaayuka; a story that follows the adventure of a little Iñupiaq girl and her artic fox companion (Upper One Games, 2014). The game is a puzzle-platformer

Figure 4 Advertisement poster of the game Never Alone

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Media. The game was created in partnership with the Cook Inlet Tribal Council, an

organization that works with the indigenous people of Alaska. The gameplay is accompanied by pieces of documentary detailing the Iñupiaq heritage as well as the current living

conditions of the Iñupiaq. The game has been rewarded with several awards.

Ayiti, the Cost of Life is a game developed by Global Kids and Gamelab. Global Kids

is a non-profit organization whose mission is to: “transform urban youth into successful students and global and community leaders by engaging them in socially dynamic, content-rich learning experiences” (Global Kids & GameLab, 2006). The game tells the story of a family living in Haiti, trying to survive. The player controls the five family members and decides every season what activity they should focus on. This can be studying, relaxing, going to the hospital or various job opportunities. The player needs to try and survive the game with as many family members alive and as many diplomas as possible by the end of the game. The game was developed as an educational tool to teach students about the hardships of living in Haiti and trying to become educated in this country.

Figure 5 Begin Screen of the game Ayiti, the cost of life

Never Alone and Ayiti were chosen because they are both games that try to create

cultural awareness amongst their players. Furthermore, these games both represent cultural minorities. Finally, both games offer a different kind of game experience, Ayiti being a strategy game and Never Alone being an adventure game; this broadens the scope of the

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research. It would have been preferential to use even more diverse case studies with different playing methods in order to be in a better position to make conclusions about video games in general. Instead of branching out I have chosen to rather investigate these games in detail. A detailed analysis will be better equipped to pinpoint the operating mechanisms of video games in transferring cultural knowledge; especially because I have used a holistic approach.

Furthermore, Because video games are media text that can take hours of gameplay and often warrant multiple play approaches and multiple play throughs before all game elements are discovered, two case studies are ample material for a master thesis.

The aim of this research is to understand how the core mechanisms of video games function in relevance to cultural awareness. For this reason, the cultural representation of video games must be discussed without going into representational details and debates on their historic or cultural accurateness in the primary source investigation. Although important, this lies/is beside the point. Instead of investigating the kind of cultural awareness that a game can elicit this research focuses on the way games can actually influence cultural awareness. By doing so this research will take a first step towards understanding how games are linked with culture; connecting a holistic approach towards video games with Arjun Appadurai’s cultural theory on the capacity to aspire.

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II. Theorizing games

In this chapter the video game will be dissected to its basics in order to build a holistic research model from the ground up to avoid the pitfalls of combining opposing theories and because there is no basic understanding of video games that supports a holistic model.

What is play?

The first step is to define play. De Mul has based his theory of play on Ricoeur’s threefold mimesis theory on narrative. According to Ricoeur the first level of mimesis is the

configuration of everyday life in narratives; in order to give meaning to life (Mul, 2015, p. 254). In our daily lives we search for meaning behind actions and events, we search for someone’s motivation or the explanation for certain events. The meaning we thus give to everyday life interactions and events is in a sense the narrativization of life. The second level of mimesis is the construction of a narrative that narrates the narrativization occurring in everyday life. The final level is the internalization of this narrative by the reader. De Mul’s theory of play1, play2 and play3 reflects Ricoeur’s theory. Play1 refers to the playful elements we encounter in everyday life. Think for example of trying to go to work by the fastest route and trying to make every green light along the way. Our interaction with the world is often a form of play. Play2 is the expression of play1 in video games. Just like the second level of mimesis the second level of play is the construction of a work based on the experience of play in everyday life. The final level, play3, is the internalization of the game world and rules by the player. The player changes his identity by assimilating the rules and possibilities of the game. De Mul compares it with the assimilation of narrative that

influences identity in the third level of mimesis.

The connection de Mul makes between everyday life and play seems a fruitful basis to build a model upon which is interested in cultural content. However, what is understood by de Mul as play is unclear. On the one hand he states that play consists of: “joyful activities that are often temporally and spatially set apart from everyday life” (2015, p. 257), which would actually go against the idea of play1 itself. On the other hand, he states that games have their own seriousness and mainly present the player with a specific task. Although de Mul’s theory is useful for discerning how games are modelled after real life and therefore highlights the principal beginnings of how games could model culture, it does not provide a sufficient understanding of what play is and how it relates to narratives and player interaction.

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Thomas Malaby provides a more extended understanding of play. Malaby argues that the definition of and perspective on play in game studies is wrong (Malaby, 2007, p. 96). According to Malaby, the current view treats the activity of play as a unique activity that lies outside of the realm of everyday human activities. Furthermore, play is understood to be a fun or pleasurable activity in a safe or consequence free environment. Malaby argues against this and claims that none of these elements holds as an intrinsic feature of games. Malaby states:

“All of these features [fun, safe and outside of everyday life] can be involved in what games are on the ground. But the essential point is that they are not inherent features of games—they are always cultural accomplishments specific to a given context. Games are semi bounded arenas that are relatively separable from everyday life, and what is at stake in them can range from very little to the entirety of one’s material, social, and cultural capital.” (Malaby, 2007, p. 96).

He argues that by setting the features: fun, safe and outside of everyday life, apart as intrinsic elements of video games, we are creating a roadblock in the correct understanding and study of games. Malaby gives an example of how playing backgammon in Greece is tightly

connected with social and cultural standing; the better one is at playing backgammon the more ‘like a Greek’ the person becomes in the eyes of the locals. The influence of the underlying social and cultural standing in games is very keenly displayed in the gamer community’s backlash against Anita Sarkeesian as shown in the introduction. Through his study of gambling games in Greece Malaby distils what he believes to be the essence of games in the following definition: “A game is a semi bounded and socially legitimate domain of contrived contingency that generates interpretable outcomes.” (Malaby, 2007, p. 96).

Games are semi bounded because they can, and often do, operate as arenas of play outside of normal everyday conduct. However, the playing can also be connected to and situated in social and cultural dimensions; such as the playing of backgammon in Greece. By contrived contingency Malaby means that games are essentially settings in which players interact with variables that are set-up to appear as chance but are of course pre-programmed or designed. For example, when playing a simple game with dice the variables or

contingencies one plays with are the varying outcomes of rolling the dice. This is the core element of play according to Malaby. The contingencies with which a player can interact in a simplistic game such as the original Super Mario Bros are moving to the right, jumping, the

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Figure 6 A screenshot of Super Mario Bros

In a larger game like Civilization these variables simply increase. For example, a major contingency to play with in Civilization VI is the randomly generated playing field in every game. Finally, it is important to note that Malaby calls play a socially legitimate activity with interpretable outcomes. Malaby recognizes that games often carry social meanings. The fact that play can be situated in real life and carry social meaning means that games have the opportunity to carry socially relevant cultural content relating to real life. Thus, playing games can potentially familiarize the player with their cultural surroundings or confront a player with another’s meaningful cultural context and thus potentially create recognition. However, before a player can derive cultural meaning from a game the contingencies in the game need to connect to a certain cultural context.

Malaby argues that the outcomes of games are interpretable; this means that the player can derive meaning from the outcome of a game. For example, in the game The Witcher 3, the player continuously needs to make choices between possible actions. These choices can result in completely different outcomes but are often equally good and bad. The outcome of the game, the chosen endings, can be interpreted to mean that there are no wholly good or bad decisions in an imperfect world. One is always looking for the lesser evil. Similarly, the contingencies in games could hold cultural values for the player to interpret.

Understanding games as a domain in which contrived contingencies generate

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often highly praised for their ability to simulate different and complex real-life settings (Looy, Courtois, Vocht, & Marez, 2012; Uricchio, 2005). The game supplies the gamer with an opportunity to learn real life skills in a controlled environment where it is okay to make mistakes. Real life in this sense is the handling of all the variables and contingencies one might encounter by living. In a game only a few contingencies are represented. This means that the gamer can play with these contingencies in a separate domain outside of the probably more difficult setting of real life. Thus, games give the opportunity to learn how to control or interact with certain variables or contingencies in a controlled environment. Potentially games might be a perfect cultural learning school before facing more difficult cultural circumstances. Furthermore, games often make it possible to play with contingencies unavailable in real life, like planning the construction of a city or an entire civilization.

So far, a definition has been found which explains the functioning of games as potentially situated in real life. This leads to the potential of games to connect to cultural context through the contingencies and their derived meanings.

Playing and narrative

I believe that interpreting the outcome of a game in Malaby’s definition is the connection between interaction and narrative. A contingency by itself is meaningless without the added

narrative that tells the player how to interpret this contingency. For example, a randomly generated map in the game Civilization by itself is meaningless without the added narrative Figure 7 A randomly generated continents map in the game Civilization VI

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that tells the player it is in fact a map, that the green parts are fields which serve well as farm land and that the blue lines are rivers which provide better housing1_{. Without a narrative the}

contingencies and their outcomes in a game remain meaningless. Returning to the example of

Super Mario Bros2_{, the play of going through these levels would be meaningless and less} enjoyable if there was no narrative that explains that the red figure is Mario who is the hero, the green thing is a tube through which Mario can travel, the walking thing is an enemy to be avoided and that by finishing the level Mario comes closer to the end and saving the life of Princess Peach. The meaning given in the example of the The Witcher 3 can only be constructed by paying attention to the narrative in the setting, actions and dialogues of the game; these emphasize the depravity of the game world and the protagonist’s struggle to find the lesser evil in choices whose consequences sometimes seem equally bad. Thus, narratives serve to make cultural content known in the game.

This idea of narrative giving meaning to the variables of play corresponds with Dickey’s understanding of narrative. Dickey claims that narratives are used by humans to ascribe meaning to experiences, to frame thoughts and to guide actions (2006, p. 252).

Narratives provide humans with meaningful examples of interacting with one another and the world, which can be used as a model for action, reaction and to understand the underlying meaning. A person creates an identity through narratives; a person will structure their memories and beliefs through narratives (Jefferson, 2004, p. 441; Habermas, 2000). Thus, narratives provide meaning to action and influence identities. Reflecting again upon Super

Mario Bros the mission of Mario to save Princess Peach gives meaning to the actions or play

variables of the game and can influence the player’s identity; issues with identifying with a ‘damsel in distress’ narrative such as that of Super Mario Bros are keenly explained by Anita Sarkeesian in her YouTube series on Tropes vs Women in Video Games.

According to Dickey, narratives are mainly used in games to create a setting and initial motivation (2006, p. 249). This is especially true for simulation games such as Civilization VI. An example of how a game supplies such a narrative is the starting screen of Civilization VI. When one begins a new game in Civilization the player hears the voice of actor Sean Bean narrating the setting of the game. The player can see the introductory small narrative and the special abilities, or contingencies, that are specific to the chosen civilization. For example, Figure 8 shows the starting screen for the Arabia civilization. In some cases the text is much

1_{See Figure 7} 2_{See Figure 6}

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more oppositional. However, the starting screen offers a good example of how video game contingencies, like the special units, buildings and abilities are given meaning through narrative; in this case cultural meaning. Abilities and units are given names and they are

placed within the context of known Arabian culture. The player can then play around with the given contingencies and thus understands their effects and how they relate to historical and cultural meaning.

Given these points, the game narrative is responsible for shaping the context of the contingencies, supplying them with meaning and creating a setting. The player of a game needs to figure out how to treat contingencies in order to win the game; the narrative provides a “cognitive framework for problem solving by establishing what is plausible for constructing causal relationships” (Dickey, 2006, p. 253). The narrative does this through the backstory. The backstory of the game establishes the physical, temporal, environmental, emotional and Figure 8 Starting screen of the Arabian Empire in Civilization VI

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ethical dimensions of the game. The physical dimension consists of the physical boundaries of the gameplay environment. The temporal dimension is the treatment of time within the game. The environmental dimension defines the characteristic of the game and its geographical setting; such as a realist story in New York. The emotional and ethical dimensions are

determined by the characters and create player motivation. These dimensions determine what is plausible to happen within the context of the game and introduce characters. Dickey’s five dimensions will be used to guide the analysis of the game narrative in order to understand the narrative framing of the contingencies and what role cultural information plays in this

process.

Procedural rhetoric

So far, an understanding of games has been found which explains play as an activity either situated within or without everyday life, in which the player interacts with contingencies that generate interpretable outcomes. These contingencies can be based upon real life. The game narrative provides context to the contingencies that allows players to interpret meaning from them. When a game is situated within everyday life, these contingencies and the narrative can refer to cultural context and thus the player can derive cultural meaning from a game. To analyse the narrative one can observe the five dimensions of the backstory. The question which still remains is how does one analyse the meaning derived from the contingencies of the game?

According to Parthena one needs to wrap learning content, such as history or culture, around the interactive components of the game to increase its educational value (2012, p. 9). The player absorbs the information best when he or she needs to use the educational

knowledge in order to play with the contingencies. Combining cultural information with interaction thus increases the educational value of the cultural information. For example, in order to win Civilization VI, it is likely that the player will use the unique unit the ‘Mamluk’ and the unique building the ‘Madrassa’. To do so effectively the player must understand that the ‘Mamluk’ is an Arabian cavalry unit and that the ‘Madrassa’ is an Arabian scholarly building that provides science. By wrapping the educational knowledge of the Madrassa and the Mamluk around the contingencies of unique units and buildings the player learns about a small aspect of the Arabian culture. The better this is done the more valuable a game will be for educational purposes. Parthena calls the wrapping of educational content in interactive elements “constructivism” (2012, p. 9).

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What Parthena calls constructivism comes close to what Bogost terms “procedural rhetoric” (Bogost, 2007, p. ix). Exploring the procedural rhetoric is most easily done by looking at an example. High Tea is a good example game in which the player roleplays an English opium and tea trader. The interaction of the game exists out of buying and selling opium and tea. Clicking on the buttons for buying and selling becomes much less interesting without the knowledge that you are trading and trying to gain money. The narrative creates the backstory for the game and thus gives meaning to the interactions the player makes, providing a setting and motivation. This narrative also provides some historic and cultural value. This information is summarized by the introductory story3_{. The interaction in the game}

however can transfer a different message to the player than the narrative does. The opium

Figure 9 Compilation of the backstory of High Tea

trading procedures of the game tell you that trading opium was no problem for the British Empire, and that they continuously wished to expand this trade following the increasing demand of your services in the game. Furthermore, the trading mechanism of the game convinces you to try to buy tea and opium for bottom prices and sell them at high rates. You can exploit this by buying big when, for example, the Cantonese tea market crashes. The

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procedures of the game tell you that the only thing that matters is money and the selling and buying rates. This kind of procedural argument is what Bogost calls the procedural rhetoric: “the art of persuasion through rule-based representations and interactions rather than the spoken word.” (2007, p. ix).

For Bogost procedural rhetoric is a form of symbolic expression; it uses processes instead of language (2007, p. 9). Procedural expression uses symbolic manipulation in Bogost’s words. The game rules make use of symbols but operate only on the appearance of the symbols; the interpretation of the symbol meaning is up to the player (p. 5). An example hereof is the mechanism of risky ports in High Tea. As an opium trader you are operating as an illegal smuggler. When you sell too many barrels of opium in a port the port becomes ‘risky’4_{; this entails an increase in the chances of the Chinese government seizing your boats.}

Therefore, the game procedures tell you to spread your chances. The game uses or

manipulates the symbol of an exclamation mark to highlight risky ports. The player could in turn interpret this as: your illegal activities here have alerted the controlling Chinese

government, better avoid them and trade in another harbour. The game manipulates the exclamation mark as a symbol to mean more than what the simple exclamation mark stands for. However, the interpretation of this meaning is up to the player. Whether or not the player will have the same interpretation as was given above depends on the player’s views, play style and interest in the game.

Figure 10 Compilation risky ports and seizing of boats from the game High Tea

Although High Tea is a good example, the game does not seem to deliver its core message through its procedural rhetoric. When one finishes the game the narrative continues to explain that the trading the player has just participated in was the cause for the opium war of 1839. Further observing the statistics which the game provides at the end of the game, one

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can see how many tea and opium one traded and the resulting number of opium users now living in China. It seems clear that the game tries to make a statement about the harmful opium trade the British used in order to enrich themselves. The words “A wealthy retirement awaits you” seems to refer to the greed motivation of the British traders. The game seems very cynical.

Figure 11 Compilation ending screen High Tea

However, this cynical message is not directly visible in the actual process of playing the game. A strong procedural rhetoric connects the important content to the processes of the game. One could for example imagine the game to add a gameplay mechanism that shows the amount of opium users rising as you trade and in effect see the frustration levels of Chinese officials rising too. This would immediately make it clear that the war is a consequence of the player’s trading actions as well as making it clear that what you are doing is also leading to higher and higher levels of opium addiction in China.

Ferrara defines five things the game designer needs to do in order to use a procedural rhetoric efficiently (2013, p. 298). First, the game must have a core message. Second, the game message must be linked to the game’s strategy (p. 299). If the core message is also the hidden way to win the game one forces the gamer to adapt to their message. The gameplay can be used to prove the truthfulness of one’s message. Third, one needs to enable self-directed discovery (p. 300). By allowing the player to discover the message themselves through the processes and strategy of the game the player is given a sense of ownership over the insight they have gained. Fourth, offer meaningful choices (p. 301). Without a benefit to the counter message there is no real choice in the game at all. Discovering the best method of playing the game will in this sense be much less rewarding. Fifth, keep it real (p. 302). The closer the message and strategy is to reality, the better the player will be able to interpret it and relate it to their own life. These five elements will serve this thesis to investigate the

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A game that has understood the value of procedural rhetoric well is Republia Times. In this game the player is the editor of a newspaper in a dictatorial regime. The player can

influence public opinion by posting positive or negative articles of differing sizes in the newspaper. Furthermore, the player gains a larger readership by publishing on the weather, sports and celebrity news. The game first challenges the player to gather a larger readership and to increase support for the government. Afterwards, the player receives rebel

communications and is asked to sow dissent and increase readership. Either the player fails the rebel request and is executed, or the player succeeds and a new regime takes over

effectively restarting the game under a different name, or the player continues to support the regime and ends up dead because print media becomes outdated. The game does not make any claims about society or the media, but through the mechanisms and the procedural rhetoric, the player can delineate claims such as: readers love to read about sport, celebrities and the weather; media manipulation is a tool of government control or rebellion; battling oppression is an ongoing struggle without a clear solution in revolution.

The player experience

Together Bogost, Malaby and de Mul supply a clear definition of play, procedure, their relationship with narrative, and play’s relation to everyday life. In order to truly investigate games holistically one also needs to look at the player experience. Bizzocchi argues that games always aim to create immersion for their players. A rather graphic but telling example hereof is the action of chain sawing an enemy in the game Gears of War5_{. In the game your} gun has a chainsaw on the front. When you run close to the enemy, evading enemy fire and stand up next to them you can ‘chainsaw’ or kill your enemy using the chainsaw front of your gun. Although the imagery and action of killing someone with a chainsaw is very horrid the action could achieve a high player immersion. From personal experience I know that running up to the enemy, activating your chainsaw, approaching the enemy from the right angle and battling him before he smashes you, was a very intense and high adrenaline experience. This is particularly true the first time you perform the action. Friends have often noted the same feeling and the chainsaw action is a well-known feature of the Gears of War games.

The reason why this chainsaw move is so influential is because it creates a high player immersion, both from a ludological viewpoint as from a narrative viewpoint. What Gears of

War did very well is create a world that affects the player intensely. Monsters could pop up

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around corners and if the player does not take cover continuously throughout the game he or she is very likely to get killed. Furthermore, the gritty apocalyptic style of the game fits very well with this feeling of danger and the high amount of fighting in the game. The game changes between intense scenes of combat and moments of calmness when the characters talk or continue their exploration. In this world, storming up to a dangerous enemy in order to try and kill him instantly with a chainsaw becomes a very tense action, often carrying a feeling of heroism after completion. Furthermore, because of the vibration of the game controller during the ‘take-down’ the player feels very powerful. Obviously, music and battle sounds play an integral part here as well. The example shows how interaction and narrative work together to create an immersive experience for the player. Both the apocalyptic dangerous world setting as well as the battle interaction immerse the player in the game and make the game feel almost ‘alive’.

Figure 12 Screenshot of the 'chainsaw' action in Gears of War

Ferrara believes that player experience is the most crucial element of video games and argues against the simplistic idea of gamification that adding a game element is sufficient to create a good game (2013, p. 291). Ferrara provides the five planes of video game experience that need to be addressed in order to create an immersive game. These five planes are shown in Figure 13. The five plains of game experience will be used to investigate the game

experience in the case studies. The plane of aesthetics for Ferrara is comprised of elements like graphics, sound, haptics, themes, and motifs. However, Ferrara also seems to put narrative elements within the aesthetics fields; he calls this the contemplative aspect of

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aesthetics. For the purposes of this thesis narrative and aesthetics will be treated as separate entities for the sake of clarity, thus aesthetics will only be researched in terms of the sensory elements of the game. The usability plane determines the difficulty players have in adopting the game controls and in eventually mastering the game controls. The balance plane

determines how the interactions in the game relate to the long-term campaign. Balance determines whether the player continuously perform the same kinds of interaction or if these interactions become more difficult and diverse as the game progresses. The plane of

meaningful choice determines the level in which players can use tactics and strategy within the game. Finally, the plane of motivation determines what initial interest the player has in the game and how this motivation is maintained through reward systems.

Figure 13 The five planes of player experience (Ferrara, 2013, p. 292)

Summary

Games are not essentially fun, safe and outside of normal everyday activities. In essence, games are semi bounded and socially legitimate domains of contrived contingency that

generate interpretable outcomes. The skills acquired through interaction in videogames can be applicable to everyday life because they are based upon them; thus games can also refer to cultural content and make players trained in handling cultural information. To give meaning to the interactions and outcomes of games narratives are employed. The narrative also places

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the interaction within cultural and social knowledge and provides motivation for the player. Interaction itself can transfer a message through the procedural rhetoric. Finally, the player experience determines the immersion of the player with the content of the game. In the next chapter the cultural content aspect of gaming will be investigated.

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III. Games & culture

In the previous chapter the theory behind video games was examined in order to find a holistic approach to video games that combines interaction, narrative and the player experience. Now that this approach has been found, the connection between games and culture can be examined. The issues Sarkeesian addresses, as discussed in the introduction, bring to light that the cultural content of video games can be problematic. The defensive attitude with which gamers responded to Sarkeesians video’s is not completely surprising. Gaming has had to deal with a lot of negative connotations such as the unfounded claim that games are connected to psychological damage for youth players (Flanagan & Nissenbuam, 2014). The result is often that players and designers prefer not to address the issue of values in games. Consequently, important issues that should be addressed, in order to let the field progress, are ignored.

This chapter will try to address the cultural potential of games without denying that the cultural content of games sometimes leaves much to be desired. Therefore, before going into the capacity to aspire attention will first be given to the issues accompanying cultural content in video games by observing culturally problematic and culturally relevant games. Afterwards the capacity to aspire and its connection with video games will be investigated. However, the focus of this thesis does not warrant an investigation into the accurateness or value of the represented culture in the video game case studies. Before going into that discussion in a future investigation, this research tries to first understand the role video games can play in increasing the capacity to aspire for certain cultural communities.

Culturally problematic games

It is important to realize that the cultural knowledge transferable by a game is always a representation of cultural ideologies, such as the patriarchal tropes used against women in video games (feministfrequency, 2013). Šisler has observed the representation of Arabs in several video games (2008). He found that there are many games in which Arabs are represented through stereotypical images and symbols that render a naïve and even ‘orientalist’ view of the Arab person. Examples of this were that Arabs are often depicted screaming with AK’s in hand, in angry mobs and with car bombs; often very racist depictions. Thankfully investigations such as the ones by Šisler and Sarkeesian are done more frequently. However, these researches often focus on games as media texts and analyse representation

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only in the form of cultural symbols. In doing so a fundamental question is left unanswered, namely: how do games affect cultural awareness? Chapter one has shown how games are an intricate collaboration between interaction, narrative and a player’s experience or immersion. In order to truly understand whether and how games can play a role in creating cultural capacity, one must look at the influence games have as a whole.

The stereotypical representation of Arabs in video games such as Call of Duty is a good example of how cultural icons and imagery represent ideology in games. However, as we have seen in the last chapter games go beyond only representational rhetoric, games also feature a procedural rhetoric. Looking back on Gears of War, the chainsaw action can also relate to the player a ‘macho’ message of using violence as a tool to solve problems. Gears of

War might be a game that achieves high levels of player immersion, but the game interaction

is limited to fighting and exploring only. Although the narrative tells a story of redemption, the sequel of the game even tells a story of love, the interaction tells but a single thing to the player: all problems are solved through fighting. Therefore, the procedural rhetoric and the narrative rhetoric of a game might differ. Thus, only looking at the game narrative constrains research into the cultural content of games. Before going into the connections between narrative, interaction and cultural awareness, let us first explore how a player might experience culture through playing a game.

Exploring cultural relevance

Šisler also found counter examples of games that are able to nuance their representations to challenge cultural dogmas, like the notion that all Arabs are terrorists; such a game is

Civilization (Šisler, 2008). Civilization however is a complicated case. The player of Civilization is asked to fill the shoes of a self-selected historic world leader and to lead that

nation. The player can command units around, create cities and through cities create more units, buildings, districts and world wonders. The player can also choose how to progress on the ‘technology tree’ and the ‘civics tree’ choosing through which inventions and

governments the civilization will progress. All of these elements are based on historic knowledge and are very accurate. In effect the player can participate in, for example,

diplomacy, war and colonization like historic civilizations have done. In this way the player gets a hands on experience with what these acts and processes entail. The rule systems in

Civilization are designed to show the player the consequences of their choices; everything is

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on a certain square by looking at the amount of religion and the amount of food that square might produce. Similarly, choosing to focus on war means neglecting for example scientific pursuit. Thus, Civilization does not only represent cultural and historic knowledge, it allows players to engage with history and tells a tale of tactics and consequences through its

procedural rhetoric.

At the same time the game offers a random game map, which is not historically accurate. The game allows the player to play with all these elements in ways that are very often not historically accurate and the distilled forms of the nations are often very stereotypical. When one looks at Civilization from a standpoint of historical accuracy many inconsistencies in gameplay will be found. Glitz recognises the factual problems with approaching Civilization as history; thus he addresses different ways of looking at Civilization; for example,

Civilization as alternative history or counter-factual history. Civilization as alternative history

is a simulation of what history could be, following the logics of history as represented in the game without necessarily corresponding to the facts of history:

“However crude, empirically unsupported, or even politically objectionable its

[Civilization’s] concrete generalizations may be, their mathematical codification in the game as rules, concepts, and object-defining qualities does guarantee that every historical narrative constructed in and through the playing process is entirely consistent with them.” (Glitz, 2010, p. 170).

The principles that govern the simulation of history in Civilization are consistent with their representational view of history. Glitz then questions whether Civilization should be viewed as historically relevant or merely as a game because of its historiographical inaccuracies, socio-political biases and heavy emphasis on play aesthetics. The consistency described above is only one criterion for an acceptable counterfactual history (Glitz, 2010). Yet, Glitz

highlights that the ‘simulatory’ aspects of Civilization make it a distinctive game within the genre of alternate history fiction:

“On the one hand, that is to say, Civilization encourages us to look at its game mechanics in order to understand history and, on the other hand, to look at history in order to

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Glitz argues that the political significance of Civilization as an alternate history fiction, albeit less institutionalized and influential as academic history, should not be underestimated. Especially the player’s interaction with the game, the player’s processes of world making guided by the many historiographical elements represented in the game, give it political consequences within the ‘real-world’ and the conception of history. For this reason, a game could potentially have cultural consequences in the ‘real-world’ when the player’s interaction and processes of world making are guided by cultural elements. To investigate this further we must finally address the cultural capacity of the video game.

Cultural and aspirational capacity

The example of Civilization shows that games can have relevance even though their historical representations, whether as narrative or as procedural rhetoric, might be problematic. The same might be said about the cultural relevance of video games. Even though the

representation of culture or history might be problematic in a video game, the experience the player has by engaging with the game content in interaction can bring an understanding, even subconsciously, that goes beyond simple representations. The example also shows it is highly important to determine how to approach a video game and to determine where its relevance might lie. This research wants to investigate the potential games have for conveying cultural knowledge and operating as vehicles for change. A theory that lends itself well for perceiving in what sense the cultural capacity in games might affect society is Arjun Appadurai’s theory on the capacity to aspire (2013). The capacity to aspire is not concerned with the accurateness of cultural representations but with the effect of cultural knowledge upon the welfare of cultural communities. The capacity to aspire is influenced by both cultural knowledge and interaction or performances. The capacity to aspire is concerned with understanding one’s cultural context and gaining voice and recognition amongst the culturally dominant; this is explored in more depth below. Therefore, the capacity to aspire, as understood by Appadurai, seems a suitable theory to investigate the cultural effects of an interactive and representational medium such as the video game.

Appadurai’s theory is underlined by three beliefs. The first, following Saussure, states that cultural coherence does not stem from individual items but from their relationships. The systematic relations between norms and beliefs form a coherent culture. Second, dissensus is an integral part of culture. A shared culture is no guarantee for a consensus on beliefs. Third, boundaries of cultural systems are loose. Together the relationality, dissensus and weak

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boundaries entail that within cultures people’s norms and beliefs relate to one another but can experience dissensus, which means debates can arise, and people can move between cultural boundaries. Appadurai argues that people operate through cultural designs when determining anticipation and risk reduction. In other words, cultural frameworks affect people’s thinking and actions in terms of social mobility.

Continuing, in Appadurai’s work the capacity to aspire seems to have a double goal. On the one hand Appadurai refers to the capacity to aspire as a navigational capacity that allows one to see their cultural context and the possibilities of improving it. One gains insight into the relationality of culture and the possibilities of crossing cultural boundaries. On the other hand, the capacity to aspire is about creating voice and recognition for minorities

amongst the more elite or dominant cultures; the ability to engage in cultural dissensus. Voice as understood by Appadurai is the ability of a group to express their views and receive results “skewed to their own welfare in the political debates that surround wealth and welfare in all societies” (2013, p. 63). Recognition for Appadurai stems from Taylor’s “politics of

recognition”, the politics of recognition shows the ethical obligation to proffer moral

consciousness to those people who adhere to worldviews different than our own. Appadurai states: “which gives the idea of tolerance some political teeth, makes intercultural

understanding an obligation, not an option, and recognizes the independent value of dignity in cross-cultural transactions apart from issues of redistribution.” (p. 62). Recognition therefore entails the understanding of values and opinions that are not one’s own; a necessary element of creating consensus between for example minority cultures and the elite or dominant culture.

The duality of the capacity to aspire thus lies on the one hand in the strengthening the navigational capacity amongst the community itself and on the other hand in gaining

recognition and voice for the community amongst society as a whole. Improving the capacity to inspire therefore entails engaging poor or minority communities in activities that increase the knowledge of their own cultural capacity and how to improve it. Second, it means

exhibiting these activities amongst the ‘elite’; in order to obtain the recognition and voice they need to move beyond their current situation. In sum, the capacity to aspire is about

empowering minorities, or potentially anyone seeking cultural improvement or

transformation, and navigating the cultural sphere. It is about the ambivalent relationship between cultural groups and the cultural regimes that shape the society they are a part of.

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Improving the capacity to aspire

Improving the capacity to aspire begins with improving the cultural understanding of minority groups themselves. Appadurai argues that efforts should be made to improve “local teaching and learning which increase the ability of poor people to navigate the cultural map in which aspirations are located and to cultivate an explicit understanding of the links between specific wants or goals and more inclusive scenarios, contexts, and norms among the poor.” (2013, p. 83). Learning to navigate the cultural map is also about using grassroot tactics. Minority groups need to be involved in acts that improve their situation in order for them to see the possibilities that are within reach. Appadurai focuses on the strengthening of the capacity to aspire amongst poor communities. In this regard he gives examples of involving the poor communities themselves in establishing better housing or sanitary conditions. By using these grassroot tactics the poor communities gain insight into the possibilities that lie within their reach besides improving their situation.

Appadurai is concerned with the poor but his notions are off course applicable to any marginal group of a society: “I refer to this ambivalence among the poor (and by extension the excluded, the disadvantaged, and the marginal groups in society more generally) about the cultural worlds in which they exist in terms of the idea of the terms of recognition.” (2013, p. 66). The capacity to aspire is a cultural capacity and therefore affects everyone. However, improving the capacity to aspire in terms of improving cultural recognition and voice in multicultural societies is most pressing amongst minority groups. The cultural dominant are those that already have a large amount of voice and recognition in a society. This brings us to the second element of the capacity to aspire: improving the voice and recognition of minority groups.

As discussed, voice as a cultural capacity is concerned with engaging in socio-political and economic issues in the hope of changing norms and values and in effect improving one’s welfare. To do this the cultures need to come to a consensus. Consensus in culture, which often seems to be taken for granted, is produced through ‘performances’, different forms of verbal and material ritual, acted out in specific ways (Appadurai, 2013, p. 64). Minorities can improve their capacity to aspire by gaining voice through cultural performances. Examples of performances that increase the voice of minority groups and their local cultural force can be protesting, cultural exhibits, shows that address political issues or a documentary on minority culture and welfare. These performances achieve added value when they increase cultural recognition amongst the cultural elite. Cultural recognition increases the proficiency of voice.

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Netherlands have convinced some Dutch people belonging to the cultural elite that this tradition might be harmful and thus needs to be replaced; sadly, there is still a lot of convincing left to do.

Appadurai gives a few real-life examples of how to improve the capacity to aspire for poor communities in urban India where grassroot tactics and creating voice and recognition come together. He classifies these actions as precedent setting and creative hijacking. The foundation of precedent setting is that minority groups claim spaces they already own and refine or improve ways of doing things in this space (2013, p. 75). This improvement should be an example of welfare improvements the minority groups wish to see. For example, Muslim minorities that wish to build more mosques in their community can make plans or designs for a mosque and organize prayers in, for example, a community centre. Continuing, the minority shows the precedents and convinces the elite, those controlling funding, building permits etcetera, that they are good ones, enticing them and other actors to invest (p. 75). Following the example above, the precedent would be the organization and planning of a mosque leadership, community and building which could convince investors and municipality officials to invest in the project.

Precedent setting could turn survival or coping strategies and experiments of marginalized groups into legitimate and recognized foundations for policy innovations (p. 76). Precedent setting can also challenge the assumptions that marginalized groups are dependent on the elite. Marginalized groups can show through precedent setting that not only experts and municipality officials can innovate and effect change in society but also

committed communities or individuals. Although precedent setting does not mean that promises will be kept or that projects are safeguarded for the future, they do create a new form of negotiation between marginal cultures and dominant cultures. Importantly, precedent setting can produce common terrain for aspirations, in which political perspectives of the marginalized and the elite or politicians come together (p. 78). Precedent setting can increase the capacity to aspire not only as a cultural capacity but also as a political and public capacity in terms of voice and recognition.

Creative hijacking is the act of marginalized groups to enter into the cultural sphere of the cultural elite and showcase their own cultural capacity in order to obtain more voice and recognition. Appadurai provides a good example of how precedent setting can become creative hijacking. For the poor in Mumbai, India, sanitation is a big welfare problem; there are no good sanitary facilities for the poor to make use of. This is especially difficult for women who are often culturally not allowed to defecate in public. In the city of Mumbai

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women go into the fields at night in order to be able to defecate. Sanitation problems also often lead to healthcare problems. As an example of precedent setting a group of

organizations helping the poor, called the Alliance, organized toilet festivals.

“These toilet festivals involve the exhibition and inauguration not of models but of real public toilets, by and for the poor, involving complex systems of collective payment and maintenance, optimal conditions of safety and cleanliness, and a collective obligation to sustain these facilities.” (Appadurai, The Capacity to Aspire: Culture and the Terms of Recognition, 2013, p. 79)

With these festivals the Alliance seeks to turn this element of humiliation and victimization into a process of dignifying the self and exercises in technical innovations. The alliance went even further and turned the precedent setting into creative hijacking:

“In June 2001, at a major meeting at the United Nations, marking the five years that had passed after the important Istanbul housing meeting of 1996, the Alliance and its partners elsewhere in the world built a model house as well as a model children’s toilet in the lobby of the main United Nations building, after considerable internal debate within the SDI and official resistance at the UN. These models were visited by Kofi Annan in a festive atmosphere which left an indelible impression of material

empowerment on the world of UN bureaucrats and NGO officials present. Annan was surrounded by poor women from India and South Africa, singing and dancing, as he walked through the model house and the model toilet, in the heart of his own

bureaucratic empire.” (Appadurai, The Capacity to Aspire: Culture and the Terms of Recognition, 2013, p. 80).

The example shows how improving the capacity to aspire can be done through cultural performances that improve voice, recognition and understanding of marginalized groups. The example also shows how aspirations connect to many other cultural elements such as lifestyle, values, morals, habits and the material life of a community; connecting the capacity to aspire to culture more generally. Appadurai understands culture as a dialogue between aspirations and sedimented traditions (Appadurai, 2013, p. 84). He believes culture is the main tool for managing social uncertainty and that we need to help “lower social classes up by, amongst

Playing and Aspiring Exploring games holistically as vehicles for the capacity to aspire