Civic and Political Transgressions in Videogames: The Views and Experiences of the Players

This study examines how video game players perceive and experience civic and political transgression, arguing that games can serve as meaningful sites for civic learning when their ideological content is taken seriously. Drawing on ten participatory workshops held between May and December 2017 with 73 members of the academic community in Porto, Portugal, including students, researchers, and lecturers from varied disciplines, the authors used thematic analysis of recorded and transcribed discussions. Players were asked to play short, freely available games addressing social issues such as environmental concerns, poverty, migration, and labor conditions, and the transgressive framework emerged inductively from their accounts rather than being imposed beforehand.

The analysis identifies four forms of transgression that players experienced. The first is the transgression of linear narratives, illustrated by the game Unmanned, whose dream-like structure and random objectives unsettled players' sense of agency and reality while prompting both critical reflection and anxiety. The second is the transgression of the idea of an ideologically neutral truth, observed in games such as Republia Times and To Build a Better Mousetrap, which led players to reflect on media manipulation, fake news, and exploitation at work. The third is the transgression of the rhetoric of free choice and merit, evident in Spent, Darfur is Dying, and Ayiti, where players recognized that structural conditions, rather than individual decisions alone, shape poverty and mobility. The fourth is the transgression of individualism and the myth of the "Other," found in The Migrant Trail, Against All Odds, and Quandary, which fostered empathy, solidarity, and ethical deliberation, though some participants criticized the trivialization of suffering.

The authors conclude that games can play a transgressive role in promoting civic awareness and challenging dominant neoliberal and conservative narratives, while acknowledging the limits of a small, locally situated sample.