Much Ado About Nothing? Analysis of the Polish Internet Discourse About "Hatred"

This study examines the Polish internet discourse that emerged after the trailer for "Hatred," an isometric shooter by Destructive Creations, was first released. The game drew international attention for its controversial premise and alleged ties between its creators and Polish far-right movements, prompting local media coverage and public debate among game designers, scholars, and journalists. The central argument is that moral commotion surrounding transgressive content serves as a catalyst for renegotiating interpretive frameworks and shifting the boundaries of the Polish gaming discourse field, drawing on Pierre Bourdieu's theory of cultural economy and taste alongside Aaron Julius's concept of transgressive content.

The analysis is based on computer-aided content analysis conducted in September and October 2015, using critical discourse analysis as its methodological framework. The sample covered material published between October 2014 and September 2015 and comprised 1,143 Polish-language tweets about the game, 59 articles from Polish gaming portals, 16 articles from Polish gaming blogs, and public Facebook posts by key actors. Tweets were collected through a custom harvesting script, while articles were gathered through targeted search and citation indexing strategies. English-language portals, blogs, tweets, and YouTube videos were consulted as background context but were not systematically analyzed.

The study's theoretical premise holds that transgression can function either as a tool of distinction that subverts a social group's taste or as one that reinforces it. Interpretations of the game promoted in gaming press and social media are therefore treated as indicators of how the discourses of dominant and dominated groups take shape. By examining how transgressive content is defined and deployed in the context of moral commotion, the research aims to clarify the role such episodes play in reconstructing the discursive status quo within Polish gaming culture.