TY - JOUR AU - Tran, Christine H. AU - Ruberg, Bonnie "Bo" AU - Guarriello, Nicholas-Brie AU - Lark, Daniel PY - 2021/09/15 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - PLAYING AT THE POLLS: VIDEO GAMES IN/AS PLATFORMS OF POLITICAL PARTICIPATION JF - AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research JA - SPIR VL - 2021 IS - SE - Panels DO - 10.5210/spir.v2021i0.12134 UR - https://spir.aoir.org/ojs/index.php/spir/article/view/12134 SP - AB - <p>This panel explores the rise of ludic technologies as both figurative and computational “platforms” for American political participation. As COVID-19 forced many politicians to abandon massive rallies and other in-person engagement into 2020, American politicians turned to video games for alternative means of public outreach, from “Biden Island” in $2 to Twitch streams with Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez and Bernie Sanders. This panel contextualizes these and other “ludopolitical” phenomena from a variety of perspectives, ranging from digital media studies to queer studies and political economy. We attend to the mass re-politicization of games and question the politics of identity, content moderation, and labour that are downloaded onto policy when party communication becomes strategically playful.</p> ER -