ABSTRACT
Drawing from Feminist Standpoint Theory (Harding 2004) I contend that a feminist wargame must—through in-game goals, available actions, and subject representation—allow the player to explore the social realities of war, through the perspective of one who has become marginalized by it. As an example of a feminist wargame, I examine This War of Mine, in which the player controls a group of civilians as they attempt to survive in an active warzone; players occupy the perspectives of marginalized/disempowered scavengers, who form an ad hoc community, and must manage the risks and traumas of collateral damage. Using This War of Mine as a case study, I analyze characteristics of the game itself and also the interactions between the developers and communities of players. Following from this analysis, I delineate seven dimensions through which a wargame may adopt critical, feminist values.
