ABSTRACT
This chapter will explore aspects of the representation of peoples and places in a small range of video games and try to link these representations to audience responses, as can be found in free, open social forums. The video games that this chapter centres on are the console game ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ and the computer/ tablet-based game ‘Papers, Please’. Both of these games are relatively contemporary; both have been developed and published since 2008 – the year of the economic shock which has led governments, such as those in Britain, to pursue so-called austerity policies to rein in the sovereign debt crisis which was birthed by the banking crisis.
