ABSTRACT
Silver Democracy is perceived in Japan as a social problem, especially for young people. Video games, a medium generally consumed by this generation, regularly reflect politics in the country, but they rarely portray politicians as significant characters. This chapter focuses on the instances where this representation does exist and analyses them through the theories and methodologies of game analysis, performance, ludofictional worlds, and directed freedom. It starts with an introduction to “gēmu” (Japanese video games) and follows with an overview of the expressive tools of the medium and its participation in contemporary mythical structures. The chapter then focuses on the analysis of politicians as characters, interrogating how they are presented and how they contribute to the games' meaning-making process. To illustrate the many strategies gēmu have used to depict politicians, this chapter presents six relevant examples under three categories: politicians as player characters (avatars), politicians as non-playable characters, and politicians as agents in game culture (players, game makers).
