ABSTRACT
In 2020, players of Animal Crossing: New Horizons in Hong Kong gathered online to protest for their right to democracy. This was just one example of an ongoing trend that sees videogames being used as a place for activists to promote a range of causes including environmental conservation to pro-peace advocacy to social justice movements. This chapter explores the ways that videogames have interacted with activism, both as a subject and as a tool. Videogames have grown in the last half-century from relatively rudimentary toys to mechanically intricate and visually impressive entertainment media, becoming a global cultural phenomenon generating billions of dollars a year. Technological advances and widening popular appeal have made videogames more viable as a method through which both creators and players can spread complex, nuanced messages of activism and civil resistance. Equally, however, there is an array of challenges that affect the medium’s reach, such as cost, server issues, digital literacy, and potential corporate or state control restrictions. Despite limitations, this chapter examines how videogames offer a space for wider audience participation that can contribute to positive real-world outcomes and considers what developments might be seen into the future.
