Politics of Language in Video Games: Identity and Representations of Iran

Abstract

Abstract This article addresses the role of the language of identity politics in video games by exploring games dealing with significant contemporary events in the history of Iran. Video games are no longer exclusively viewed as pastime activities but are assessed as a means to soft power. As a form of popular culture, video games can be used to excavate cultural and political bias and prejudices, to name a few. While the representations of gender and race have received extensive attention, language and its role in understanding the politics of video games remain an underresearched domain. This study investigates how exploring the linguistic signifiers in video games can shed light on the normative approach that video games take: first, in order to present certain cultural and political stereotypes in specific historical contexts, therefore othering certain identities; second, to shape the identity of gamers in such a way as to converge with those norms through creating a third space. Finally, the article demonstrates how the choice and use of linguistic codes in the game can further empathy or the lack thereof through selective choice of controversial historical contexts, where gamers indirectly become active participants in fomenting certain political representations.