Zootycoon

Capitalism, Nature, and the Pursuit of Happiness

Bibliographic Data

ID15021896
AuthorsAndy Opel (0000-0003-0768-2799, Indiana University, corresponding author), Jason Smith (0000-0002-6143-0421), Jason Kemmitt Smith
Year2004
Volume9
Issue2
Pages103-120
Publication date2004-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEthics & the Environment (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1085-6633 • E-ISSN: 1535-5306
PublisherIndiana University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2979/ete.2004.9.2.103
OpenAlexW2035109543
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited16

This paper is a cultural studies analysis of the Microsoft computer video game, ZooTycoonTM. Through a critical reading using the "circuit of culture," questions of the gamer's subject position, the role of wildlife and implicit and explicit messages about contemporary attitudes toward the environment are explored. Drawing on Susan Davis' book, Spectacular Nature: Corporate Culture and the Sea World Experience (1997), this paper unpacks the virtual theme parks created in Zoo TycoonTM for their (dis)continuities with Davis's findings. The virtual animals are found to serve as both labor and products in this game that teaches capitalist business strategy and managerial skills. This popular culture text is an example of a product that harnesses the environmental impulse and redirects that impulse back into commodity capitalism

Aesthetics · Art · Capitalism · Commodity · Economics · Game engine · Game studies · Happiness · Impulse (physics · Market economy · Media studies · Multimedia · Political science · Politics · Product (mathematics · Reading (process · Sociology · Subject (documents · Theme (computing · Video game · Computer Science · Digital Games and Media · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Law · Media, Gender, and Advertising · Psychology · Social Psychology