Playful rehearsals of animal subjugation

The naturalization of animal labour in videogames

Bibliographic Data

ID5904662
AuthorsStacey Morrison (0000-0001-9491-5030, The University of Adelaide, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume197
Issue1
Pages259-274
Publication date2024-05-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueMedia International Australia (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1329-878X • E-ISSN: 2200-467X
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1329878x241254577
OpenAlexW4398183278
LanguageEN
References cited34

In videogames, players commonly encounter virtual animals who perform labour for human benefit. Animal labour is not only physical, but increasingly involves labours of bonding and love which invest the player in the animal's liveliness alongside their utility. This article analyses Stardew Valley, interrogating the ways in which the player encounters and builds relationships with labouring virtual animals. It argues that, through these player-animal relationships, the player rehearses orientations towards animal life which take for granted their subjugation. In Stardew Valley, animals express love in ways which not only obscure their subjugated position, relative to humans, in relationships of domination, but also encourage the player to reproduce those relationships on an expanding scale. This is a naturalization of animal subjugation which, in part, justifies real practices of industrial animal agriculture which lead not only to constant cycles of mass animal death, but also contribute to climate disaster

Aesthetics · Art · Environmental health · Naturalization · Digital Games and Media · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Innovative Human-Technology Interaction · Medicine · Psychology

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access