This approach, built upon a theoretical refinement of the concept of configuration, allows the research to account for several instances of subject's interaction with gaming and the overall network of relations that encompasses and influences the industry, the gameplay moment, and videogames culture. The framework proposes a holistic approach to videogames research based on the use of extensive sets of data and layered stages of analysis, accounting for the configurative dynamics within three spheres: medium-sphere, gaming-sphere and culture-sphere. Thus, aiming towards a comprehensive and in-depth study of Mass Effect as an example of ‘the political’ in videogames, I develop the configurative analysis framework. Furthermore, I advocate that the current methodological approaches to videogames studies are insufficient to explore the complexity of videogames and, specifically, its political potential. I expand the interdisciplinary nature of game and videogame studies through a) an interface with concepts from political sciences, and b) a dialogue with French-Brazilian perspectives of communication theory.
I critically approach the extensive literature produced by scholars interested in videogames, particularly those of ludology, narratology and cultural studies, evaluating their theoretical and methodological contributions to the field. By focusing on a critical assessment of gender and sexuality politics in the making and playing of videogames, this thesis highlights the configurative nature of interactions that inform videogames culture and discusses how the political appears in videogames content, production, consumption and media. This thesis investigates the characters, plots, and images in BioWare’s videogame trilogy Mass Effect and its transmedia universe with the aim of informing what is political about videogames and where politics is found in videogames. This article challenges game studies scholars to move beyond simply studying games to begin to offer insight and analysis into the importance of race and racialized tropes within virtual reality and the larger implications of racist pedagogies of video games in the advancement of White supremacy. How can one truly understand fantasy, violence, gender roles, plot, narrative, game playability, virtual realities, and the like without examining race, racism, and/or racial stratification-one cannot. Efforts to exclude race (and intersections with gender, nation, and sexuality) from public discussions through its erasure and the acceptance of larger discourses of colorblindness contribute to a problematic understanding of video games and their significant role in contemporary social, political, economic, and cultural organization. Notwithstanding the presence of extreme racialized tropes within the world of video games, public discourses continue to focus on questions of violence, denying the importance of games in maintaining the hegemonic racial order.
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