Patrick Jagoda
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780226629834
- eISBN:
- 9780226630038
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226630038.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
This chapter takes up the concept of choice that is central to contemporary economics and the medium of video games. Rational choice theory bases all economic activity on decision-making undertaken ...
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This chapter takes up the concept of choice that is central to contemporary economics and the medium of video games. Rational choice theory bases all economic activity on decision-making undertaken by a rational subject. However, nonconscious decision-making informs everything from relations on social media to trades across financial markets. Video games serve as an ideal medium for exploring decision-making. This chapter delves into the limits and possibilities of choice in a digital era, exploring the first-person interactive metafictional game The Stanley Parable (2013), the networked game Moirai (2013), and the role-playing game Undertale (2015). My reading of these games moves from a model of rational decision-making to one of experimental construction of freedom.Less
This chapter takes up the concept of choice that is central to contemporary economics and the medium of video games. Rational choice theory bases all economic activity on decision-making undertaken by a rational subject. However, nonconscious decision-making informs everything from relations on social media to trades across financial markets. Video games serve as an ideal medium for exploring decision-making. This chapter delves into the limits and possibilities of choice in a digital era, exploring the first-person interactive metafictional game The Stanley Parable (2013), the networked game Moirai (2013), and the role-playing game Undertale (2015). My reading of these games moves from a model of rational decision-making to one of experimental construction of freedom.
Maurizio Bettini
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226044743
- eISBN:
- 9780226039961
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226039961.003.0005
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter considers Hera as the quintessential Enemy, willing to do anything to keep her rival from giving birth, even resorting to magic. It suggests that the Enemy is a way to confront the ...
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This chapter considers Hera as the quintessential Enemy, willing to do anything to keep her rival from giving birth, even resorting to magic. It suggests that the Enemy is a way to confront the possibly fatal dangers of childbirth, or perhaps simply a name to give to those nameless fears that hover before the eyes of the Woman in Labor. The chapter also looks at other individuals who share with Hera the role of the Enemy in Alcmene's story. These are the Pharmakides of Pausanias, the Eileithyiai, and the Moirai.Less
This chapter considers Hera as the quintessential Enemy, willing to do anything to keep her rival from giving birth, even resorting to magic. It suggests that the Enemy is a way to confront the possibly fatal dangers of childbirth, or perhaps simply a name to give to those nameless fears that hover before the eyes of the Woman in Labor. The chapter also looks at other individuals who share with Hera the role of the Enemy in Alcmene's story. These are the Pharmakides of Pausanias, the Eileithyiai, and the Moirai.
