%0 Book
%A Jens Schroeder
%D 2011
%C Berlin, Germany
%I Peter Lang Verlag
%@ 9783653006414
%T ‘Killer Games’ Versus ‘We Will Fund Violence’
%B The Perception of Digital Games and Mass Media in Germany and Australia
%R 10.3726/978-3-653-00641-4
%U https://www.peterlang.com/document/1044448
%X While the assessment of digital games in Germany is framed by a high-culture critique, which regards them as an ‘illegitimate’ activity, they are enjoyed by a wider demographic as a ‘legitimate’ pastime in Australia. The book analyses the social history of digital gaming in both countries and relates it to their socio-cultural traditions. Concerning social history, Australia almost depicts an inverse mirror image of Germany. Its foundational dynamics, closely associated with different egalitarianisms, led to a different form of distinction than in Germany – a country whose national self-conception was closely related to groups which perpetuated an idealistic notion of Kultur and later integrated it into a rigid class system. The book not only demonstrates how the discourses on games follow long-established patterns of rejection and approval of mass media but also regard them as an access to the inner workings of both societies. How the games are perceived tells us a lot about German and Australian identity.
%K Massenmedien, Distinktion, Digitale Spiele, Massenkultur
%G English