Institutt for kultur- og språkvitenskap
Universitetet i Stavanger
Guest Lecture
Date:
12 October 2023
Room:
AR Ø-110
Time:
11:15
Markus Eldegard Mindrebø (University of Stavanger)
Klimadeterminisme og fremstillingen av "vikinger" i digitale fantasy-spill (Climate determinism and the presentation of "Vikings" in digital fantasy games)
The cultural popularity of Viking-esque fantasy raiders and peoples is prevalent throughout the fantasy genre, and many fantasy video games implement some version of this theme. It is a phenomenon spanning multiple genres, from online fighting games to narrative-driven role-playing games to grand strategy games centred on world domination. One particular aspect, however, is consistently recurring: namely the climatic setting. This paper discusses how, in these games, it is the exaggerated climate which is used as the main driving force behind these peoples' "Viking" lifestyles, and it often has a tendency to simultaneously change their physical attributes, leading to a particular form of alienation where they are considered superhuman (if human at all). As such, fantasy games, by situating their fantasy Vikings in frozen wastes, creates a paradigm in which climate-based factors constitute the sole reason behind their worlds' parallel to the Viking invasions, and thus establishes a pure cause-and-effect scheme where frozen homelands must equal Vikings.