The Politics of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
Move over Pac-Man, there’s a new game in town.
Inspired by the films Battle Royale and The Hunger Games, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds places 100 players on a remote island who must then fight to the death – each arming themselves with the weapons and armour they find along the way.
The premise of Battlegrounds isn’t all that original, but what makes it unique is its portrayal of violence: battles are quick, unexpected, and determined more often by luck than by skill. That such a nihilistic perspective has become the most popular game of the past 12 months seems appropriate in a post-Trump world.
To discuss the politics of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, The Daily‘s Sam Baran was joined by Dr Lachlan MacDowall, Lecturer in Screen and Cultural Studies at the University of Melbourne.
You can find Dr MacDowall’s writing on the subject here at The Conversation.
