Perceived Political Content in Video Games and News Media Usage

Abstract

Casual observation reveals that a not inconsiderable amount of video game players object (or at least strongly react) to the presence of politics in video games, sometimes because of specific issues, sometimes simply on principle. This study attempts to better understand what video game players consider political topics and how prevalent they consider these topics to be in several popular games. A survey distributed in multiple online groups, all centered around gaming, revealed significant correlations involving news media usage and perception of political content in games. This thesis explores why these connections might exist, drawing on previous research, events in the larger video game industry and the results of the survey to reach some possible conclusions demonstrating intermediality and the power of the reinforcing spirals model.