Abstracts
Russia on Edge: Reclaiming the Periphery in Contemporary Russian Culture
Interdisciplinary Workshop, 11-12 December 2009 (CRASSH, University of Cambridge)
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University of Leeds
Play, Modality and Claims of Nationhood: Russian Online Gaming
This
paper will explore the balance between the notions of play and claims for
nationhood in a range of Russian online games, for example Troetsarstvie.
First I will establish the notion of online play as a particular mode of
activity or experience. This will be covered briefly as it is an issue that has
already been quite extensively debated. Secondly, I will discuss a number of
modality markers in relation to online gaming and as opposed to videogames
available in stores or for download. Finally I will focus on how the sense of
belonging is constructed in Russian online games and how a notion of nationhood
is disseminated through the visual language of these games. Parallels will be
drawn between online games and other online scenarios aimed at strengthening the
sense of national belonging, e.g. The Name of Russia project, as well as
Russian recent film productions, including the so-called Slavic epos
genre, e.g. Nikolai Lebedev's Wolfhound 2006. My main claim is that in
contemporary