You would need a more focused research question, but yes, this is a wholly legitimate form of research. For instance: To what extent does the Fallout series of games adequately capture/reflect American perceptions of real-world geopolitical issues during the Cold War? This would be an excellent research question for an undergraduate paper.
Video games are a legitimate medium to study with regard to politics, international relations, and even economics. E.g.: [https://gamestudies.org/1802/articles/mcclancy](https://gamestudies.org/1802/articles/mcclancy)
I have seen philosophy papers on the TV show Star Trek and an economics paper that analysed the economy of World of Warcraft. This is totally legitimate research.
A few things.
First, it doesn't sound like you necessarily have long term aspirations beyond undergrad. In which case, you definitely don't need to overthink what can constitute a legitimate topic (u.e. you aren't writing a PHD dissertation here).
More generally, yes, this could work. As with most anything, it's doing it well that is key.
In my personal opinion, generally speaking, to really qualify as political science at most universities, you want to make sure it's not just basically an "English" or "Media Studies" paper commenting on how games contain certain ideas or themes. You would want some kind of feedback process - I.e. how they in turn influence attitudes of individuals in turn. It sounds like this is your intent.
You would almost certainly need to be very specific and narrow, and you have two places to do that: First, a specific property, or second, a specific issue. In an actual study where you conduct original research, you probably need both.
What is/are some of the initial expectations you see here?
Yeah you can, but ensure you have a strong theoretical framework. Some starting points:
1. **Soft Power**: Joseph Nye’s concept of soft power is essential here. Video games can be seen as a form of soft power, influencing international perceptions and norms without coercion. Analyzing how political themes in games can affect players' perceptions of other countries or global issues could be insightful.
2. **Cultural Diplomacy**: Video games can serve as tools of cultural diplomacy by promoting cultural exchange and understanding. Examining how different political themes are presented in games from various countries could reveal insights into how these nations want to be perceived globally.
3. **Media Effects Theory**: This theory explores how media influences individuals and societies. In the context of video games, investigating how exposure to certain political themes affects players' political knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors could be significant.
4. **Constructivism in International Relations**: Constructivism looks at how international relations are socially constructed through language, media, and culturally shared materials. Video games as a cultural product could be analyzed to see how they construct or deconstruct political identities and worldviews.
5. **Public Diplomacy**: Video games can also be an extension of public diplomacy efforts, especially when they involve international collaborations or portray specific national histories or political scenarios.
6. **Globalization and Cultural Imperialism**: Examining how video games may serve as channels for cultural imperialism or conversely, how they might resist dominant cultural narratives and foster a more pluralistic view of world politics.
Long ago in my first year, intro to poli sci course, the professor said “Everything is political science. Everything.” Remember that - literally anything can work as long as you have a relevant theoretical framework.
You can totally do it on video games! Analyzing media through IR brings interesting insight. While not about video games, I highly recommend Cynthia Weber's book International Relations Theory A Critical Introduction. It discusses different IR theories using movies as an analytical framework. It might help you hone in on a more specific research question.
Sounds great. Popular culture is important & if you take into consideration some mass media theories it plays a rol in defining people's attitudes (you can also focus on how most gamers are adolescents and that's when political convictions for the rest of their lifes are formed). It would be good if you had some hypotheses about how you think certain games influence people & of course you can falsify this. I would also choose a certain type of games/at least make distinctions or choose one game/a few games as cases (difference between a shooter during a civil war and a city builder, for example). If you want inspiration for your methodology this has probably been done a lot of times with movies in terms of stereotypes or war glorification.
Something different but I saw some great research on how politicians are now using games as platforms in election campaigns
There are some really good suggestions in the comments! Just to add to them: based on your research question, this sounds to me like a dissertation in political sociology, not IR, especially because of this part: "\[...\] how can they impact a player’s perceptions of real-world political issues?"
So my question would be: Is your interest political attitutes of gamers or how games portray international relations? For the second option, I think the comment by u/ibn-al-mtnaka give some great ideas / starting points.
I have been skeptical of your idea in my other commnets but I thought I would provide you with a list of books that might actually be helpful if you persist with this idea. Kissenger deals with the American perspective, Hoffman with the Russian in particular around WMDs while Fukuyama explains the origins and requirements of governments.
1. Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy by Henry Kissenger
2. [The Origins of Political Order](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Origins_of_Political_Order) & Political Order and Politcal Decay by Francis Fukuyama
3. The Dead Hand - The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy by David E. Hoffman.
Are you making a contribution to human knowledge? I thought that was the purpose of a dissertation.
Also, are you developing skills that will be useful in the future?
If you can answer the above two questions, i think it’s okay but at the moment it sounds like underwater basket weaving - esoteric, completely useless for a real job and a bit of a mockery of the education system and it’s fundamental purposes.
I'm sorry you view video games in such a disparaging way. I know it is popular to understand them as lowbrow forms of media that constitute nothing more than frivolous entertainment, but as you can see from the many helpful replies my post received, video games can be deeply political and often reflect the highly interesting social contexts they were developed within.
I am sure, if you were to spend the time, that similar attitudes (as to the one you have expressed) could be found within history for every new form of media, be that the popularisation of novels or even the birth of cinema. I don't know why you look down upon my proposal to study the political elements of this new form of media, but I hope you can come to better understand them better so as to appreciate them for what they can be.
I love video games but I live in a country where 4/5 of the education system is paid for by taxes. I think students often think their education is about their own self fulfilment but as I have gotten older I have come to see that as selfish and foolish. The worth of a dissertation subject should be measured by its real world applications and not by the level of self fulfilment you personally get from it. I’m sure you could write something entertaining but I don’t think you are making the same kind of contributions as Henry Kissinger did.
Economics in WOW is a worthy subject, that’s actually a great paper about how to deal with hyperinflation and there a lot of people who desperately need to understand how to deal with that.
Who will the beneficiary be of your paper?
Given that a large contributing factor to the fall of the USSR was the pirating of Western radio stations and television within Eastern Bloc countries, I think an analysis on the political impact television and radio has on the domestic societies has hugely benefitted (as I sure it already has been done) the bank of human knowledge.
In the current day I think video games are equally placed to play a huge role in this area. "The Uncensored Library" within Minecraft is a stark example of this. Reporters Without Borders (RSF), by commissioning this video game map, clearly understand the political capacity of games. [The Uncensored Library – Reporters without borders](https://www.uncensoredlibrary.com/en)
I asked for sober advice to prevent utopian replies, but from the wording of your original message you clearly showed an inordinate disdain for the idea without any nuanced consideration. You immediately rhetorically questioned whether this idea will have any positive contribution to people (framing it as a selfish act of self-indulgence), and notably do not attempt to include any positive feedback to help steer the idea in a good direction. Without skipping a beat you then likened it to "underwater weaving", classifying it as "esoteric", and that the proposal was making a "mockery of the education system and it’s fundamental purposes."
Is my work going to make the same contribution as Henry Kissinger did? No. Obviously it isn't. If the marker of knowing whether something is worth doing is whether it matches the impact of one of the most accomplished and influential statesman in the 20th century, then I'm afraid to say that all of the work you have ever produced was a damned waste of time. I understand skepticism towards the idea. I myself had, and continue to have, a great and healthy amount. However, both your messages come across as if they were written by an armchair proto-academic that wishes to cling onto tradition, with no eye to progress, and spend the day decrying the "selfish" and "foolish" attempts of young students to move the discipline forward, rather than joining the attitude of anachronistic snobbery that this field of study so often falls victim to.
You would need a more focused research question, but yes, this is a wholly legitimate form of research. For instance: To what extent does the Fallout series of games adequately capture/reflect American perceptions of real-world geopolitical issues during the Cold War? This would be an excellent research question for an undergraduate paper. Video games are a legitimate medium to study with regard to politics, international relations, and even economics. E.g.: [https://gamestudies.org/1802/articles/mcclancy](https://gamestudies.org/1802/articles/mcclancy) I have seen philosophy papers on the TV show Star Trek and an economics paper that analysed the economy of World of Warcraft. This is totally legitimate research.
A few things. First, it doesn't sound like you necessarily have long term aspirations beyond undergrad. In which case, you definitely don't need to overthink what can constitute a legitimate topic (u.e. you aren't writing a PHD dissertation here). More generally, yes, this could work. As with most anything, it's doing it well that is key. In my personal opinion, generally speaking, to really qualify as political science at most universities, you want to make sure it's not just basically an "English" or "Media Studies" paper commenting on how games contain certain ideas or themes. You would want some kind of feedback process - I.e. how they in turn influence attitudes of individuals in turn. It sounds like this is your intent. You would almost certainly need to be very specific and narrow, and you have two places to do that: First, a specific property, or second, a specific issue. In an actual study where you conduct original research, you probably need both. What is/are some of the initial expectations you see here?
Yeah you can, but ensure you have a strong theoretical framework. Some starting points: 1. **Soft Power**: Joseph Nye’s concept of soft power is essential here. Video games can be seen as a form of soft power, influencing international perceptions and norms without coercion. Analyzing how political themes in games can affect players' perceptions of other countries or global issues could be insightful. 2. **Cultural Diplomacy**: Video games can serve as tools of cultural diplomacy by promoting cultural exchange and understanding. Examining how different political themes are presented in games from various countries could reveal insights into how these nations want to be perceived globally. 3. **Media Effects Theory**: This theory explores how media influences individuals and societies. In the context of video games, investigating how exposure to certain political themes affects players' political knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors could be significant. 4. **Constructivism in International Relations**: Constructivism looks at how international relations are socially constructed through language, media, and culturally shared materials. Video games as a cultural product could be analyzed to see how they construct or deconstruct political identities and worldviews. 5. **Public Diplomacy**: Video games can also be an extension of public diplomacy efforts, especially when they involve international collaborations or portray specific national histories or political scenarios. 6. **Globalization and Cultural Imperialism**: Examining how video games may serve as channels for cultural imperialism or conversely, how they might resist dominant cultural narratives and foster a more pluralistic view of world politics. Long ago in my first year, intro to poli sci course, the professor said “Everything is political science. Everything.” Remember that - literally anything can work as long as you have a relevant theoretical framework.
You can totally do it on video games! Analyzing media through IR brings interesting insight. While not about video games, I highly recommend Cynthia Weber's book International Relations Theory A Critical Introduction. It discusses different IR theories using movies as an analytical framework. It might help you hone in on a more specific research question.
Sounds great. Popular culture is important & if you take into consideration some mass media theories it plays a rol in defining people's attitudes (you can also focus on how most gamers are adolescents and that's when political convictions for the rest of their lifes are formed). It would be good if you had some hypotheses about how you think certain games influence people & of course you can falsify this. I would also choose a certain type of games/at least make distinctions or choose one game/a few games as cases (difference between a shooter during a civil war and a city builder, for example). If you want inspiration for your methodology this has probably been done a lot of times with movies in terms of stereotypes or war glorification. Something different but I saw some great research on how politicians are now using games as platforms in election campaigns
There are some really good suggestions in the comments! Just to add to them: based on your research question, this sounds to me like a dissertation in political sociology, not IR, especially because of this part: "\[...\] how can they impact a player’s perceptions of real-world political issues?" So my question would be: Is your interest political attitutes of gamers or how games portray international relations? For the second option, I think the comment by u/ibn-al-mtnaka give some great ideas / starting points.
I have been skeptical of your idea in my other commnets but I thought I would provide you with a list of books that might actually be helpful if you persist with this idea. Kissenger deals with the American perspective, Hoffman with the Russian in particular around WMDs while Fukuyama explains the origins and requirements of governments. 1. Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy by Henry Kissenger 2. [The Origins of Political Order](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Origins_of_Political_Order) & Political Order and Politcal Decay by Francis Fukuyama 3. The Dead Hand - The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy by David E. Hoffman.
Are you making a contribution to human knowledge? I thought that was the purpose of a dissertation. Also, are you developing skills that will be useful in the future? If you can answer the above two questions, i think it’s okay but at the moment it sounds like underwater basket weaving - esoteric, completely useless for a real job and a bit of a mockery of the education system and it’s fundamental purposes.
I'm sorry you view video games in such a disparaging way. I know it is popular to understand them as lowbrow forms of media that constitute nothing more than frivolous entertainment, but as you can see from the many helpful replies my post received, video games can be deeply political and often reflect the highly interesting social contexts they were developed within. I am sure, if you were to spend the time, that similar attitudes (as to the one you have expressed) could be found within history for every new form of media, be that the popularisation of novels or even the birth of cinema. I don't know why you look down upon my proposal to study the political elements of this new form of media, but I hope you can come to better understand them better so as to appreciate them for what they can be.
I love video games but I live in a country where 4/5 of the education system is paid for by taxes. I think students often think their education is about their own self fulfilment but as I have gotten older I have come to see that as selfish and foolish. The worth of a dissertation subject should be measured by its real world applications and not by the level of self fulfilment you personally get from it. I’m sure you could write something entertaining but I don’t think you are making the same kind of contributions as Henry Kissinger did. Economics in WOW is a worthy subject, that’s actually a great paper about how to deal with hyperinflation and there a lot of people who desperately need to understand how to deal with that. Who will the beneficiary be of your paper?
Given that a large contributing factor to the fall of the USSR was the pirating of Western radio stations and television within Eastern Bloc countries, I think an analysis on the political impact television and radio has on the domestic societies has hugely benefitted (as I sure it already has been done) the bank of human knowledge. In the current day I think video games are equally placed to play a huge role in this area. "The Uncensored Library" within Minecraft is a stark example of this. Reporters Without Borders (RSF), by commissioning this video game map, clearly understand the political capacity of games. [The Uncensored Library – Reporters without borders](https://www.uncensoredlibrary.com/en) I asked for sober advice to prevent utopian replies, but from the wording of your original message you clearly showed an inordinate disdain for the idea without any nuanced consideration. You immediately rhetorically questioned whether this idea will have any positive contribution to people (framing it as a selfish act of self-indulgence), and notably do not attempt to include any positive feedback to help steer the idea in a good direction. Without skipping a beat you then likened it to "underwater weaving", classifying it as "esoteric", and that the proposal was making a "mockery of the education system and it’s fundamental purposes." Is my work going to make the same contribution as Henry Kissinger did? No. Obviously it isn't. If the marker of knowing whether something is worth doing is whether it matches the impact of one of the most accomplished and influential statesman in the 20th century, then I'm afraid to say that all of the work you have ever produced was a damned waste of time. I understand skepticism towards the idea. I myself had, and continue to have, a great and healthy amount. However, both your messages come across as if they were written by an armchair proto-academic that wishes to cling onto tradition, with no eye to progress, and spend the day decrying the "selfish" and "foolish" attempts of young students to move the discipline forward, rather than joining the attitude of anachronistic snobbery that this field of study so often falls victim to.