The Britishness of 'British Video Games'

Webber, Nick (2018) The Britishness of 'British Video Games'. International Journal of Cultural Policy. ISSN 1028-6632

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2018.1448804

Abstract

British government policy has much to say about video games, through
production support, regulation, and recognition (or lack of it) of their cultural
nature, with games defined and promoted as part of the creative industries in a
manner which owes much to film policy. Yet the drive to promote both the
games industry and games culture, and the inconsistent usage of terms like
culture and creativity, produces tensions between different elements of
‘Britishness’, expressed and experienced not only through policy, but also
through the creation and consumption of games. In considering the specificity
of games’ contribution to British identity, therefore, we must understand how
different elements of cultural policy interact with the interests of audiences and
creators to define ‘British games’ – games which have the quality of being, or
being seen to be, British. Such games might be expected not only to represent
British culture within a global marketplace, and to project soft power, but also
to address the British nation in some manner. This diversity, of global and
local, of present-mindedness and nostalgia, suggests that British games
articulate a complex and plural sense of national (cultural) identity.

Item Type:	Article
Dates:	Date Event 14 August 2017 Submitted 2 March 2018 Accepted 7 March 2018 Published
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Video games, British games, national identity, tax relief, cultural diplomacy
Subjects:	CAH24 - media, journalism and communications > CAH24-01 - media, journalism and communications > CAH24-01-05 - media studies
Divisions:	Faculty of Arts, Design and Media > College of English and Media
Depositing User:	Nick Webber
Date Deposited:	04 Mar 2018 12:18
Last Modified:	20 Mar 2023 16:17
URI:	https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/5656