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Mr Dan John
(he/him)
Teams and roles for Dan John
Research student
Overview
I am a recent addition to SHARE's postgraduate research team, currently building my thesis in a collaboration with both SHARE and ENCAP to study the portrayal of various ideologies within alternative history video games, with a focus on the open-ended role-playing game (RPG) as a case study.
Research
Thesis
Cause and Consequence - Roleplaying Ideology in Video Games
My thesis seeks to explore how ideology and ideological practices are portrayed in video games, specifically dystopian and alternative histories that diverge from our own world in a significant manner. This study promises to be an insight into how ideologies from across the political spectrum and beyond, along with moderate and extreme leanings of these ideologies, intract with narrative and player through the medium of video games.
I am specifically looking at alternative history titles, such as Disco Elysium (2019), the Fallout (1997-) series, Tyranny (2016), and Cyberpunk 2077 (2020, with the expansion Phantom Liberty released in 2023). Each of these games, while not necessarily conforming to our own historical timeline, each feature ideas that have echoed throughout the 20th century and beyond, and often call out to our collective memories and biases surrounding these themes.
Supervisors
Contact Details
Research themes
Specialisms
- historical video games
- 19th-21st century
- Political history
- Political violence