Gaming the Iron Curtain: Politics of computer gaming in Communist-era Czechoslovakia

History@Play lecture by Prof. Jaroslav Švelch, Charles University, CZ

Drawing from the eponymous monograph, this talk will show how politics and policies interacted with the early computer game culture in Communist-era Czechoslovakia. On the one hand, the state supported DIY hobby computer clubs for their potential military and economic benefits. On the other hand, computer hobbyists took advantage of state support, while also challenging the power of the oppressive political regime. This uneasy relationship culminated in a series of anonymously released activist computer games from the late 1980s, which chronicled the anti-regime demonstrations, and ultimately the fall of the Communist rule.

About the speaker

Jaroslav Švelch is associate professor of media studies at Charles University, Prague. His monograph Gaming the Iron Curtain (MIT Press, 2018) explores the history of computer games in 1980s Czechoslovakia. His second book Player vs. Monster (MIT Press, 2023) offers a cultural history and critique of video game monsters. He is currently leading the ERC-funded GAMEINDEX project, which focuses on the politics and aesthetics of indexical representations in games.

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