{"id":6423,"date":"2025-02-28T09:14:43","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T08:14:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uni.lu\/c2dh-en\/?post_type=events&p=6423"},"modified":"2025-02-28T09:34:55","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T08:34:55","slug":"mad-science-in-video-games","status":"publish","type":"events","link":"https:\/\/www.uni.lu\/c2dh-en\/events\/mad-science-in-video-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Mad Science in Video Games: a Systems Theory Approach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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History@Play lecture by Arno G\u00f6rgen, Hochschule der K\u00fcnste Bern (CH)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens when science goes off the rails, and how do digital games bring this to life? This talk explores how systems theory, a framework developed by German sociologist Niklas Luhmann, can help us understand the portrayal of “Mad Science” in video games. Systems theory views society as a network of self-contained systems, each governed by its own logic (medicine by “healthy\/sick,” for instance, or mass media by “information\/non-information). These systems help us manage crises, but they also create friction and uncertainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In digital games, this friction is deliberately amplified. The hardware and software systems that underpin gameplay create challenges and disruptions, while game narratives exaggerate the breakdowns of other societal systems. Nowhere is this more vivid than in “Mad Science”, a long-standing cultural trope tracing back to Frankenstein, where science spirals into chaos, threatening the protagonists and their worlds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike traditional narratives, games take this trope a step further by turning individual “mad scientist” actions into system-wide breakdowns. Players must navigate these dystopian systems where science becomes a monstrous force through both storytelling and mechanics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arno G\u00f6rgen<\/strong> is a cultural historian with a doctorate in media and medical history. He is currently a senior researcher and co-lead of the SNSF-Sinerg\u00eda project Confoederatio Ludens: Swiss History of Games, Play, and Game Design (1968\u20132000)<\/a> at Bern University of the Arts. Previously, he was a member of the SNSF Ambizione project Horror-Game-Politics<\/a> from 2018 to 2022. His research focuses on pop-cultural representations of illness, science, and medicine; the medicalization of digital games; systems theory; and the political history of ideas. He also supervises and moderates the academic podcasts Design. Power. Gesellschaft<\/a><\/em>. and Kritische Controller<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a hybrid event, you can join in-person or online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n