Playful activism and Moral Disengagement in Political Video Games: An analysis model through Fursan Al-Aqsa
Abstract
This research proposes a ludonarrative analysis of the video game «Fursan al-Aqsa: The Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque» (Nidal Nijm Games, 2022) and its representation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It examines how the game's narrative is constructed through its communicative codes and geopolitical identifiers, and how it influences players' perceptions of the conflict. To do so, a thematic analysis based on Bandura's moral disengagement theory is employed as an interpretative framework. Based on this premise, both the discourse of the video game, its dissemination on Twitch and YouTube, and player reviews on distribution platforms are analyzed. The analysis has identified four factors of moral disengagement: redefinition of condemnable behavior, responsibility, consequences, and victims. The results establish a model of video game analysis based on Bandura's moral disengagement with an ideological discourse and provide an empirical foundation regarding the articulation of Fursan al-Aqsa's message, the reinterpretation proposed by content creators and their audiences.
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