Discursive games on board: Communicating ideology through the semiotics of play

Abstract

This study examines analog board games as multimodal semiotic systems that mediate cultural communication and ideological transmission. Rather than treating board games as recreational objects, it positions them as historically situated discursive artifacts shaped by shifting sociopolitical contexts. Through a diachronic framework, the study traces their transformation from nineteenth-century moral pedagogy to twentieth-century capitalist simulations and, more recently, to designs foregrounding geopolitical contestation and decolonial critique. Using multimodal discourse analysis and social semiotics combined with close and comparative play analysis, the research investigates how meaning is encoded through symbolic design, rule systems, and player positioning across purposively selected six games: The Mansion of Happiness, Monopoly, Settlers of Catan, Twilight Struggle, Food Chain Magnate and Spirit Island. Findings indicate that while earlier games naturalize dominant moral and economic worldviews, contemporary titles embed reflexivity and systemic critique within their procedural structures. The study argues that board games function as communicative ecologies in which form, mechanics, and ideology interact to shape cultural meaning.

Keywords

• Board game semiotics
• analog media studies
• cultural communication
• multimodal discourse analysis
• game design

Masaüstü oyunlarında söylem: Göstergebilim aracılığıyla oyunlarda ideolojinin aktarımı

Abstract

Bu çalışma, analog kutu oyunlarını kültürel iletişimi ve ideolojik aktarımı aracılık eden çok modlu ve göstergebilimsel sistemler olarak incelemektedir. Kutu oyunları yalnızca eğlence nesneleri olarak değil, değişen sosyopolitik bağlamlar içinde biçimlenen tarihsel ve söylemsel kültürel eserler olarak konumlandırılmaktadır. Art zamanlı bir çerçeve üzerinden çalışma, on dokuzuncu yüzyılın ahlaki pedagojik oyunlarından yirminci yüzyılın kapitalist simülasyonlarına ve günümüzde jeopolitik çatışma ile sömürgecilik karşıtı eleştiriyi görünür kılan tasarımlara uzanan dönüşümü izlemektedir. Çok modlu söylem analizi ve toplumsal göstergebilim yaklaşımı, yakın okuma ve karşılaştırmalı oyun çözümlemesi ile birleştirilerek, anlamın sembolik tasarım, kural sistemleri ve oyuncu konumlandırmaları aracılığıyla nasıl kurulduğu incelenmiştir. Amaçlı örnekleme ile seçilen altı oyun (The Mansion of Happiness, Monopoly, Settlers of Catan, Twilight Struggle, Food Chain Magnate, Spirit Island) karşılaştırmalı olarak analiz edilmiştir. Bulgular, erken dönem oyunların egemen ahlaki ve ekonomik dünya görüşlerini doğallaştırdığını, çağdaş tasarımların ise kuramsal farkındalık ve sistem eleştirisini mekanik yapılarına gömdüğünü göstermektedir.

Keywords

• Analog medya çalışmaları
• kutu oyunu göstergebilimi
• kültürel iletişim
• çok katmanlı söylem çözümlemesi
• oyun tasarımı

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