Warhammer 40000 Space Marine'de İktisadi Adalet

Year 2025, Volume: 6 Issue: 2, 104 - 117, 29.12.2025

Yaşar Alkan

https://doi.org/10.71233/kared.1791923

Abstract

Bu çalışma, Warhammer 40.000: Space Marine serisini iktisadi adalet perspektifiyle inceleyerek, oyunun yalnızca bir eğlence ürünü değil, aynı zamanda çağdaş kapitalist düzenin ideolojik izdüşümlerini yansıtan bir kültürel metin olduğunu ortaya koymaktadır. Analizde oyun mekaniği, anlatı, düşman temsilleri, emek süreçleri, ekolojik boyut ve dijital oyun endüstrisinin üretim pratikleri bir arada değerlendirilmiştir. İlk oyunun bireyci ve meritokrasiye dayalı ilerleme sistemi, seçkinlik ve hiyerarşiyi olağanlaştırırken; ikinci oyun kolektif işbirliği ögeleri içermekle birlikte, eşitsizliğin yapısal nedenlerini görünmez kılar. Imperium’un bürokratik-militarist yapısı, Forge World ve Hive World tasvirleri aracılığıyla emeğin sömürüsünü ve çevresel yıkımı estetize ederek doğal bir düzen gibi sunar. Orklar ve Tyranidler gibi düşmanların sürekli dışsal tehdit olarak konumlandırılması, içsel adaletsizliklerin sorgulanmasını engeller. Ayrıca oyun endüstrisinin kendisi, ön sipariş ayrıcalıkları, DLC politikaları ve ağır çalışma koşulları ile adaletsizliklerin dijital ortamda yeniden üretimine katkıda bulunur. Seri, normatif olarak gücün merkezileştirilmesini, emeğin görünmezleştirilmesini ve çevresel sürdürülemezliği meşrulaştırır. Bununla birlikte, oyuncular ve akademi için eleştirel okuma fırsatları sunarak daha adil oyun mekanikleri, anlatıları ve üretim koşullarının tasarlanmasına yönelik bir çağrı niteliği taşır. Bu yönüyle Space Marine, hem ideolojik yeniden üretim aracı hem de alternatif adalet anlayışları geliştirmek için verimli bir eleştirel alan işlevi görmektedir.

Keywords

Warhammer 40000 Space Marine , İktisadi Adalet , Oyun Analizi , Emek , Ekoloji

Economic Justice in Warhammer 40000 Space Marine

Abstract

This study analyzes Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine series through the lens of economic justice, arguing that the games are not merely entertainment products but also cultural texts reflecting the ideological dynamics of contemporary capitalism. The analysis integrates gameplay mechanics, narrative structures, enemy representations, labor relations, ecological dimensions, and the production practices of the digital game industry. The first game’s individualistic and meritocratic progression system normalizes elitism and hierarchy, while the second game introduces elements of collective cooperation but obscures the structural roots of inequality. The Imperium’s bureaucratic-militarist organization, alongside the depictions of Forge Worlds and Hive Worlds, aestheticizes labor exploitation and environmental destruction, presenting them as natural order. Meanwhile, external enemies such as Orks and Tyranids are consistently framed as existential threats, diverting attention from internal injustices. Furthermore, the industry itself reproduces inequalities through preorder privileges, DLC policies, and exploitative labor practices in development. The series legitimizes centralized power, the invisibility of labor, and ecological unsustainability at a normative level. However, it also offers opportunities for critical reflection, encouraging players and scholars to imagine more equitable game mechanics, narratives, and production processes. In this sense, Space Marine functions simultaneously as a vehicle of ideological reproduction and as a critical arena for developing alternative visions of justice.

Keywords

Warhammer 40000 Space Marine , Economic Justice , Game Analysis , Labor , Ecology

References

• Althusser, L. (1971). Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays (B. Brewster, Trans.). Monthly Review Press.
• Benjamin, W. (2008). The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, and Other Writings on Media. Harvard University Press.
• Blaut, J. M. (1993). The Colonizer’s Model of the World: Geographical Diffusionism and Eurocentric History. Guilford Press.
• Bogost, I. (2007). Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames. MIT Press.
• Consalvo, M. (2019). Atari to Zelda: Japan’s Videogames in Global Contexts. MIT Press.
• Dibbell, J. (2006). Play Money: Or, How I Quit My Day Job and Made Millions Trading Virtual Loot. Basic Books.
• Dobson, A. (1998). Justice and the Environment: Conceptions of Environmental Sustainability and Dimensions of Social Justice. Oxford University Press.
• Dyer-Witheford, N., & de Peuter, G. (2009). Games of Empire: Global Capitalism and Video Games. University of Minnesota Press.
• Feenberg, A. (1991). Critical Theory of Technology. Oxford University Press.
• Fisher, M. (2009). Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? Zero Books.
• Focus Entertainment. (2024). Warhammer 40000: Space Marine 2. Saber Interactive. Retrieved from https://www.focus-entmt.com/en/games/warhammer-40000-space-marine-2
• Foster, J. B. (1999). ‘Marx’s Theory of Metabolic Rift: Classical Foundations for Environmental Sociology.’ American Journal of Sociology, 105(2), 366-405.
• Fraser, N. (2009). Scales of Justice: Reimagining Political Space in a Globalizing World. Columbia University Press.
• Frey, C. B., & Osborne, M. A. (2017). ‘The Future of Employment: How Susceptible Are Jobs to Computerisation?’ Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 114, 254-280.
• Gee, J. P. (2003). What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. Palgrave Macmillan / Computers in Entertainment (CIE).
• Goodman, J. (2018). ‘Machine Worship and Religious Technocracy in Warhammer 40000.’ Journal of Science Fiction, 2(4), 59-73.
• Gramsci, A. (1971). Selections from the Prison Notebooks (Q. Hoare & G. Nowell Smith, Eds. & Trans.). International Publishers.
• Haskel, J., & Westlake, S. (2017). Capitalism without Capital: The Rise of the Intangible Economy. Princeton University Press.
• Harvey, D. (1973). Social Justice and the City. Edward Arnold.
• Hobbes, T. (1996). Leviathan. (R. Tuck, Ed.). Cambridge University Press. (Original work published in 1651).
• Jackson, T. (2009). Prosperity Without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet. Earthscan.
• Kowert, R., & Quandt, T. (2015). The Video Game Debate: Unravelling the Physical, Social, and Psychological Effects of Digital Games. Routledge.
• Kücklich, J. (2005). ‘Precarious Playbour: Modders and the Digital Games Industry.’ Fibreculture Journal, 5(1), 1-8.
• Lexicanum. (s.a.). Adeptus Mechanicus; Servitor; Forge World. Retrieved from https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/
• Lexicanum. (s.a.). Forge World; Adeptus Mechanicus. Retrieved from https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/
• Lexicanum. (s.a.). Hive World; Agri-World; Tyranids. Retrieved from https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/
• Lexicanum. (s.a.). Imperium of Man - Lexicanum. Retrieved from https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Imperium_of_Man
• Lexicanum. (s.a.). Tyranids. Retrieved from https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Tyranids
• Marx, K. (1990). Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, Volume I (B. Fowkes, Trans.). Penguin Classics.
• Marx, K. (1975). Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844. (M. Milligan, Trans.). Progress Publishers.
• Mitchell, R. (2017). ‘Mechanized Faith: Adeptus Mechanicus and the Politics of Technology.’ In J. Walls (Ed.), Gaming the Gods: Religion and Digital Worlds (pp. 203-223). Routledge.
• Mitchell, R. (2021). ‘The Political Economy of Warhammer 40000.’ Games and Culture, 16(1), 59–76.
• Nieborg, D. (2015). ‘Crushing Candy: The Free-to-Play Game in Its Connective Commodity Form.’ Social Media + Society, 1(2), 1-12. Nozick, R. (1974). Anarchy, State, and Utopia. Basic Books.
• Nozick, R. (1974). Anarchy, State, and Utopia. Basic Books.
• Paul, C. A. (2018). The Toxic Meritocracy of Video Games: Why Gaming Culture Is the Worst. University of Minnesota Press.
• Rawls, J. (1971). A Theory of Justice. Harvard University Press.
• Relic Entertainment. (2011). Warhammer 40000: Space Marine [Video game]. THQ.
• Said, E. (1993). Culture and Imperialism. Vintage Books.
• Schreier, J. (2017). Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made. HarperCollins.
• Schulzke, M. (2012). Using Video Games to Think About Distributive Justice. Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy.
• Steam. (2024). Warhammer 40000: Space Marine 2. Retrieved from https://store.steampowered.com/app/2183900
• Suvin, D. (1979). Metamorphoses of Science Fiction: On the Poetics and History of a Literary Genre. Yale University Press.
• Valve Corporation. (2024). Warhammer 40000: Space Marine 2 - Steam store page. Retrieved from https://store.steampowered.com/app/2183900/Warhammer_40000_Space_Marine_2/
• Wikipedia contributors. (s.d.). Warhammer 40000: Space Marine - Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warhammer_40%2C000%3A_Space_Marine
• Winner, L. (1986). The Whale and the Reactor: A Search for Limits in an Age of High Technology. University of Chicago Press.
• Zuboff, S. (2019). The Age of Surveillance Capitalism. PublicAffairs.