Digital games as postmodern cultural texts is an inexhaustible issue. However, research on the food theme in video games can help in understanding how complex phenomenon we are dealing with and why game developers need to incorporate elements of everyday life into digital matter.
In the book the author presents unique ways of portraying food in video games and indicates the significant role of as a means of communication and a carrier of meanings. These food studies are also aimed at drawing attention to development of food theme, which has become one of the most important tools to build a virtual reality, as well as a link between different identities and experiences in the digital and real world. In the perspective presented in the publication, food is a pretext to create an intimate, safe world and a close relationship between the player and the character. When discussing the occurrence of food in video games, the researcher uses examples such as: "Pokémon Sword and Shield", "Final Fantasy XV" or "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" and emphasizes the presence of socially important issues related to food and identity in games , e.g. veganism, queer, combining work with entertainment or even spending free time in a coffeehouse.
It is worth taking a closer look at this book both due to the innovative narrative in the field of research on "gaming" and the prestige of the publishing house in which the scientist's publication was published. The German publishing house De Gruyter has one of the most numerous resources of scientific texts in the world. The high quality and availability of many titles on the publisher's website contributed to winning the Best Publisher User Experience Award 2022.
Agata Waszkiewicz, PhD, is a laureate of the PRELUDIUM 20 competition organized by the National Science Center. She is also a member of the Program Council of the Video Game Research Center UMCS. Her research focuses on metafictional and experimental video games as well as on how they depict non-normative and marginalized identities.
Additional information on the De Gruyter website
Photo by De Gruyter/Cover image by Agata Waszkiewicz
