Relevance of Gandhian Philosophy Today
Mahatma Gandhi's unique philosophy and ideas continue to shape and inspire our society. His emphasis on non-violence, truth, and moral progress, along with concepts like Satyagraha, remain relevant in navigating today's complex world. This article explores the enduring impact of Gandhian principles on politics, society, and individual growth, highlighting the essence of his teachings in fostering a peaceful and just world.
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Playing in the Orient: Discussing Ubisoft s Far Cry 3 in Relation to Orientalist Discourse Thomas Brassington / Lancaster University / @TomWBrass
Far Cry 3 Play through the game as Jason Brody, a 20-something frat boy, who is celebrating earning his pilot s license by going on a holiday to the East with your friends Whilst skydiving, the group lands on the Rook Islands, an archipelago that is under the domination of pirates. The group is separated upon their kidnap. Jason and his brother attempt to escape the pirate camp they are being held in, causing Jason s brother to get shot in the head and Jason himself to escape the camp. This starts the game proper.
Orientalism The Orient was almost a European invention, and had been since antiquity a place of romance, exotic beings, haunting memories and landscape, remarkable experiences. Edward W. Said, Orientalism (London: Penguin, 1978; repr. 2003) p. 1 The relationship between Occident and Orient is a relationship of power, of domination, of varying degrees of a complex hegemony Said, p. 6 Knowledge means rising above immediacy, beyond self, into the foreign and distance. The object of such knowledge is inherently vulnerable to scrutiny; this object is a fact which [ ] is ontologically stable. To have such knowledge [ ] is to dominate it, to have authority over it [ ] the Oriental country [ ] exists [ ] as we know it. Said, p. 32
Knowing the Orient in Video Games there has emerged in recent years a whole new medium, computer and in particular video games, whose foundation is not in looking and reading but in the instigation of material change through action. Alexander R. Galloway, Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture (Minneapolis & London: University of Minnesota Press, 2006) pp. 3-4 These increasingly sophisticated artificial environments are influenced only by human imagination and technological limitation; the result is imaginary geographies that are embedded with ideas and messages Leigh Schwartz, Fantasy, Realism, and the Other in Recent Video Games , Space and Culture, 9, 3 (August 2006) 313-325 (p. 313)
Knowing the Orient in Far Cry 3 players not only take in but participate in the geographical ideas that are embedded into game spaces. Schwartz, p. 318 Ideology in games occurs in both its cinematic and its textual expression as well as throughout the rules and gameplay mechanics. Robert Cassar, Gramsci and Games , Games and Culture, 1, 24 (July 2013) (p. 2) In a sense Orientalism was a library or archive of information commonly and, in some of its aspects, unanimously held. [ ] These ideas explained the behaviour of Orientals [ ] they allowed European to deal with and even to see Orientals as a phenomenon possessing regular characteristics. Said, pp. 41-42
Conclusion Playing in the Orient Narrative elements speak allegorically to contemporary issues and ludic elements can be seen as a way players work through and reify cultural ideologies Ryan Lizardi, Repelling the Invasion of the Other : Post-Apocalyptic Shooter Videogames Addressing Contemporary Cultural Attitudes , Journal for Computer Game Culture, 3, 2 (2009) 295- 308 (p. 296) While the surface of each colonialist text purports to represent specific encounters with specific varieties of the racial Other, the subtext valorizes the superiority of European cultures Abdul R. JanMohamed, The Economy of Manichean Allegory , in The Post-Colonial Studies Reader 2ndend., ed. Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffith and Heln Tiffin (London & New York: Routledge, 1995; repr. 2007) p. 19 In a word, play tends to remove the very nature of the mysterious. Richard Caillois, Man Play and Games, trans. Meyer Barash (Urbana & Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1951; repr. 2001) p. 4
Bibliography Caillois, Richard, Man, Play and Games, trans. Meyer Barash (Urbana & Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1951; repr. 2001) Cassar, Robert, Gramsci and Games , Games and Culture, 1, 24 (July 2013) Dyer-Witheford, Nick, and de Peuter, Grieg, Games of Empire: Global Capitalism and Video Games (Minneapolis & London: University of Minnesota Press, 2009) Galloway, Alexander R., Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture (Minneapolis & London: University of Minnesota Press, 2006) JanMohamed, Abdul R., The Economy of Manichean Allegory , in The Post-Colonial Studies Reader 2nd edn., ed. Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffith and Helen Tiffin (London & New York: Routledge, 1995; repr. 2007) Lizardi, Ryan, Repelling the Invasion of the Other : Post-Apocalyptic Shooter Videogames Addressing Contemporary Cultural Attitudes , Journal for Computer Game Culture, 3, 2 (2009) 295-308 Said, Edward. W., Orientalism (London: Penguin, 1978; repr. 2003) Schwartz, Leigh, Fantasy, Realism, and the Other in Recent Video Games , Space and Culture, 9, 3 (August 2006) 313-325 Ubisoft Montreal, Far Cry 3 (Montreal: Ubisoft, 2012-2014
