Jens Schroeder Livres

While the assessment of digital games in Germany is framed by a high-culture critique, which regards them as an ‘illegitimate’ activity, they are enjoyed by a wider demographic as a ‘legitimate’ pastime in Australia. The book analyses the social history of digital gaming in both countries and relates it to their socio-cultural traditions. Concerning social history, Australia almost depicts an inverse mirror image of Germany. Its foundational dynamics, closely associated with different egalitarianisms, led to a different form of distinction than in Germany – a country whose national self-conception was closely related to groups which perpetuated an idealistic notion of Kultur and later integrated it into a rigid class system. The book not only demonstrates how the discourses on games follow long-established patterns of rejection and approval of mass media but also regard them as an access to the inner workings of both societies. How the games are perceived tells us a lot about German and Australian identity.

Es gab sie wirklich – Videospiele in der DDR. Pong wurde zum Bildschirmspiel 01, die Kleincomputer-Serie zur beliebten Spieleplattform und der Palast der Republik zur Spielhalle. Selbst mit einem Arcade-Automaten konnte der Arbeiter- und Bauernstaat aufwarten. Jens Schröder zeichnet in seinem vorliegenden Band liebevoll und detailreich die Geschichte von digitalen Spielen hinter dem Eisernen Vorhang nach und beschreibt ihre Einbindung in die Sozial- und Wirtschaftspolitik des DDR-Regimes sowie ihr Verhältnis zur Spieleentwicklung im Westen.