Value formations in a video-game-franchise. A comparison of value formations in “The Last of Us” (2013) and “The Last of Us: Part II” (2020) (since 2020)

Bodil Stelter, M.A.

Video games provide ample ground for discussions. Often enough such debates transcend their origin and reach into larger societal controversies. Examples such as #Gamergate or the Blitzchung-controversy show that gaming is in fact not a neutral territory when it comes to political or ideological conflicts. This project approaches these kinds of phenomena via the theoretical framework of value-formations. It focuses on different types of actors and platforms and also takes gaming itself as a communicative practice seriously. The center of analysis will be the exemplary discourse on the The-Last-of-Us-franchise. In the timeframe between 2013 and 2020 this project analyses values and value-conflicts in this gaming-related context and seeks to identify patterns through which value-formations occur in gamevironments.