Kärnvapen, inbördeskrig och en hemtrevlig känsla: Skapande och användande av minnen utifrån BioShock Infinite och Metro 2033

Sammanfattning: In light of video games and gaming becoming a more normalized and widespread phenomenon this essay examines how personal memories are created and used from playing video games. I have used the games BioShock Infinite and Metro 2033 as a basis for this discussion. The study is based on observations of internet forums centred around the games and live streams of people playing them. The theoretical perspectives used to analyse this material are prosthetic memory from Alison Landsberg as well as Edward S. Casey’s analysis of mnemonic techniques, most notably recognizing and habitual body memory. To answer the question of how memories from gaming are used to interpret the world we usually live in I first consider the questions of how these memories are created, how they become personal and which memories are created. The conclusions presented focus on the different memory-centered processes which are analyzed throughout the essay. Furthermore I discuss how the gaming experience make real-life phenomena, which usually would have been distant and foreign to the players’ everyday lives, more personal for the players. The memories and remembering also work to create common experiences as well as a shared basis for discussion.