Game-Assisted Social Activism: Game Literacy in Hong Kong’s Anti-Extradition Movement
Journal Volume
17
Journal Issue
7-8
Pages
954
Date Issued
2022-01
Author(s)
Holin Lin
Chuen-Tsai Sun
Abstract
This paper describes the appropriation of video game culture for discursive use during
the 2019–20 Hong Kong anti-extradition movement, with participants relying on game
argot for mass protest communication and mobilization purposes, and employing game
frameworks (especially from MMORPGs) for organizing protest actions. Data from
online forums are used to present examples of video game rhetoric and narratives in
protest-related online discourses, to speculate on their symbolic meanings, and to
examine ways that borrowed aspects of game culture influenced movement activities.
After describing ways that game culture spilled over into social movements, we
highlight examples of gaming literacy during dynamic protest situations. Our evidence
indicates that the combination of game culture and online gaming literacy strengthened
activist toolkits and intensified the “be water” nature of a social movement that many
describe as leaderless.
Subjects
Hong Kong anti-extradition movement
spillover
game culture appropriation
social movement
game rhetoric and narrative
gaming literacy
Publisher
Games and Culture
Type
journal article