Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 6-21-2021 1:00 PM Artificial rF ontiers, Simulated Indigeneity: Western Big-Budget Open World Games and the Settler Colonial Imaginary Adam Bowes, The University of Western Ontario Supervisor: Boulter, Jonathan S., The University of Western Ontario A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in English © Adam Bowes 2021 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Bowes, Adam, "Artificial rF ontiers, Simulated Indigeneity: Western Big-Budget Open World Games and the Settler Colonial Imaginary" (2021). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 7956. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/7956 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ii Abstract This dissertation studies Western big-budget video games of a genre often referred to as “open world.” By tracking the concept of the “frontier” as a settler colonial (and later neoliberal) signal for space that invites access, I argue these games are both expressive of and cater to settler and neoliberal cultural anxieties regarding extermination and desires for accumulative dominance. Furthermore, these games exhibit their settler colonial and neoliberal ideologies through their narratives, gameplay mechanics, and productive contexts. That exhibition of ideology comes in several formulas of settler and neoliberal cultural production identified by various fields of scholarship. This dissertation, drawing from Indigenous studies, video game studies, post-colonial and Marxist theory, studies the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption series, Assassin’s Creed 3 and the so-called “Ubisoft formula” generally, as well as Horizon Zero Dawn to argue a few central points about big-budget Western open world games: (1) they are what I call artificial frontiers, and as such are the preeminent entertainment of settler colonial cultural mores and the sustained eliminative and accumulative logics of those mores’ historical frontierism; (2) they reveal, reflect, propagate, accommodate, and assuage settler colonial anxieties and desires; (3) they exhibit (though attempt to obscure) the genocidal logic and exploitative relations of Western settler colonialism and neoliberalism; consequently, to some extent this dissertation argues the video game industry’s social function shows the compatibility of settler-influenced neoliberalism with fascist ideology. iii Keywords Video Games, Open World, Indigeneity, Settler Colonialism, Frontier, Neoliberalism, Fascism Summary for Lay Audience (350) This dissertation argues that the big-budget, Western-made video games of the “open world” genre draw from the concept of the “frontier” for their success. By studying the Grand Theft Auto series, Red Dead Redemption series, Assassin’s Creed III, and Horizon Zero Dawn, I assert the genre’s features make them “artificial frontiers” because they cater to the same cultural anxieties and desires “the frontier” has historically produced and continues to “play” with. As the frontier is historically a space of imperial genocide, modern video game companies design these games as power fantasies. These power fantasies normalize the economic, racial, and political problems of Western culture, and seek to soothe the fears and wants that context produces. Finally, I argue that these fantasies reveal how the ideology of these extremely popular games is similar to fascist ideology. iv Acknowledgments First and foremost, this dissertation would not be complete and my life would be a disaster without Lee Fraser. Your fierce intelligence, your assistance and acumen, your boundless inquiries, and your inspiring words, presence, and artistry make all good things seem possible. I must thank my mother, who has always believed in me, and always encouraged me to take the path that was most true to myself. I happily acknowledge Jonathan Boulter, my supervisor, who gave this project’s development the kind of critique, guidance, and encouragement it needed to survive. His patience, good nature, expertise, and thorough supervision were absolutely crucial to this dissertation’s completion. Thank you to my graduate colleagues, lapsed, continuing, and graduated before. Emily Kring: your friendship, like your editing prowess, is without equal. For this dissertation’s completion and so much more, I owe you debts I will happily repay in perpetuity. Maral Aguilera-Moradipour: you, your family, and your work are so inspiring that I consider myself lucky to have ever met you. Lisa Templin: you are a terrifyingly impressive academic, and a startlingly good person. Caroline Diezyn: your comradeship kept me going, and you continue to inspire me. Kaila Rose: you are a big part of what made the first year of the PhD seem bearable, so you share some of the blame for my continuing. I would also like to thank my committee for their insights and interventions in this work and how it may be taken forward. I am deeply honoured that Jodi Byrd appraised my work, and I am grateful for their points regarding how my work could be v problematized (such as by scholars of disability studies) as well as how it could be elevated in the future, such as making a clearer distinction between some of the work I cite together, and by citing extremely relevant work such as that of Manu Karuka and Chandan Reddy. My gratitude to Donna Pennee extends beyond her role on this committee, but here I will relegate my thanks to just that. Dr. Pennee’s probing of some of my dissertation’s underlying but largely unexpressed assumptions (the nature of structures themselves, for example) will keep the wheels in my cranium turning for some time. Thanks as well to Manina Jones; your questions regarding genre, addiction, and competition are exactly what I would be interested in pursuing right away. Finally, thank you to Kim Verwaayen, whose insistence on the importance of more directly attending to gender in a study of this nature is well taken and will not be neglected in further work. The entire committee was wonderful, and I actually wished I had more time to “defend” this dissertation so I could discuss all of these topics with you at greater length. vi Table of Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………....ii Keywords…………………………………………………………………………………iii Summary for the Lay Audience………………………………………………………......iii Acknowledgements…...…………………………………………………….…………….iv Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………………vi Introduction………………………………………………………..……………………....1 The Inside/Outside Frontier……………………………………………….………7 The Structure: Settler Colonialism…………..…………………………………...23 Cultural Production, Games, and the Artificial Frontier…………………………29 Dynamic Indigeneity……………………………………………………………..32 Where This is Going and How I Do It…………………………………………...35 Chapter One: Rockstar Games and the Settler Fantasies of the Neoliberal Frontier…….44 The Grand Theft Auto Series: Neoliberal Production of Cynical Empire……….46 GTAV’s Asshole Theory of Capitalism and the Neoliberal Treatment of Race....69 The Non-Physical Casino Games of High Finance and GTA Online…………....82 Sovereignty, Racial Capitalism, and GTAV’s Brush with Indigeneity…………..97 Red Dead Redemption, Open World Occlusion, and the Neoliberal Cowboy....108 Red Dead Redemption, Where Cowboys are Indians, But Still Settlers………..120 Red Dead Redemption, Settlement, Occluded Genocide, and Colonial Anxiety………..................................…………………………127 Red Dead Redemption 2: Larger World, Larger Systems, Same Appropriation……………………………….………………..….134 Oglala Communalism and Red Dead Redemption 2’s Mechanisms of Playing Indian…………………………………………………….….147 Red Dead Redemption 2: The Continuing Masculine Redemption of Settlement……………………………………………………………155 Zombie Imperialism and the Enduring Frontier Power Fantasies of the Besieged………………………………………………………….159 Chapter Two: Assassin’s Creed 3, the Tribal Un/Real, and Ubisoft’s Proliferation of Settler Simulation...........................................................................…167 vii Templars, Assassins, and Other Players of Settler Colonialism……………..…171 ACIII, Narrative, and Indigenous Past and Future……………………………...177 The Homesteading Indian Fantasy and the Vanishing Protagonist…………….192 The Manifest Manners of Playing Ubisoft’s Simulated Indian………………...202 The Ubisoft Formula and the Mobility of the Settler Subject………………….208 Third-Person Perspective and the Settler as Universal Subject………………...218 Chapter Three: The Settler Frontier Overlap of Neoliberalism and Fascism: Horizon Zero Dawn, Hypertopian Spectacle, and the Nomos of Open Worlds…………………………….…………………………...224 Aloy, the “Brave” that Surpasses All Others……………………..…………….225 Tribal Real Erasure in the Hypertopia………………………………………….230 Cacophony, and the Indigenizing Settlers of Gene Fetishism………………….242 Neoliberal Sovereign Consumers of Spectacle, and the Fascist Nomos of the Magic Circle…………….……………………………………….252 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………...271 Bibliography……………………..………………………………..……………………278 1 Introduction One person’s play session of the console video game Grand Theft Auto III (GTAIII) may look substantially different from another’s. Every player controls an avatar and the screen’s