Im/possible Boredom: Rethinking the Present of the Gamer Subject
Résumé
Mobile games downloads have witnessed a surge during the covid-19 lockdown. Gaming is said to provide a much-needed distraction from the crisis whose intensity is felt as shrunk space and paused time. This article concerns the seemingly contradictory modes of attention-bored/disengaged and intensely engaged-during the covid-19 pandemic. It rethinks the relation between boredom and care by zooming in on the present of the gamer subject. Drawing on feminist theorizations of care and time, critical game studies as well as theorizations of boredom, especially in the context of digital games, this article analyses a hyper-casual game called Helix Jump and rereads the temporality of the covid-19 narrative in China through the logic of digital gaming. It suggests that boredom should be understood as an im/possibility, that is not antithetical to, but an expression of the as-well-as-possibleness of care.
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