Beyond Cultural Identity. A Critique of Horizon Zero Dawn as an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Simulator

Abstract

The post-apocalyptic game Horizon: Zero Dawn is a role-playing game that simulates the adventures of Aloy, a female protagonist, in a world where human civilization has returned to its premodern stage of development and the world's fauna has mysteriously become robotic. The cause for this regress into premodernity is revealed by the game's embedded narrative which explains that life on earth had almost become extinct as a result of a military AI going rogue. Implicit in the game's embedded narrative is a strong critique of global capitalism that highlights how neoliberal ideas such as corporate governance, deregulation, and automation imperil life on the planet. Despite its critique, gameplay is structured on the very principles that the game's narrative claims to reject. The world of Horizon: Zero Dawn simulates an entrepreneurial ecosystem in which the player must identify opportunities and manage resources in such a manner as to successfully beat the game. The in-game economy encourages the accumulation of natural resources and features no in-built mechanic to account for the environmental consequences of the playable character's actions, notwithstanding the environmental critique of the game's narrative. This article argues that, contrary to its scripted narrative, Horizon: Zero Dawn naturalizes capitalism by means of its procedural rhetoric. I further argue that the overt critique of capitalism diverts the player's attention from the capitalist principles that support gameplay, thus, paradoxically, consolidating the ideological nature of gameplay. The game's endorsement of capitalism dovetails with a meritocratic worldview which inflects the game's approach to cultural identity and diversity.

Research on the Influence of Cantonese Dialect Expression Package Design on the Cultural Identity of the Younger Generation Guangfu

“…Al-Thamari F discussed the relationship between multiculturalism and cultural identity in art production [9]. Nae A took Horizon: A Critique of Zero Dawn as an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Simulator as an object to analyze the relationship between different cultures [10]. All these studies provide good inspiration and reference for this paper.…”

Only you can save the world (of videogames): Authoritarian agencies in the heroism of videogame design, play, and culture

“…Although Dr. Sobeck’s robots staved off climate collapse, they were a capitalist solution to a capitalism-caused problem that capitalism predictably re-deployed for even more profit-making purposes and with catastrophic consequences. Yet, as Nae (2020) argues, the game’s critique of capitalism simply ‘draws the player’s attention away from the capitalist principles underpinning gameplay’ (275). Despite HZD’s professed environmentalism, the game hinges on technofixes, accumulation, and colonialism: Aloy can only save the world – and players can only finish the game – by participating in an unconstrained extraction of resources, which Aloy uses to craft items, which she trades for currency, which she exchanges for ever-more-superior weapons.…”

“…Despite HZD’s professed environmentalism, the game hinges on technofixes, accumulation, and colonialism: Aloy can only save the world – and players can only finish the game – by participating in an unconstrained extraction of resources, which Aloy uses to craft items, which she trades for currency, which she exchanges for ever-more-superior weapons. In HZD , the environment ‘functions as an infinite resource that always regenerates’ (Nae, 2020). It exists for players’ conquest and consumption, forced to ceaselessly and heroically sacrifice itself to its savior for her redemptive mission.…”

“…18). Nae (2020) speculates that, because HZD tells players that 'they are playing an anti-capitalist game, they are less critical of the ideology that structures gameplay' (275). Perhaps we could extend this conjecture to suppose that HZD's gestures at feminism have likewise persuaded players and scholars to slip off their critical lenses when contemplating Aloy.…”