Traumatic Futurism in Computer Games

This work is devoted to the issue of traumatic futurism in computer games. This type of game has long become an important element of the everyday culture of many people. That is why it is worth paying special attention to the study of their medial psychological capabilities and mechanisms of influence. In the modern world, games have increasingly begun to address issues of existing problems in the field of politics, society and culture, including periodically related to issues of trauma and disaster, which can be experienced by people both personally and remotely through news or works of art. The concept we use is “traumatic futurism”. It means a special form of medial normalization of the crisis experience that the game subject could experience in his real life. The term is intended to indicate the unique features that gaming simulations and procedures can generate. Throughout the work, we build on the research of various authors who analyzed both the problems of disaster and trauma, as well as various features of the normalization or sedation of difficult real experiences by media. The work presents an analysis of game projects that focus either on the private experience of the traumatic or the collective experience of the catastrophic. In conclusion, different outcomes of traumatic futurism are drawn, which can be considered as a positive therapeutic effect, but also as a sedative, normalizing media factor.