Terror-panic made in Poland: Polish shooter games and the reproduction of American hegemonic patterns

This article investigates whether, and to what extent, contemporary Polish war-themed digital games reproduce and disseminate the image of the “Middle Eastern terrorist”. It examines the hitherto unexplored phenomenon of the ideologization of Polish video games and contributes to broader reflections on how the medium of digital games produces and replicates Orientalist patterns. The theoretical framework is grounded in the theory of political and cultural hegemony, which explores the (hidden) ideological and political dimensions of culture. Five guiding research questions structure the discussion, concerning: the framing of enemy characters; the spatial contexts of their origins; their motivations and allies; the representation of U.S. military actions and those of its allies; and the ways in which the ludic properties of the games relate to the research problem. The findings indicate that war-themed Polish military digital games set in contemporary history replicate and reinforce the political-cultural, colonial archetype of the “Middle Eastern terrorist”. In doing so, they function as effective tools for reproducing and intensifying Orientalist patterns that sustain the construction of a strongly ideological status quo, one perceived as “neutral” and “default”.