Subversion Shielded by Progress Playing and Making Computer Games in Communist Czechoslovakia's Computer Clubs Subversion Shielded by Progress Subversion Shielded by Progress: Playing and Making Computer Games in Communist Czechoslovakia's Computer Clubs

Abstract

The article has two main goals. The first is to describe how computer game cultures existed and thrived under state socialism thanks to the computer hobbyists' tactical repurposing of the existing state infrastructures.

The second is to analyze the entertaining and subversive products of that gaming culture, focusing on a specific case of the game Shatokhin (Šatochin in Slovak), a playful parody of Soviet war hero narratives.

Keywords

• digital games
• Czechoslovakia
• history of everyday life