Background.

Building on previous studies on racism and whiteness in video games, this article investigates how deck building games provide platforms for identity tourism, the symbolic appropriation of marginalised experiences, through their coupling of mechanics and racial stereotypes.

Aims.

The aim is to contribute to our understanding how dominant ideologies are expressed through simulation and gaming in a deck building context and how games similar to ASCENSION: DAWN OF CHAMPIONS (henceforth A: DOC) perpetuate racism and coloniality through gameplay design. This is part of an ongoing game studies effort to critique white supremacist and imperial structures in games.

Method.

In this article, I conduct a first-person close reading of A: DOC as an emblematic case study for contemporary deck building design. Using critical whiteness theory, I pay special attention to the gameplay design of the four Champion characters Nairi, Kor, Sadranis, and Dhartha in order to demonstrate the interplay of ludic, racial, and social performative elements in the construction of playful identities.

Analysis.

The deck building principles of A: DOC provides a racial pedagogical arena which creates affective links between gameplay and white supremacist values. In coupling digital deck building mechanics with stereotypical fantasy characters, the game invites players to take the roles of fantasy tourists and thereby become implicit in white supremacist play. Even though the characters Nairi, Kor, Sadranis and Dhartha are leaders of different genders and races, their “diversity” is established via popular racial cybertypes like the white female diversity advocate, the technologically advanced white male emperor, the aggressive Black male, and the Asian male exotic Oriental.

中文翻译：

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我们是冠军？在“提升”中实现白度：冠军的曙光

背景。

本文基于先前有关视频游戏中种族主义和白人的研究，研究了甲板游戏如何通过机制和种族刻板印象的结合为身份旅游，边缘化体验的象征性使用提供平台。

目的

目的是帮助我们理解如何在甲板建筑环境中通过模拟和游戏来表达主导意识形态，以及类似于《飙升：冠军的王者》（以下简称“ DOC”）的游戏如何通过游戏设计来使种族主义和殖民主义永存。这是正在进行的游戏研究工作的一部分，旨在对游戏中的白人至上主义和帝国主义结构进行批判。

方法。

在本文中，我对A：DOC作了第一人称阅读，作为当代甲板建筑设计的标志性案例研究。使用批判性白度理论，我特别注意了四个冠军人物Nairi，Kor，Sadranis和Dhartha的游戏设计，目的是证明嬉戏的身份建构中喜剧，种族和社交表演元素之间的相互作用。

分析。

答：DOC的套牌构建原则提供了一个种族教育学的舞台，在游戏玩法和白人至上主义价值观之间建立了情感联系。通过将数字化甲板建筑技艺与典型的幻想角色结合在一起，该游戏邀请玩家扮演幻想游客的角色，从而隐含在白人至上主义者的游戏中。尽管Nairi，Kor，Sadranis和Dhartha是不同性别和种族的领导者，但他们的“多样性”是通过流行的种族网络类型建立的，例如白人女性多样性倡导者，技术先进的白人男性皇帝，好斗的黑人男性以及亚洲男性异国东方。