Counterforensic Ludology : An approach to critical work with board games

Abstract

This work introduces counterforensic ludology as a critical practice in game research and design that examines and questions the representation of state violence in board games. These games model political and historical realities through rules and procedures that emulate social systems, incorporating discourses that shape social imaginaries about the present and the past. Critical studies have deconstructed these models to show how they legitimize power distribution, the oppression of vulnerable populations, and the use of violence. However, unlike the critical interventions conducted with digital game systems—which allow for the subversion of hegemonic narratives and the articulation of narratives centered on subaltern actors—critical work with board games from this perspective remains scarce.

Counterforensic ludology is presented as a theoretical, practical, and political device that allows for examining, exposing, and disputing simulated state violence in board games, even when it occurs below the threshold of detectability for players and researchers. This practice recognizes the forensic aesthetics and materiality of game components, leveraging their sensory and expressive qualities to enhance critical analysis. By focusing on rules, mechanics, systems, and entities, it recovers and analyzes evidence of simulated state violence using residual information that the game produces but keeps inactive. This enables the reconstruction of the trajectories and experiences of subaltern entities in the game, generating counter hegemonic texts that question dominant discourses.

To demonstrate the procedures and results of counterforensic ludology, an intervention carried out with the board game Juden Raus! (1938) is presented. This game, produced in Nazi Germany, contains racist representations of Jewish people and models the regime's policy of Aryanization. The counterforensic exercise involved an iterative process of research, reconstruction, and creation. By digitizing the game using the Construct 3 engine, it was revealed that during the original sessions, players lacked significant agency and that the system generated information about the trajectories of the victims of antisemitic violence; however, this information remained on a residual plane, hidden from players.

Utilizing the residual elements of the game, a revised version was constructed that employs the algorithms of the original material to offer game modes that question its hegemonic narratives and enable spaces for critical exploration. This version allows players to actively participate in contesting the original discourse, facilitating the emergence of small stories of subaltern subjects and populations.

The project demonstrates how the counterforensic perspective allows for examining, exposing, and disputing the representation of political violence in board game systems. However, limitations in this approach are recognized, such as the risk of overlooking the act of playing and the circumstances of the players, or of revictimizing the violated populations and appropriating their stories. Future lines of work propose integrating the perspective of players to better understand their processes of meaning-making and exploring critical pedagogies in game design that enable designers to question and transform sociocultural and political structures.

This approach not only recovers the voices of hidden victims in ludic systems but also invites players and researchers to question and resist narratives that legitimize state violence. By transforming a hate artifact into a critical artifact, it contributes to the reflection on experimental methodologies for the critical study of board games and opens new possibilities for critical design and pedagogy in this field.