Dreaming the Machine’s Dream: A Dreamworld Analysis of Video Games Concerning Humanoid Robots

Abstract

This research article examines three humanoid robot video games, The Talos Principle (2014), NieR: Automata (2017), and Detroit: Become Human (2018). The study employs Alfie Bown’s dreamworld analysis framework, which suggests that video games are others’ dreams that players can experience as if they were their own. Video games are thus not merely devices that players control but may also have the power to influence players’ dreams, desires, and hopes.

The Talos Principle transforms anxieties about artificial intelligence into a desire to develop AI as humanity’s heir and legacy bearer in a post-apocalyptic world. NieR: Automata converts concerns about mechanized society within the context of Japanese social and economic crises, using a post-apocalyptic setting as a backdrop, leading to a desire to overthrow the power systems or structures that determine people’s existence in society. Detroit: Become Human transforms anxieties about AI replacing human labor into a desire for AI as revolutionaries fighting for equality and civil rights amid a neoliberal economic context.

This research is significant in revealing video games’ mechanisms for directing human desires, exemplifying how human subjectivity could be modified or controlled by human-created technology. Understanding these video game mechanisms can enhance human capital through the development of critical thinking skills about digital culture, which are crucial for developing innovations based on ethical foundations.