Exploring the role of video games in the eco-crises

Morgan’s research delves into the intersection of environmental anxiety and video games. Exploring how video games depict eco-crises like climate change, Morgan's work investigates the ways in which these mediums reflect societal fears through the lens of environmental representation, monsters and horror.

'My PhD project is on the environment, the Gothic, and video games. So how we represent environments and climate change and eco-crises in terms of fear and monsters,' Morgan explains. 'It's about negotiating environmental anxiety and guilt, all that sort of fun stuff.'

The topic of Morgan’s research developed from a background in literature and game studies. 'I really believe that video games are one of the primary ways that people engage with storytelling. I think 85% of the population plays video games, and it’s not just for kids anymore, it's a major part of our culture.' For Morgan video games offer unique opportunities to explore complex themes, including the environment, in an immersive and emotional way. 'You can actually walk through those environments, which is really helpful in creating a more vivid representation of the issues at hand.'

While Morgan’s work draws on established research into the emotional impact of video games, her focus on environmental anxiety elements is an emerging field. 'Eco-criticism and video games is a relatively new conversation,' she notes. 'There are people working in the same field, but not many, and not where we explore negative environmental representations in a more monstrous or horrifying way.'

To explore these ideas, Morgan’s analysed 30 to 40 games. 'It’s not just about watching someone else play, it’s about experiencing the process yourself. That’s how video games create affect and emotional responses,' Morgan emphasises. 'I played a lot of games to get a real sense of how these environments work within the medium.'

Beyond gameplay, Morgan also mapped out how environmental depictions are constructed within the game space. 'I’ve been analysing footage, breaking it down and mapping out the negative or Gothic depictions of the environment in a spatial way.' Her approach combines game playing with text analysis to dissect how these environmental themes emerge in video game worlds.

Morgan completed her previous postgraduate studies at Deakin, driven by her desire to study long-distance at a university known for its strong delivery of online content.

Her decision to continue her studies at Deakin was underpinned by her positive experiences with online learning and the strong support system the university provided.

As a PhD candidate, Morgan has faced several challenges. Alongside managing illness, she balanced her studies with raising young children and living in a rural area, making campus attendance difficult. 'I thought it would be way harder to do my PhD by distance, especially because I’m hours away from campus, but it’s actually been good.'

Morgan credits much of her success to her supportive supervisory team. 'Helen Young has been with me since the beginning and is now my primary supervisor. She specialises in history and literature but has also done some work on video games, which has been really helpful,' Morgan shares. 'Rachel Fetherston, who joined about a year ago, specialises in environmental and eco-critical theory, which is invaluable for my research. My other supervisor Karen Le Rossignal has been invaluable in helping me determine structure which is something that I struggle with. She has a lot of experience in teaching writing for games and supervising games related PhD candidates.'

Morgan is part of the student-led committee delivering the graduate led conference Evolving Narratives: Reimagining Power, Possibilities and Perspectives in the 21st Century. Events such as these have given Morgan invaluable opportunities to engage with other researchers and develop career skills outside of research.

Morgan also sees such conferences as a way to foster an environment where graduate researchers can appreciate and celebrate each other's work, even within the diverse field of the Faculty of Arts and Education.