Eteronomia e autonomia simbolica nei mondi videoludici: Baldur’s Gate

Authors

  • Luigi Somma <p>University of Salerno<strong><em></em></strong></p>

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13129/2281-8138/2026.0.179-195

Keywords:

Social Imaginary, Videogame studies, Identity, Agency, Complexity

Abstract

The essay analyzes Baldur’s Gate III (Larian Studios, 2023) as a ludic and mythopoietic space where social imaginaries, dynamics of re-tribalization (McLuhan 1964; 2015; Maffesoli 1988), and forms of individual and collective agency (Nguyen 2023) intertwine. Through a dialogue with Castoriadis (1975; 2022), Caillois (1958; 2000), Huizinga (1938; 2002), Morin (1993; 2008), and Berger Luckmann (1966; 2024), the study investigates how video games can be configured as socio-imaginal devices, capable of activating symbolic participation and fostering processes of identity construction, while reactivating rituality, mythologies, and community structures within a media context that promotes their rediscovery and reinterpretation. Baldur’s Gate III is explored as a narrative and performative device that enables symbolic participation and identity building, encouraging the rediscovery of rituals, mythologies, and communities. The tension between heteronomy (rules and structures that ensure coherence and limits) and autonomy (the player’s freedom of choice and action) is not a resolvable opposition but rather a  dynamic process. Within this shifting equilibrium, video games become sites of symbolic and social production, where myths are generated, rules are tested, and norms are negotiated.

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Published

2026-01-26

Issue

No. 26 (2025): The Imaginary of Nostalgia (Vol. 2)

Section

Off Topic

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