Toward a Ludology of Fascism

In a recruitment ad for the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a screenshot from the video game Halo was overlaid with the text “destroy the flood,” presenting an invitation to take part in exterminatory border violence as a form of play. Observing the disquieting glee with which border violence is promoted and conducted in the United States, this paper proposes that fascism should be read as a form of play. This paper looks to games studies as a means to examine how the racialized violence of American policing is given mechanics and procedures that render such violence as pleasurable. Through a case study of the 2023 SWAT-themed video game Ready or Not , this article discusses how thought patterns of fascism are simulated through game mechanics that present fascist praxis as desirable.