《經》(2022-01-08 The Americas)博爾索納羅對戰魯羅

Brazil 巴西

Bolsonaryo v Lulo 博爾索納羅對戰魯羅

A divisive political culture finds expression in video games分裂的政治文化反映在電子遊戲中

SÃO PAULO

When Felipe Rosa， a softly spoken 11­-year­-old from São Paulo， got bored playing “Minecraft”， a video game， he downloaded a new game， “Kandidatos”， that went viral when it was released in 2020。 The game involves hand-­to-­hand combat between Brazilian politicians， including “Bolsonaryo，” who looks just like Jair Bolsonaro， the right-wing president， and “Lulo，” a carbon copy of leftist ex-­president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva。 Rudimentary graphics and symphonic rock accompany their grunts， punches and kicks。 Mr Rosa was delighted。 “It’s the crudeness that makes it cool，” he says。

Felipe Rosa是一個住在聖保羅市，說話輕聲細語的11歲男孩。他玩電子遊戲《我的世界》玩得膩了，於是下載了一個叫《Kandidatos》的新遊戲，這是一款以巴西政治人物為角色的格鬥遊戲，自2020年發行以來迅速走紅網路。遊戲中的角色有“波索納由”，他長得就和巴西右翼總統波索納羅一樣，還有“魯羅”，他簡直就是左翼前總統路易斯·伊納西奧·盧拉·達席爾瓦（Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva）的翻版。遊戲畫質非常粗糙，在交響搖滾樂的伴奏下，對戰選手發出咕咕噥噥的聲音，互相拳打腳踢。Rosa玩得不亦樂乎。他說：“這種粗糙感酷極了。”

Gabriel Nunes， the game’s creator， has been designing video games for over a decade but “didn’t make a cent before ‘Kandidatos’”。 It was downloaded 50，000 times the week it launched （for $0。99 on Steam， an online shop）。 It has now been bought some 170，000 times。 Hyped online， occasionally by famous gamers， it joins a growing number of meme­like games by independent developers in Brazil whose main purpose is to mock politics。 At least a dozen have hit the market in recent years。

創作這個遊戲的加布裡埃爾·努內斯（Gabriel Nunes），有著十年多的遊戲開發經驗，但“在Kandidatos之前都沒賺到過什麼錢。”這款遊戲在發行一週內（以0。99$的售價發行在網店Steam上），下載次數就達到了5萬次，到目前為止總購買次數約17萬次。該遊戲在網上躥紅，有時還得到知名玩家的賣力吹捧，成為巴西越來越多的模因式遊戲大軍中的一支，這些獨立遊戲開發者的主要目的是為了諷刺政治。近幾年來，至少已有10多款遊戲投放市場。

This reflects not only the occasionally farcical nature of Brazilian politics but also the history of video games in the country， home to the world‘s fifth­biggest population of players。 Bans on imports in the 1980s and steep taxes ever since have shaped its gaming culture in strange and unique ways。 In 1987 Sega， a Japanese console manufacturer， teamed up with TecToy， a Brazilian toy company。 Together they make a version of one of Sega’s consoles， the Master System， which by 2016 had sold a whopping 8m units， millions more than any Sega console in the United States。 Sega consoles are now obsolete in most of the world， but in Brazil they still sell。

這一現象不僅反映了巴西政治有時鬧劇般的本質，也反映了該國電子遊戲的歷史，巴西遊戲玩家數量排名全球第五。1980年代的進口禁令，以及自那以後的高額關稅，以一種奇怪和獨特的方式塑造了巴西遊戲文化。1987年，日本遊戲機製造商世嘉（Sega），與巴西玩具公司Tec Toy 合作，一起設計了一款名為“the Master System”的遊戲機，自2016年以來銷售額高達8百萬臺，比世嘉在美國售出的任何一款遊戲機都要多得多。如今世嘉遊戲機在世界大部分地方已經過時，但在巴西仍有銷售。

Similarly Mr Rosa‘s father， Luiz Paulo， remembers buying pirated game cartridges smuggled in from Paraguay and playing knock-­off or unofficial versions of games。 “Bomba Patch”， an indie adaptation （or “mod”） of “Pro Evolution Soccer”， a Japanese blockbuster， features Brazilian teams and gets an update each year。 Indie games are currently experiencing a worldwide comeback。 In Brazil they never went away。

Rosa的父親Luiz Paulo也還記得購買從巴拉圭走私進來的盜版遊戲卡，或是打盜版或非官方版遊戲。《Bomba Patch》是一款日本大熱遊戲《Pro Evolution Soccer》的獨立改編版本（或稱“模組”），它以巴西足球隊為主角，每年更新一次。目前獨立遊戲正經歷一場全球復興。但在巴西它們從來就沒過時過。

When， in the 2010s， a huge corruption scandal implicated nearly every political party in Brazil， it provided the perfect opportunity for the world of games to collide with that of politics， says Thiago Falcão of the Federal University of Paraíba。 And as more people got mobile phones， the population of players grew。 Today 96% of Brazilian gamers play some or all of the time on a mobile device。 Phones， in turn， lend themselves to meme­-like games that can go viral on messaging apps such as WhatsApp， which is used by a whopping 120m Brazilians （or 56% of the population）。

帕拉伊巴聯邦大學的Thiago Falcão認為，2010年代爆出了一場重大腐敗醜聞，巴西幾乎每個政黨都牽涉其中，卻提供了一個遊戲世界與政治世界碰撞的絕佳機會。隨著越來越多人的擁有行動電話，玩家數量也在增長。如今96%的巴西遊戲玩家部分或全部時間用移動裝置打遊戲。反過來，手機方便了模因式遊戲在WhatsApp等即時訊息應用程式中的走紅。巴西有多達1。2億人口使用WhatsApp（佔總人口的56%）。

Satirical political games have appeared in other countries， but such games are more numerous and popular in Brazil than anywhere else。 And lately opportunities for farce have abounded。 In December a former councillor and the mayor of a town in the Amazon decided to settle their differences by enacting a real-­life version of “Kandidatos”。 They faced off in a boxing ring before hundreds of paying spectators。 The mayor won， but is now being investigated for alleged use of public resources for the event。

其他國家也有諷刺政治遊戲，但這類遊戲在巴西數量最多、也最流行。最近，鬧劇簡直層出不窮。12月，一位前議員和一位亞馬遜州某市長選擇用《Kandidatos》式的真人對打來解決他們之間的分歧。在數百名買了入場票的觀眾面前，二人走上擂臺拳腳對峙。市長贏得了比賽，但目前因比賽涉嫌佔用公共資源而受到調查。

Mr Nunes says he made “Kandidatos” in order to poke fun， not to serve a political purpose。 He usually turns in a blank ballot in elections。 But much of the satire in the video ­game world more generally skews right。 In one game， “Bolsomito 2K18，” released during the campaign that resulted in Mr Bolsonaro’s election， the president is “an upstanding citizen who has had enough of the spread of corruption and immorality”。 His avatar beats up black protesters and gay people。 Prosecutors opened an anti­discrimination investigation into its creators。 No charges were brought， but Steam made the game harder to find。

努內斯說，他製作《Kandidatos》是為了尋點開心，沒什麼政治目的。一般他是不參加選舉投票的。但是，電子遊戲世界裡的諷刺往往更能歪打正著。《Bolsomito 2K18》在總統大選期間發行，那場大選中波索納羅勝利當選。在這款遊戲中，波索納羅“是一名挺身而出的公民，受夠了腐敗和道德敗壞”。他的化身在遊戲中暴打黑人示威者和同性戀。檢察官對遊戲製作人展開了反歧視調查。雖然並沒有提出指控，但在Steam平臺上已很難找到這個遊戲。

Serious gamers tend to be male， white and young。 Many rejoice in immature， and often fairly offensive， humour， in much the same way as Mr Bolsonaro does。 Before he was a presidential candidate he appeared on variety shows where his willingness to be the butt of jokes endeared him to ordinary folk。 Isabela Kalil， an anthropologist who interviewed more than 1，000 right­-wing Brazilians in the run­-up to the election in 2018， notes that “nerds， gamers， hackers and haters” were among the first of 16 right-­leaning categories to support him。 Once in office he rewarded them by lowering taxes on video­-game consoles three times， from 50% in 2019 to 20% now。

嚴肅玩家往往都是年輕白人男性。很多人都覺得那種幼稚，往往特別過分的幽默特別好笑，就和波索納羅的幽默如出一轍。他在成為總統候選人之前上過不同的電視秀。波索納羅願意成為取笑的物件，這讓他贏得了普通人的好感。2018年大選臨近時，人類學家Isabela Kalil採訪了1000多名巴西右派，她注意到，支援波索納羅的16個右傾群體中，排在最前面的是“書呆子、遊戲玩家、駭客和噴子”。為了獎勵這些人，一上任波索納羅就三次降低了電子遊戲機稅，從2019年的50%降到了現在的20%。

Left­wing politicians are catching on。 In 2020 Guilherme Boulos， then a candidate for mayor of São Paulo， followed the example of Alexandria Ocasio­Cortez， a Democratic congresswoman in the United States， and live­streamed himself playing “Among Us”， a multiplayer video game set in outer space。 Nearly half a million people tuned in。 The creators of “Políticos Memes Kombat”， a game that is similar to “Kandidatos”， decided to include Mr Boulos as one of four new characters in an update， due to be launched in time for the presidential election this year。

左翼政客們正在迎頭趕上。2020年聖保羅市長候選人吉列爾梅·布洛斯（Guilherme Boulos），仿效美國民主黨國會議員亞歷山卓·奧卡西奧-科爾特斯（Alexandria Ocasio ­Cortez），線上直播自己打《Among Us》，這是一款以外太空為背景的多人聯機電子遊戲。近50萬人觀看了直播。與《Kanditatos》類似的《Políticos Memes Kombat》遊戲中，製作者決定在更新中把布洛斯納入四個新角色，趕在今年總統大選時釋出。