@article{nokey,

title = {Fictional Videogames as Framing Devices: Suicide Communication in MMOs},

author = {Julián Gutiérrez Carrera },

url = {https://doi.org/10.7557/23.7894},

doi = {10.7557/23.7894},

issn = {1866-6124},

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-06-26},

journal = {ELUDAMOS},

volume = {16},

issue = {1},

abstract = {In this paper, I argue that the use of fictional Massively Multiplayer Online games (MMOs) as framing devices serves as a reflexive narrative tool that suggests an understanding of MMOs as spaces with their own internal rules of communication. To do this, I conduct a close reading of Agony of a Dying MMO, a singleplayer demo game that depicts the final hours of service of a fictional MMO through a series of semi-explorable vignettes showing the activities of fictional players. In order to analyse how MMOs are represented as spaces with internal rules of communication, I focus my analysis on three instances of direct suicide communication—communicative acts directly referring to past, present, or future suicidal intent. As suicide communication is often indirect, I focus on how the social logic and rules of MMOs enable direct suicide communication. Through the close readings, I found that MMOs alter, enable, and restrict specific types of communication through a combination of their game design features, their user interfaces, and their existence as (and contiguity with) online spaces. In particular, I found that written communication through an MMO’s chat box can provide an alibi by turning seemingly serious statements into jokes; that acts embedded in the process of engaging with MMOs, like logging out and the consequent disappearance of a character, can serve as a communicative tool denoting finality; and that game design features meant to bring players together, like guilds and factions, can enable player authenticity and openness by attracting like-minded players, for better or for worse. As the use of videogames as framing devices presents a meta-referential commentary on videogames in the real world, these represented social affordances suggest that virtual online spaces provide unique opportunities and alibis for direct suicide communication.},

keywords = {Fictional games, Framing devices, MMO, Suicide},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {Muistitieto pelihistorian lähteenä - Esimerkkeinä pelipostmortem-esitykset},

author = {Jaakko Suominen and Maria Garda and Tytti Suominen},

url = {https://doi.org/10.30666/elore.148233},

doi = {10.30666/elore.148233},

issn = {1456-3010},

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-06-18},

journal = {Elore},

volume = {32},

issue = {1},

abstract = {Artikkelissa käsittelemme pelejä koskevaa muistitietoa. Esittelemme yleisemmin pelejä koskevia muistitietoaineistoja, mutta keskitymme empiirisessä analyysissä niin kutsuttujen pelipostmortem-dokumenttien analyysiin muistitietotutkimuksen näkökulmasta. Esittelemme postmortemien roolia pelintuotantoon kytkeytyvänä teksti- ja esityslajina sekä tutkimme kuuden esimerkkiesityksen avulla postmortemien sisällöllisiä piirteitä. Olemme valikoineet aineistoomme sellaisia postmortemeita, joissa muisteluluonne korostuu. Olemme yhtäältä tunnistaneet niistä yleisiä piirteitä, jotka liittyvät pelinkehitystyön eetokseen, projektien haasteisiin ja työn suhteessa luovuuden teemaan. Toisaalta olemme kiinnittäneet huomiota menneiden tapahtumien kerronnalistamiseen ja kerronnan luotettavuuden vakuuttelukeinoihin. Artikkelin päätulos on se, että vaikka tiettyjä pelipostmortemeita voi pitää nimenomaan pelikulttuurille erityisenä omaehtoisen muistitiedon lajina, niissä on runsaasti kerronnallisia, performatiivisia ja sisällöllisiä yhtymäkohtia moniin muihin muistitietoesityksiin.},

keywords = {Esittäminen, Kerronta, Muistityö, Pelikulttuuri},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {Emotions in Game Data Work},

author = {Heikki Tyni and Olli Sotamaa and Taina Myöhänen},

url = {https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120251349872},

doi = {10.1177/15554120251349872},

issn = {1555-4120 },

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-06-16},

journal = {Games and Culture},

abstract = {This study explores the emotional dimensions of data work within the game industry. Through interviews with Finnish game industry professionals, the research reveals that data-driven work practices evoke a wide range of emotions, ranging from pleasure and satisfaction to insecurity and frustration. Data can act both as a helpful workmate and as a source of professional conflict and frustration, impacting the worker's sense of professionalism. Data-driven work also compels workers to individually confront ethical questions. Our findings highlight the interplay between creative work processes and data analytics, emphasizing the emotional labor that game industry professionals need to handle in a data-driven work culture. Additionally, the research addresses ethical considerations and the emotional work required to reconcile public perceptions of data usage. The study contributes to the broader understanding of emotional work in new data-intensive professions and advocates for more emotionally sustainable practices in data-driven game development.},

keywords = {Data, Data-driven development, Emotions, Game industry},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {Viihdettä sivuraiteella – 1980-luvun marginaalikoneet pelikäytössä},

author = {Markku Reunanen and Tapani Joelsson and Petri Saarikoski },

url = {https://skrolli.fi/2025.2.loppukoe.pdf},

issn = {2323-8992},

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-06-11},

journal = {Skrolli},

volume = {2},

pages = {30-34},

abstract = {Kotitietokoneet olivat 1980-luvun suosituimpia pelilaitteita niin Suomessa kuin muuallakin maailmalla. Commodoren koneet nousivat täällä selvästi markkinajohtajiksi harrastajien parissa, mutta niiden lisäksi myynnissä oli myös kymmeniä muiden valmistajien malleja, joista suurin osa poistui vähin äänin näyttämöltä. Elämä marginaaliin jääneen laitteen kanssa ei ollut aina helppoa, etenkään pelaajan näkökulmasta.},

keywords = {Digitaalinen kulttuuri, Kotitietokoneet, Videopelit},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {"Kaverien kanssa ruvettiin harrastamaan ATK:ta" - Tietokoneiden tulo 1980-luvun suomalaisiin koteihin},

author = {Markku Reunanen and Petri Saarikoski and Tapani Joelsson},

url = {https://journal.fi/kulttuurintutkimus/article/view/143267},

issn = {0781-5751},

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-06-09},

urldate = {2025-06-09},

journal = {Kulttuurintutkimus},

volume = {42},

issue = {1},

pages = {19-38},

abstract = {1970-luvun lopulla ja 1980-luvulla suomalaisiin koteihin alkoivat saapua niin kutsutut kotimikrot, erityisesti kuluttajille suunnatut tietokoneet. Ammattikäyttöön tarkoitettuihin laitteisiin verrattuna kotimikrot olivat edullisia, ominaisuuksiltaan vaatimattomia ja ulkomuodoltaan muovisen lelumaisia. Kotitietokoneet olivat yhtäältä vallankumouksellisia tulokkaita – ajatus omasta tietokoneesta kotona olisi vielä kymmenen vuotta aiemmin ollut lähinnä tieteisfiktiota – ja toisaalta osa suomalaisten talouksien teknistymistä, jonka myötä videonauhurit, pelilaitteet ja kasettisoittimet tulivat osaksi arkea. Tässä artikkelissa aihetta lähestytään domestikaatioteorian neliportaisen mallin kautta: miksi ja miten laite hankittiin, mihin se sijoitettiin, miten se asettui osaksi arkea ja miten se vaikutti käyttäjiensä elämään kotona sekä kodin ulkopuolella. Tutkimusmateriaalina ovat kesällä 2022 tehtyyn verkkokyselyyn saadut 350 vastausta, joilla saavutettiin hyvä kattavuus niin maantieteellisesti kuin eri laitteidenkin osalta. Jotkin tulokset ovat linjassa jo olemassa olevien tutkimusten kanssa: pelit olivat kotimikrojen tärkein käyttökohde ja keskeisiä käyttäjiä olivat etenkin perheen lapset sekä nuoret. Uutta tietoa kysely tuotti etenkin tietokoneen hankintaprosessista motiiveineen, laitteen fyysisestä sijoittumisesta kotitalouteen sekä ei-käyttäjistä – perheenjäsenistä, joita laite ei syystä tai toisesta kiinnostanut.},

keywords = {1980s, Domestikaatio, Kotitietokoneet},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {Outlining the Spectrum of Values of Self-identified Gamers},

author = {Jukka Vahlo and Maria Ruotsalainen and Kai Tuuri and Aki Koponen},

url = {https://doi.org/10.26503/dl.v2025i2.2486},

doi = {10.26503/dl.v2025i2.2486},

issn = {2342-9666},

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-05-16},

journal = {Conference Proceedings of DiGRA 2025: Games at the Crossroads },

abstract = {To understand the spectrum of different gamers, we recognize the need to study both the   prevalence   of   self-identified   gamers   and   the   diverse   identities   they   may represent. In this paper we present results from our exploratory survey study (N=894), broadly targeted to video game players in the USA, that allowed the respondents to identify themselves as gamers as well as non-gamer players. By utilizing gaming value measures  and  personal  value  measures,  we  explored  what  kind  of  latent  groups  of self-identifiedgamers and non-gamer players the survey sample yielded and how they differed from each other. The results of the cluster analysis identified five groups of active players, in four of which the self-identified gamers were overrepresented and which  can  be  argued  to  be  distinctive  gamer  subtypes.  The  results  are  discussed  in reflection with the previous literature and discourses about gamer identities.},

keywords = {Gamer identity, Identity, Personal values, Players},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {‘Virtual Pleasure Made Real’: Domestication of Online Sex Games and Sex Toys},

author = {Mayara Araujo Caetano},

url = {https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565251336307},

doi = {10.1177/13548565251336307},

issn = {1354-8565 },

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-04-21},

journal = {Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies},

volume = {31},

issue = {4},

keywords = {Domestication, Sex in games, Sexual play},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {Virtual empowerment: manipulating height in virtual reality affects self-related cognitions and personal speech performance evaluation},

author = {Anna-Leena Macey and Joseph Macey and Simo Järvelä and Daniel Fernandez Galeote and Juho Hamari},

url = {https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2025.2488899},

doi = {10.1080/0144929X.2025.2488899},

issn = {0144-929X},

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-04-11},

journal = {Behaviour and information technology },

abstract = {Social performance situations, often crucial and expected in today’s work contexts, can be perceived as highly challenging and stressful. Therefore, experiencing anxiety in public speaking situations can have a negative impact on individuals’ working lives and career prospects. Virtual reality environments offer novel means to practise public speaking anywhere, safely and privately, and to replace simulations with more dynamic and innovative training environments unavailable in real-life scenarios. Additionally, these innovative tools and methods could also be used during virtually implemented real-life interactions as working conditions are increasingly shifting towards more technology-mediated forms. This research investigates the potential for a virtual reality height manipulation (i.e. raised or lowered point-of-view) to influence individuals’ self-statements during a stressful speech task and, subsequently, their personal performance evaluation. Results of a strictly controlled, between-subject experiment indicate that participants perceiving themselves taller evaluated their speech performance more positively and experienced fewer negative self-statements during the speech task. Furthermore, perceived tallness was associated with lower levels of public speaking anxiety. These results suggest that even a simple, visual first-person perspective manipulation of virtual reality environment influences individuals’ personal evaluation of their own performance and potentially helps them improve their task-related cognitive processes.},

keywords = {Empowerment, Metaverse, Virtual reality},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Ruotsalainen2025b,

title = {Meta as a Social Contract in Competitive Play},

author = {Maria Ruotsalainen and Mikko Meriläinen},

url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3721119

https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3721119},

doi = {10.1145/3721119},

issn = {2832-5516},

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-04-10},

urldate = {2025-04-10},

journal = {ACM Games},

volume = {3},

issue = {2},

abstract = {In our article, we analyze meta as a social contract in competitive play. We argue that while in esports and competitive play the term meta is typically used in its clinical definition to refer to the optimal strategy in a given game, this use obfuscates its normative and regulative force. Through three individual cases, we demonstrate how meta is both a product and a key component of a normative system that posits players in uneven positions within the social dynamics of competitive gaming, allowing meta and its associated gaming capital to be leveraged in different ways, and even weaponized. While meta provides social cohesion, it also enforces an inevitably discriminating structure.},

keywords = {Agency, Competitive play, Meta, Social},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {Introduction to the Special Issue on Meta : “About, Within, and Around” the 20th Annual Tampere University Game Research Lab Spring Seminar},

author = {Rainforest Scully-Blaker and Johan Kalmanlehto and Henry Korkeila and Maria Ruotsalainen},

url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3723324},

doi = {10.1145/3723324},

issn = {2832-5516},

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-04-09},

journal = {ACM Games: Research and Practice},

volume = {3},

issue = {2},

pages = {1-5},

abstract = {This is the introduction to a special issue based on papers presented at the 20th Annual Tampere University Game Research Lab Spring Seminar in Tampere, Finland. The theme for this iteration of the seminar was Meta. After a brief discussion on the multifaceted nature of meta, we introduce the six papers that make up this special issue. Within game studies, meta is a word or prefix that has many meanings to many people. We suggest that the articles in this special issue engage with meta as it pertains to players, developers, and scholars, and discuss each piece in turn. We conclude by thanking everyone whose work led to the production. Meta is what one makes of it, and we affirm that our authors have made this special issue a compilation of a set of significant contributions to the study of everything that occurs about, within, and around games.},

keywords = {Critical meta-analysis, Game culture},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {Game Rules as Player Tools: Introspective Rulebook Method},

author = {Doruk, Balcı and Jaakko Stenros and Olli Sotamaa},

url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3718056},

doi = {10.1145/3718056},

issn = {2832-5516 },

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-04-09},

journal = {ACM Games: Research and Practice },

volume = {3},

issue = {2},

pages = {1 - 14},

abstract = {The rules we play by carry a structural role in our gameplay experiences as they shape the context and the agency we play through. While rules have long been part of scholarship around play and games, an overwhelming majority of these works carry an implicitly formalist approach, framing the rules as an unchanging part of the artifact. In this article, we highlight works that contribute to a diverse notion of rules and argue that a conscious and reflective understanding of rules can be a tool to shape and experiment with our agencies in games. We also introduce a novel game research method, Introspective Rulebook Method, a living document where the researcher-player reflects on and transforms the rules they play by, as a tool to invent alternative play-practices and metagames. Overall, our work here contributes to a broad understanding of game rules, and the capacity we carry in shaping the games we play.},

keywords = {Methodology, Player agency, Rules},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {Playing with Augmented Bodies: Dystopian and Protopian Experiences of Human Augmentation in Digital Games },

author = {Aska Mayer and Frans Mäyrä and Roope Raisamo},

url = {https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565251331455},

doi = {10.1177/13548565251331455},

issn = {1354-8565},

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-04-03},

urldate = {2025-04-03},

journal = {Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies},

abstract = {In this paper, we will present the horror game SOMA and the artistic game Morphogenic Angels: Chapter 1 as exemplary cases within science fiction for the expression and experience of cultural understandings of technologically augmented beings and environments. Locating contemporary cultural myths of technology within both games, we will show the protopian and dystopian function of both cases and locate them in a broad socio-cultural context of technology forecasting. Considering the specific nature of the digital game as an in-itself augmenting technological medium, we will additionally introduce a somaesthetic perspective of player experience to the game analysis, in order to point out the relevance of the immediate bodily perception of games for informing the reflection of diegetic realities. Finally, this paper will provide an overview on how science-fiction games represent and establish experiences and reflections of the progressing augmentation of bodies and their environment.},

keywords = {Augmentation, Digital games},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {Ayrton Sennan kuolinonnettomuutta käsittelevät pelivideot kulttuurisen muistin muotona ja välineenä},

author = {Ville Malinen},

url = {https://doi.org/10.23994/lk.160194},

doi = {10.23994/lk.160194},

issn = {2343-399X},

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-04-01},

journal = {Lähikuva},

volume = {38},

issue = {1},

pages = {52-73},

abstract = {Tarkastelen artikkelissani Formula 1 -kuljettaja Ayrton Sennan vuoden 1994 San Marinon osakilpailussa tapahtunutta kohtalokasta onnettomuutta simuloivia Youtubeen ladattuja pelivideoita, joita käsittelen kulttuurisen muistin muotoina ja välineinä. Tutkin videoita lähikuun nojaavan sisällönanalyysin avulla. Peilaan myös videoiden kerronnallisuutta vertaamalla niiden eroja ja uskollisuutta alkuperäismateriaaliin, tässä tapauksessa televisioituun onnettomuuteen ja tallenteisiin siitä. Käsitän kyseisen onnettomuuden traagisena mediaurheiluspektaakkelina, jonka todistivat miljoonat ihmiset suorana ympäri maailmaa. Reflektoin lisäksi muun muassa kolarien remediointia, ajosimulaatiopelejä, todellisten tragedioiden käsittelyä videopeleissä sekä kulttuurisen muistin tarkoitusperiä ja keinoja. Aineistoanalyysini perusteella Sennan asema ja tapahtuman tunnettavuus kulttuurisessa muistissa on ilmeisen vahva videoissa käytettyjen pelien kirjon ja lopputulosten jäljen vuoksi niin teknisesti kuin tyyliltään. Toteutukset vaihtelevat alkuperäislähdemateriaalille uskollisista videoista löyhempiin tribuutteihin. Pelivideoiden ote vaihtelee peli- ja genrekohtaisesti alkuperäisten televisioitujen tapahtumien todenmukaisesta kerronnasta ja yksityiskohtaisista rekonstruktioista aiheen parissa leikittelyyn sekä peleillä kokeiluun. Aineisto ja sen vaihtelu kuvastaa kulttuurisen muistin vaalimiseen ja välittämiseen liittyvää remediointia ja ylläpidon jatkuvaa tarvetta. Sennan kuolonkolarin kaltaisen televisioidun tragedian tunnettavuus ja tallenteet siitä herättävät kysymyksiä myös valikoinnista, tapahtumien trivialisoinnista ja remediaation aiheuttamista vääristymistä. Pelivideot ovat ikään kuin uusi ja osallistava kulttuurisen muistin väline, joka pelikohtaisesti tarjoaa sekä vapauksia että rajoitteita tekijöiden taidoista ja motiiveista riippuen. Nämä videot joka tapauksessa omalla tavallaan ylläpitävät ja toistavat Sennaan ja hänen onnettomuuteensa liittyvää kulttuurista muistia, joskin autenttisuuteen pyrkiminen on niissä suhteellista. },

keywords = {Formula, Muistelutyö, Verkkopelit},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Vahlo2025,

title = {Validating Motives of Autonomous Players (MAP) inventory : a bottom-up model of general motivational factors to videogame play},

author = {Jukka Vahlo and Kai Tuuri },

url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s11257-025-09431-7

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11257-025-09431-7},

doi = {10.1007/s11257-025-09431-7},

issn = {0924-1868},

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-03-30},

urldate = {2025-03-30},

journal = {User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction},

volume = {35},

abstract = {In this study, we develop and validate Motives of Autonomous Players (MAP) inventory. Several models on videogame motives have been published recently, but typically these models focus either on specific videogame types, on individual games, or on a particular theory on human motivation. The MAP model takes an integrative approach that considers why people play games in general. This is done by adopting an inductive bottom-up research attitude and by focusing on motives that can be argued to be broadly applicable for all kinds of videogames, ranging from casual mobile games to massively multiplayer online role-playing games. Since the MAP model is based on extensive player data that represent a great variety of player motives, the results are widely applicable in player modeling and in understanding player–game interaction at large. The initial MAP model was developed by analyzing open-ended gaming motive descriptions (N 1,648) by a content analysis procedure. A preliminary 101-item MAP inventory was included in a UK-based survey (N 600). A nine-factor model was identified and further validated as a 34-item version by making a confirmatory factor analysis with a USA-based survey data (N 600). Additional analyses on construct validity were performed for investigating how motives to play videogames predict players’ game enjoyment factors that were kept analytically distinct from general motivational factors to play videogames.},

keywords = {Factor analysis, Human-computer interaction, Motivation, Scale validation, Videogames},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {Neurospicy Larpers: Role-play as a Method for Working with Neurodivergent Youth with Challenging Behavior Regarding Sexuality},

author = {Hanne Grasmo},

url = {https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202506167214},

isbn = {978-82-692633-2-9},

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-03-11},

journal = {Anatomy of Larp Thoughts: A Breathing Corpus},

pages = {429-442},

keywords = {Larp, Larp design, Neurodivergent, Role-play, Sexuality},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {Reading Larps: The Larp Experience Through Larp Scripts},

author = {Hanne Grasmo},

url = {https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202506167211},

isbn = {978-82-692633-2-9},

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-03-11},

journal = {Anatomy of Larp Thoughts: A Breathing Corpus},

pages = {389-403},

keywords = {Archives, Close reading, Larp},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {Affordances for In-Game Interaction and Language Learning Through Children's Collaborative Play in Minecraft},

author = {Matilda Ståhl and Katri Hansell and Sandra Bäck and Mattias Wingren},

url = {https://www.igi-global.com/gateway/article/370559},

doi = {10.4018/IJGBL.370559},

issn = {2155-6857 },

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-03-05},

journal = {International journal of game-based learning},

volume = {15},

issue = {1},

abstract = {Playing video games engages children and youth and offers a potential for learning in general and situated language learning in particular. The aim of this paper is to explore the situated conditions and affordances for facilitating in-game interaction, as well as to discuss the language learning potential and educational implications of these conditions. In this paper, this is discussed through two datasets: a) a pre-study, a survey among students in grades 4–7 (n = 65), as well as b) playtests with child volunteers (n = 6), conducted in pairs in a laboratory setting. The results are discussed in relation to interactional practices, what game genres and mechanics are relevant to tandem language learning and the implications that in-game competence might have on such learning.},

keywords = {Children's play, Children's play, Game-based learning, Minecraft, Natural language processing},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Ruotsalainen2025,

title = {“I bet she’s ‘not like other girls” : Discursive Construction of the Ideal Gaming Woman on r/GirlGamers},

author = {Maria Ruotsalainen and Mikko Meriläinen},

url = {https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.8802

https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/8802},

doi = {10.17645/mac.8802},

issn = {2183-2439},

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-02-13},

urldate = {2025-02-13},

journal = {Media and communication},

volume = {13},

abstract = {Research on women and hostile behaviour in video games has largely focused on women as victims rather than perpetuators of hostile behaviour. In this study, by utilizing discourse analysis, we examine how women’s hostile behaviour is discussed in the subreddit r/GirlGamers, and how the ideal gaming woman is discursively constructed in these discussions.},

keywords = {Female gamers, Gender, Hostile behaviour, Online games, Reddit},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Vahlo2025b,

title = {Eight types of video game experience},

author = {Jukka Vahlo and Kai Tuuri },

url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.entcom.2024.100882

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1875952124002507

},

doi = {10.1016/j.entcom.2024.100882},

issn = {1875-9521},

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-01-31},

urldate = {2025-01-31},

journal = {Entertainment Computing},

volume = {52},

abstract = {The study of game experience is a well-established area within game research, supported by numerous models. These models, while valuable, often focus on analyzing game experiences within specific contexts rather than facilitating comparative analyses. Addressing this research gap, our study empirically identifies prevalent game experience types that are common across various games. By analyzing 5,372 game experience descriptions provided by 1,193 survey respondents, this research employs a survey design inspired by the flow of qualitative interviews, facilitating a comprehensive understanding of the diverse factors shaping these experiences. Through latent class analysis, we delineate eight distinct game experience types: Compelling Challenge, Immersive Exploring, Creative Caring, Energetic Rushing, Competitive Shooting, Cheerful Bouncing, Strategic Management, and Daily Dwelling. Each type is analyzed in terms of both the variables from the latent class analysis and additional survey variables, enhancing our understanding of their unique and comparative characteristics. This approach sheds light on the multifaceted nature of game experiences and broadens our insights into player engagement across different game genres, offering practical implications for game design, marketing, and future research.},

keywords = {Game experience types, Game preferences, Latent class analysis, Survey},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Tuuri2025,

title = {Exploring music-based attachment to video games through affect expressions in written memories},

author = {Kai Tuuri and Oskari Koskela and Heli Tissari and Jukka Vahlo },

url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.entcom.2024.100883

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1875952124002519},

doi = {10.1016/j.entcom.2024.100883},

issn = {1875-9521},

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-01-31},

urldate = {2025-01-31},

journal = {Entertainment Computing},

volume = {52},

abstract = {This paper presents an exploratory research on music-based attachment to video games, studied through personally valued game music memories. It focuses on people’s engagement with game music and game technologies, expanding previous research on the role of game music in people’s lives. We gathered 183 written game music memories and analyzed their contents and language. We focused on expressions of affect and sentiment, which we assumed would indicate affective involvement. However, we also explored the constitution of attachment by investigating how expressions of affect and sentiment were associated with other aspects in the stories that reflect personal valuation, focusing specifically on factors of autobiographical remembrance, conceptualizations of game music, and gaming technology related to memories. These investigations employed a mixed-methods approach that combined qualitative and statistical analyses. A major finding was that especially personal remembrances that involved an awareness of the self or related to the game music experience significantly predicted the use of expressions of affect and sentiment in the stories. In sum, the study outlines a framework for investigating people’s long-term engagement with technology as being intimately related to the context of everyday life and the constitution of self-understanding.},

keywords = {Affect expressions, Attachment, Cognitive linguistics, Game music, Memories, Music psychology},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {Understanding Game Data Work},

author = {Heikki Tyni and Olli Sotamaa and Taina Myöhänen},

url = {https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517241309892},

doi = {10.1177/20539517241309892},

issn = {2053-9517},

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-01-21},

journal = {Big Data and Society},

volume = {12},

issue = {1},

abstract = {The game industry's content production, maintenance of live games, and processes of acquiring production funding increasingly rely on various kinds of data and its rigorous analysis. These new needs and functions have generated emerging forms of work, such as those of the data analyst, data engineer, and data scientist. Through in-depth interviews with 20 Finnish game industry professionals and an analysis of game industry job advertisements, this paper examines the work and identity of game industry data workers. Drawing from scholarship focused on game production, game work, and data labour, this article argues that organisational practices surrounding data professionals reveal the centrality of high-level data work in game studios focused on live service games and that data work is now performed not just by data analysts, but by the entire staff and management. As a precursor to the wider creative industries, we argue that creative work and data work in game companies are gradually converging, due to the datafied work environment facilitating datafied game work and the work of data professionals increasingly intertwining with creative tasks. Complicating the previous game studio hierarchy is the data analyst's dual role as both a subservient support function and a central broker of data. Adding nuance to this, the article argues that an important aspect of the work of bespoke data professionals in game companies is communication, in contrast to the high-level quantitative tasks often associated with analysis.},

keywords = {Data, Data analytics, Digital gaming, Game industry},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {Interview with Nicolas Lietzau: Approaches to Storytelling, Worldbuilding and Fantasy Geographies in Enderal Mod and the Twelfth World Novels},

author = {Evgenia Amey and Garrett “Wereyoi” Moore

},

issn = {2342-2009},

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-01-21},

journal = {Fafnir},

volume = {11},

issue = {1-2},

pages = {77-86},

abstract = {Interview with game developer and writer Nicolas Lietzau.},

keywords = {Game development, Interview, Storytelling},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {Kotitietokoneita kolmessa maassa – Astu sinäkin tulevaisuuteen},

author = {Markku Reunanen and Guus Hoeberechts and Tytti Viljanen},

url = {https://skrolli.fi/numerot/2025-1/},

issn = {2323-8992},

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-01-16},

journal = {Skrolli},

volume = {1},

keywords = {Digitaalinen kulttuuri, Domestikaatio, Kotitietokoneet},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {Multiliteracies in the Making – Multidisciplinary Conceptualization},

author = {Tomi Laapotti and Päivi Iikkanen and Tero Kerttula and Aino-Kaisa Koistinen and Anne Martin and Niina Sormanen},

url = {https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-202502061837},

issn = {1535-0975 },

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-01-01},

journal = {Journal of Literacy and Technology},

volume = {26},

issue = {1},

pages = {16-41},

abstract = {This article focuses on the concept of multiliteracies from a multidisciplinary point of view. By analyzing texts that were created to discuss differing research foci and relationships with the concept, a nonhierarchical and dynamic model, a wheel of multiliteracies, is formulated for understanding the processes of multiliteracies. Communication, temporality, and contextuality form the hoop of the wheel and the spokes include agency, competencies, expressions, individual experiences, and collectivity. The intertwined spokes can be examined through the tensions connected to communication, contextuality, and temporality: individuality/relationality, local/global, and the tensions built in the concept of time, respectively. The conceptualization reflects recent discussions on multiliteracies and develops the concept further through the dynamics emerging from the built-in tensions in the wheel. Furthermore, this text is an exploration of collective knowledge production through academic writing and the processual quality of multiliteracies – or multiliteracies in the making.},

keywords = {Collective action, Multiliteracy},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {Equitable Forms of Participation on a Gaming-Adjacent Platform: The Platformization of a Youth Center},

author = {Fredrik Rusk and Matilda Ståhl and Isac Nyman},

url = {https://doi.org/10.7557/23.7744},

doi = {10.7557/23.7744},

issn = {1866-6124},

year  = {2024},

date = {2024-12-31},

journal = {ELUDAMOS},

volume = {15},

pages = {225-241},

abstract = {To connect with youth online, a non-profit organization in Finland is organizing a youth center on a server on the gaming-adjacent social platform, Discord. We focus on the infrastructuralized platform and study ethnographically how the labor of moderation and technical competencies that platforms require on the part of the youth workers. We want to better understand the technical conditions by which youth workers have to navigate equity in platformized communities. How does the platform and connected infrastructure determine what forms of communication and interaction are and are not permitted and when and to whom? The results indicate that the employment of opening hours and the presence of youth workers who actively moderate the server during those opening hours, seem to create a safe space for a diversity of youth. The moderation, largely invisible and frictionless, becomes an intricate part of the infrastructuralized platform and the socialization on the platform. This infrastructuralized moderation requires technical, pedagogical and psychological knowledge, competence and resources.},

keywords = {Ethnography, Moderation, Platformization},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {Parties as Playful Experiences: Why Game Studies Should Study Partying},

author = {Leland Masek and Jaakko Stenros},

url = {https://doi.org/10.7557/23.7562},

doi = {10.7557/23.7562},

issn = {1866-6124},

year  = {2024},

date = {2024-12-31},

journal = {ELUDAMOS},

volume = {15},

issue = {1},

abstract = {Partying is a widespread, understudied, and playful phenomena. Game Studies has seen great value from defining important concepts related to games since its inception. Foundational play and game scholars urged for a need to analyze parties and celebrations as a form of playfulness, yet there is little empirical Game Studies work enabling a deeper understanding of partying. Partying bears striking resemblances to games: inefficient use of resources, arbitrary rules, cultural group formation, and ongoing moral panics. There are also practical overlaps: games occur at parties and digital party games are quite popular. This work contributes to a deeper understanding of parties by analyzing 33 semi-structured interviews where individuals from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds had highly playful experiences at parties. A new theoretical conception of partying as a form of playfulness is proposed as a “phenomenon that creates an experience of social connection in a group mediated through a shared engagement-prioritizing activity”. This work concludes with a call for party studies to become a sub-field in game studies.},

keywords = {Game studies, Party Culture, Playful behavior, Playfulness},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {Deconstructing Esports : Why We Need to Acknowledge Bodies in a Move Toward More Equitable Esports Practices},

author = {Tom Legierse and Maria Ruotsalainen},

url = {https://doi.org/10.7557/23.7704},

doi = {10.7557/23.7704},

issn = {1866-6124 },

year  = {2024},

date = {2024-12-31},

urldate = {2024-12-31},

journal = {ELUDAMOS},

volume = {15},

issue = {1},

pages = {163-181},

abstract = {Branding competitive gaming as esports, part of a process known as sportification, has con-tributed greatly to the wider acceptance of competitive gaming as legitimate leisure and pro-fessional activity. However, the social effects of sportification remain largely overlooked in current research. In this paper we argue that in order to understand the normative and formative social effects of sportification of competitive gaming, we need to forefront the bodies in esports. Building on scholarship that highlights inequities in (competitive) gaming and esports, we identify four ways in which bodies are made relevant in esports: 1) the ob-scuring of the playing body and establishment of an idealized and normative masculine ath-letic body;2) the ‘visibility’ of women's bodies as deviant from the norm; 3) the invisibility (and impossibility) of disabled bodies through design (embodied nature of design of both games and gameplay); and 4) the embodied nature of infrastructural issues that cannot be reduced to materiality. We argue for a deconstruction of esports as a social practice that forefronts bodies. Understanding exactly how bodies become relevant will allow us to de-construct the structural conditions of participation that dictate which bodies are possible or not in esports and move towards more equitable esports practices.},

keywords = {Esports, Inequality},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {Queer Gender Identities and Videogames Literature Review},

author = {Mark Maletska},

url = {https://doi.org/10.7557/23.7432},

doi = {10.7557/23.7432},

issn = {1866-6124},

year  = {2024},

date = {2024-12-31},

journal = {ELUDAMOS},

volume = {15},

issue = {1},

pages = {125-150},

abstract = {This narrative literature review discusses peer-reviewed research articles connecting queer gender identities and videogames. Its main purpose is to describe directions of research on connections between queer gender identities and videogames, and to indicate gaps and missing connections in existing studies. The analysed material was collected in April–August 2023 using Google Scholar, Web of Science, and Scopus databases. Three major thematic categories were identified in the publications: representation of queer gender identities in videogames; player–avatar connections and gender dysphoria; and queer gender identities in game-related spaces. The main finding of the review is that articles focused on queer people do not tend to address the inherent queerness of videogames. Queer temporality and spatiality are not sufficiently studied in interaction with queer players, and narrative and/or visual elements remain in focus, even when potentially interactive activities like avatar creation are being researched.},

keywords = {Gender, Literature review, Queer},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Reunanen2024,

title = {Commodoren varjossa. 1980-luvun tietokonepelaamista marginaalikoneilla},

author = {Markku Reunanen and Tapani Joelsson and Petri Saarikoski},

url = {https://pelitutkimus.journal.fi/article/view/145359

https://pelitutkimus.journal.fi/article/view/145359/100276},

issn = {1798-355X},

year  = {2024},

date = {2024-12-19},

urldate = {2024-12-19},

journal = {Pelitutkimuksen vuosikirja},

pages = {2-25},

abstract = {Monenkirjavat kotitietokoneet olivat 1980-luvun suosituimpia digitaalisia pelilaitteita. Keskenään yhteensopimattomia malleja oli markkinoilla kymmeniä erilaisia, eivätkä useimmat niistä selvinneet pitkään kilpailun puristuksessa. Suomessa Commodoren kotimikrot saavuttivat vankan jalansijan pelaajien suosikkikoneina, mutta niiden varjossa pelattiin myös Spectrumeilla, MSX-tietokoneilla, Amstradeilla ja vielä niitäkin harvinaisemmilla laitteilla. Tässä artikkelissa käsitellään marginaalikoneilla pelaamista pohjautuen monimuotoiseen lähdemateriaaliin: tietokone- ja kerholehtiin, lehtien lukijakirjeisiin sekä kesällä 2022 järjestetyn kyselyn vastauksiin. Tuloksissa korostuvat lehdistön näennäisen neutraali asenne, harvinaisten koneiden käyttäjien ratkaisut kaupallisen tuen puuttuessa sekä se, kuinka kokonaisvaltaista laitteiden marginaalisuus oli.



In English: 



Various home computers were popular gaming platforms in the 1980s. There were tens of mutually incompatible models available and most of them did not survive in the competition for long. In Finland Commodore’s home computers claimed the top spot among gamers, but in the shadow of the mainstream devices people also played on Spectrums, MSX compatibles, Amstrads and even rarer machines. This article deals with gaming on marginal computers based on diverse research material: computer and club magazines, letters to the editor and the answers to a survey organized in 2022. The results highlight the apparent neutrality of magazines, the solutions that the users tried when there was little commercial support available and how all-encompassing the marginality of a device could be.},

keywords = {Computer games, Digitaalinen kulttuuri, Digital culture, Home computers, Kotitietokoneet, Marginaalisuus, Marginality, Tietokonepelit},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {Editorial: Games, Books and Gamebooks},

author = {René Glas and Souvik Mukherjee and Hanna-Riikka Roine and Jaakko Stenros},

url = {https://doi.org/10.1386/jgvw_00098_2},

doi = {10.1386/jgvw_00098_2},

issn = {1757-191X},

year  = {2024},

date = {2024-11-30},

journal = {Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds },

volume = {16},

issue = {2},

pages = {155-169},

abstract = {Games and books, understood in the broadest possible sense, interrelate in numerous different ways. Books and games can take each other’s form; they inspire and augment, expand and specify, contextualize and transform one another. We can ‘read’ games, and we can ‘play’ books. This article is an editorial to a Special Issue that discusses game-book hybrids, gamebooks, as complex entities worthy of their own attention. The focus is specifically on the intersections of games and books (instead of, for instance, games and literature, or games and narratives) as these offer a site for a fruitful cross-disciplinary work. The editorial briefly surveys the field and lays out the basics of games and books as interdisciplinary sites of research. It then introduces a tentative typology for mapping out the interconnectedness of games and books. Finally, the editorial introduces and briefly contextualizes the articles in the Special Issue.},

keywords = {Books, Codex, Gamebooks, Games, Playing, Reading},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {Tagging in 3DXChat animated sex game porn production},

author = {Mayara Araujo Caetano},

url = {https://doi.org/10.1080/23268743.2024.2415626},

doi = {10.1080/23268743.2024.2415626},

issn = {2326-8743},

year  = {2024},

date = {2024-11-14},

journal = {Porn Studies},

volume = {12},

issue = {3},

pages = {501-520},

abstract = {This qualitative study of tagging practices within online animated pornographic content produced inside the massive online multiplayer game 3DXChat examines how user-generated porn producers position themselves within the structure of the online free porn platform XVideos and the porn conventions they relate their videos to. Based on a purposeful sample of 112 videos uploaded to XVideos, I retrieved 166 unique tags. I contextualize them through a two-year online ethnography experience and discuss them according to information categorization (taxonomy and folksonomy), sexual data within online porn platforms, and pornography. I conclude that 3DXChat user-generated porn is subject to the consolidated sex-tech structures of its time, leaning towards conventional porn categories; the few social tags reflect the in-between stage of ‘niched-mainstream’. Tags exemplify the serialization, indexation, influences, and potential limitations for sexual play.},

keywords = {3DXChat, Porn, Sex in games},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}