2023
Sotamaa, Olli; Tyni, Heikki; Myöhänen, Taina
In: European Journal of Cultural Studies, 2023, ISSN: 1367-5494.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Data analytics, Data work, Data-driven development, Datafication, Game industry, Game production
@article{Sotamaa2023,
title = {‘Even if the Algorithm is a Terrible Workmate, You Just Need to Learn to Live with It’: Perceptions of Data Analytics Among Game Industry Professionals},
author = {Olli Sotamaa and Heikki Tyni and Taina Myöhänen},
url = {https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13675494231168568
https://trepo.tuni.fi/handle/10024/149415},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1177/13675494231168568},
issn = {1367-5494},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-05-13},
urldate = {2023-05-13},
journal = {European Journal of Cultural Studies},
abstract = {The digital game industry has actively integrated data-driven methods into its core processes. This interview-based study shows how game industry professionals perceive the role of data as part of their everyday work. Analysing the data-related notions and negotiations helps to explicate how mainstream data imaginaries are both reproduced and challenged in the different phases and contexts of game making. The analysis is divided into the following themes: data is everywhere, data is messy, data is constructed and data redefines creativity. The qualitative inquiry shows how the meaning of game data cannot be reduced to individual metrics or analytics services, or new positions like data analysts. Data-driven development is based on particular values and assumptions, and it creates new practices, working cultures and conflicting forms of agency.},
keywords = {Data analytics, Data work, Data-driven development, Datafication, Game industry, Game production},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The digital game industry has actively integrated data-driven methods into its core processes. This interview-based study shows how game industry professionals perceive the role of data as part of their everyday work. Analysing the data-related notions and negotiations helps to explicate how mainstream data imaginaries are both reproduced and challenged in the different phases and contexts of game making. The analysis is divided into the following themes: data is everywhere, data is messy, data is constructed and data redefines creativity. The qualitative inquiry shows how the meaning of game data cannot be reduced to individual metrics or analytics services, or new positions like data analysts. Data-driven development is based on particular values and assumptions, and it creates new practices, working cultures and conflicting forms of agency.
2021
Apperley, Thomas H.; Ozimek, Anna (Ed.)
Special Issue on Disco Elysium Collection
2021.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Absurdity, Affect, Digital distribution, Disco Elysium, Dissonant development, Estonia, Film noir, Game production, Game production studies, Gothic fiction, Hermeneutics of objects, Political economy, Polyphony, Posthumanism, Rhizome, Software commons
@collection{Apperley2021,
title = {Special Issue on Disco Elysium},
editor = {Thomas H. Apperley and Anna Ozimek
},
url = {https://sciendo.com/issue/BSMR/9/1},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-12-14},
booktitle = {Baltic Screen Media Review},
volume = {9},
issue = {1},
abstract = {Disco Elysium is a highly praised game that is widely recognized for its innovation and quality. In December 2019, writing for Time magazine, Matthew Gault named Disco Elysium one of the ten most important games of the decade (2010–2019) along-side the likes of Fortnite (Epic Games 2017–), Minecraft (Mojang 2011), and Pokémon GO (2016). Gault (2019) characterizes the dec-ade as one in which “artists broke free of the business side and produced works of astounding beauty on par with any prestige television show.” Disco Elysium is included on his list as “proof” that “all video games are art” (ibid.). While critical and commer-cial success, as well as the invocation of “art,” are not themselves crucial reasons for scholars to explore a particular digital game, in the case of Disco Elysium there are many other ways that it is significant.},
keywords = {Absurdity, Affect, Digital distribution, Disco Elysium, Dissonant development, Estonia, Film noir, Game production, Game production studies, Gothic fiction, Hermeneutics of objects, Political economy, Polyphony, Posthumanism, Rhizome, Software commons},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {collection}
}
Disco Elysium is a highly praised game that is widely recognized for its innovation and quality. In December 2019, writing for Time magazine, Matthew Gault named Disco Elysium one of the ten most important games of the decade (2010–2019) along-side the likes of Fortnite (Epic Games 2017–), Minecraft (Mojang 2011), and Pokémon GO (2016). Gault (2019) characterizes the dec-ade as one in which “artists broke free of the business side and produced works of astounding beauty on par with any prestige television show.” Disco Elysium is included on his list as “proof” that “all video games are art” (ibid.). While critical and commer-cial success, as well as the invocation of “art,” are not themselves crucial reasons for scholars to explore a particular digital game, in the case of Disco Elysium there are many other ways that it is significant.
Sotamaa, Olli; Švelch, Jan
Amsterdam University Press, 2021, ISBN: 978-9463725439.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Game production, Game production studies, Video game production
@book{Sotamaa2021c,
title = {Game Production Studies},
author = {Olli Sotamaa and Jan Švelch},
url = {https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/47043},
doi = {10.5117/9789048551736},
isbn = {978-9463725439},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-03-18},
publisher = {Amsterdam University Press},
abstract = {Video games have entered the cultural mainstream and in terms of economic profits they now rival established entertainment industries such as film or television. As careers in video game development become more common, so do the stories about precarious working conditions and structural inequalities within the industry. Yet, scholars have largely overlooked video game production cultures in favor of studying games themselves and player audiences. In Game Production Studies, an international group of established and emerging researchers takes a closer look at the everyday realities of video game production, ranging from commercial industries to independent creators and cultural intermediaries. Across sixteen chapters, the authors deal with issues related to labour, game development, monetization and publishing, as well as local specificities. As the first edited collection dedicated solely to video game production, this volume provides a timely resource for anyone interested in how games are made and at what costs.
},
keywords = {Game production, Game production studies, Video game production},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {book}
}
Video games have entered the cultural mainstream and in terms of economic profits they now rival established entertainment industries such as film or television. As careers in video game development become more common, so do the stories about precarious working conditions and structural inequalities within the industry. Yet, scholars have largely overlooked video game production cultures in favor of studying games themselves and player audiences. In Game Production Studies, an international group of established and emerging researchers takes a closer look at the everyday realities of video game production, ranging from commercial industries to independent creators and cultural intermediaries. Across sixteen chapters, the authors deal with issues related to labour, game development, monetization and publishing, as well as local specificities. As the first edited collection dedicated solely to video game production, this volume provides a timely resource for anyone interested in how games are made and at what costs.
Sotamaa, Olli; Švelch, Jan
Introduction: Why Game Production Matters? Book Section
In: Sotamaa, Olli; Švelch, Jan (Ed.): Game Production Studies, pp. 7-28, Amsterdam University Press, 2021, ISBN: 978-9463725439.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Game industry, Game production, Game production studies, Indie, Platform studies, Production studies, Sociology of work
@incollection{Sotamaa2021e,
title = {Introduction: Why Game Production Matters?},
author = {Olli Sotamaa and Jan Švelch},
editor = {Olli Sotamaa and Jan Švelch},
url = {https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/47043},
doi = {10.5117/9789463725439_intro},
isbn = {978-9463725439},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-03-18},
booktitle = {Game Production Studies},
pages = {7-28},
publisher = {Amsterdam University Press},
abstract = {In the introduction, the editors of this collection argue for the importance of game production studies at a point when the public awareness about the production context of video games has, arguably, never been higher. With so many accounts of video game development permeating player and developer communities, the task of game production studies is to uncover the economic, cultural, and political structures that influence the final form of games by applying rigorous research methods. While the field of game studies has developed quickly in the past two decades, the study of the video game industry and different modes of video game production have been mostly dismissed by game studies scholars and requires more attention.},
keywords = {Game industry, Game production, Game production studies, Indie, Platform studies, Production studies, Sociology of work},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {incollection}
}
In the introduction, the editors of this collection argue for the importance of game production studies at a point when the public awareness about the production context of video games has, arguably, never been higher. With so many accounts of video game development permeating player and developer communities, the task of game production studies is to uncover the economic, cultural, and political structures that influence the final form of games by applying rigorous research methods. While the field of game studies has developed quickly in the past two decades, the study of the video game industry and different modes of video game production have been mostly dismissed by game studies scholars and requires more attention.
Karhulahti, Veli-Matti; Grabarczyk, Paweł
Split-Screen: Videogame History Through Local Multiplayer Design Journal Article
In: Design Issues, vol. 37, iss. 2, pp. 32-44, 2021, ISSN: 1531-4790.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Design vestigiality, Game production, Shared screen play
@article{Karhulahti2021d,
title = {Split-Screen: Videogame History Through Local Multiplayer Design},
author = {Veli-Matti Karhulahti and Paweł Grabarczyk},
url = {http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-202005063063},
issn = {1531-4790},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-03-01},
urldate = {2021-03-01},
journal = {Design Issues},
volume = {37},
issue = {2},
pages = {32-44},
abstract = {By looking at videogame production through a two-vector model of design – a practice determined by the interplay between economic and technological evolution – we argue that shared screen play, as both collaboration and competition, originally functioned as a desirable pattern in videogame design, but has since become problematic due to industry transformations. This is introduced as an example of what we call design vestigiality: momentary loss of a design pattern’s contextual function due to techno-economical evolution.},
keywords = {Design vestigiality, Game production, Shared screen play},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
By looking at videogame production through a two-vector model of design – a practice determined by the interplay between economic and technological evolution – we argue that shared screen play, as both collaboration and competition, originally functioned as a desirable pattern in videogame design, but has since become problematic due to industry transformations. This is introduced as an example of what we call design vestigiality: momentary loss of a design pattern’s contextual function due to techno-economical evolution.
2018
Tyni, Heikki
Spectating Development and Other Backer Perspectives on Games Crowdfunding Proceedings Article
In: DiGRA Nordic '18: Proceedings of 2018 International DiGRA Nordic Conference, 2018.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Backer survey, Crowdfunding, Game production, Game production studies
@inproceedings{Tyni2018,
title = {Spectating Development and Other Backer Perspectives on Games Crowdfunding},
author = {Heikki Tyni},
url = {http://www.digra.org/digital-library/publications/spectating-development-and-other-backer-perspectives-on-games-crowdfunding},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-11-01},
urldate = {2018-11-01},
booktitle = {DiGRA Nordic '18: Proceedings of 2018 International DiGRA Nordic Conference},
abstract = {During the last decade, crowdfunding has become a significant new means to fund creative productions. Rather than being simply about acquiring the funded product or service, a closer look at crowdfunding reveals that backers attach many kinds of meanings and motivations to it. This article describes an exploratory study on backer motivations to participate in games crowdfunding. Utilizing two sets of data from an online survey, a quantitative section (N=426) and a qualitative section with open answers, it is found out that, among others, backers enjoy spectating game development, linking crowdfunding participation to new forms of consumption in the evolving media culture.},
keywords = {Backer survey, Crowdfunding, Game production, Game production studies},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
During the last decade, crowdfunding has become a significant new means to fund creative productions. Rather than being simply about acquiring the funded product or service, a closer look at crowdfunding reveals that backers attach many kinds of meanings and motivations to it. This article describes an exploratory study on backer motivations to participate in games crowdfunding. Utilizing two sets of data from an online survey, a quantitative section (N=426) and a qualitative section with open answers, it is found out that, among others, backers enjoy spectating game development, linking crowdfunding participation to new forms of consumption in the evolving media culture.