2023
Meriläinen, Mikko
In: Entertainment Computing, vol. 44, 2023, ISSN: 1875-9521.
Journal article Open access
Abstract | Links | Tags: Digital gaming, Digital gaming relationship, Gaming motives, Social worlds, Video games, Youth
@article{Meriläinen2023,
title = {Young People’s Engagement with Digital Gaming Cultures – Validating and Developing the Digital Gaming Relationship Theory},
author = {Mikko Meriläinen},
url = {https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202303223093
},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.entcom.2022.100538},
issn = {1875-9521},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-01-31},
urldate = {2023-01-31},
journal = {Entertainment Computing},
volume = {44},
abstract = {Young people’s digital gaming is a complex phenomenon often approached in both research and public discussion from risk or utilitarian perspectives, erasing young people’s diverse experiences of their participation in gaming cultures. This study explores the utility of a novel approach, the digital gaming relationship (DGR) theory, in examining young people’s gaming experiences. Drawing from a thematic analysis of qualitative questionnaire data (N=180) collected in Finland from respondents aged 15–25, the study illustrates how the DGR approach helps make sense of young people’s engagement with digital gaming cultures and develops the theory further.},
keywords = {Digital gaming, Digital gaming relationship, Gaming motives, Social worlds, Video games, Youth},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Young people’s digital gaming is a complex phenomenon often approached in both research and public discussion from risk or utilitarian perspectives, erasing young people’s diverse experiences of their participation in gaming cultures. This study explores the utility of a novel approach, the digital gaming relationship (DGR) theory, in examining young people’s gaming experiences. Drawing from a thematic analysis of qualitative questionnaire data (N=180) collected in Finland from respondents aged 15–25, the study illustrates how the DGR approach helps make sense of young people’s engagement with digital gaming cultures and develops the theory further.
Alha, Kati
Pokémon Go (2016): A Location Based Game Breaks Through
In: Perron, Bernard; Boudreau, Kelly; Wolf, Mark J. P.; Arsenault, Dominic (Ed.): Fifty Key Video Games, pp. 196-202, Routledge, 2023, ISBN: 978-1-003-19920-5, (Embargoed document. Embargo ends 27/07/24.).
Book chapter
Abstract | Links | Tags: Location-based game, Play, Playful behavior, Pokémon Go, Video games
@incollection{Alha2023,
title = {Pokémon Go (2016): A Location Based Game Breaks Through},
author = {Kati Alha},
editor = {Bernard Perron and Kelly Boudreau and Mark J.P. Wolf and Dominic Arsenault},
url = {https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003199205/fifty-key-video-games-dominic-arsenault-kelly-boudreau-bernard-perron-mark-wolf
https://researchportal.tuni.fi/en/publications/pok%C3%A9mon-go-2016-a-location-based-game-breaks-through},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003199205},
isbn = {978-1-003-19920-5},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-01-31},
urldate = {2023-01-31},
booktitle = {Fifty Key Video Games},
pages = {196-202},
publisher = {Routledge},
abstract = {During the summer of 2016, Pokémon Go was everywhere. It was difficult to go outside without noticing players hunting and catching Pokémon creatures in real-world locations; location-based gaming had become a mainstream activity. Through novel gameplay and unprecedented success, Pokémon Go became one of the biggest and most impactful games of the time. While the game collected praise of its positive impacts on exercising and outdoor activity, the success also caused disruptive behavior, such as players taking over locations from their previous use, trespassing on private properties, or causing danger in traffic. Many of the game’s biggest impacts are of a social nature: it enabled random encounters between strangers, created opportunities to both build new relationships and strengthen existing ones, and increased the feeling of community and belonging. Not all audiences have been included in the same manner, though: the game is not equally accessible or safe to play in all locations or by all groups of people. Despite its shortcomings, Pokémon Go managed to bring gaming to new audiences and increased the acceptability of play and playful behavior in our society – for all ages.},
note = {Embargoed document. Embargo ends 27/07/24.},
keywords = {Location-based game, Play, Playful behavior, Pokémon Go, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {incollection}
}
During the summer of 2016, Pokémon Go was everywhere. It was difficult to go outside without noticing players hunting and catching Pokémon creatures in real-world locations; location-based gaming had become a mainstream activity. Through novel gameplay and unprecedented success, Pokémon Go became one of the biggest and most impactful games of the time. While the game collected praise of its positive impacts on exercising and outdoor activity, the success also caused disruptive behavior, such as players taking over locations from their previous use, trespassing on private properties, or causing danger in traffic. Many of the game’s biggest impacts are of a social nature: it enabled random encounters between strangers, created opportunities to both build new relationships and strengthen existing ones, and increased the feeling of community and belonging. Not all audiences have been included in the same manner, though: the game is not equally accessible or safe to play in all locations or by all groups of people. Despite its shortcomings, Pokémon Go managed to bring gaming to new audiences and increased the acceptability of play and playful behavior in our society – for all ages.
Karhulahti, Veli-Matti; Adamkovič, Matúš; Vahlo, Jukka; Martončik, Marcel; Munukka, Matti; Koskimaa, Raine; von Bonsdorff, Mikaela
Reply to Billieux and Fournier (2022): Collaborative Shortcut to Ontological Diversity COMMENT
In: Addiction Research & Theory, vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 174-177, 2023, ISSN: 1476-7392.
Publication for professional or general audience Open access
Links | Tags: Computer games, Game research, Gaming, Problematic gaming, Video games
@other{Karhulahti2023,
title = {Reply to Billieux and Fournier (2022): Collaborative Shortcut to Ontological Diversity COMMENT},
author = {Veli-Matti Karhulahti and Matúš Adamkovič and Jukka Vahlo and Marcel Martončik and Matti Munukka and Raine Koskimaa and Mikaela von Bonsdorff},
url = {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/16066359.2022.2160448
https://converis.jyu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/164776636},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1080/16066359.2022.2160448},
issn = {1476-7392},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-01-31},
urldate = {2023-01-31},
booktitle = {Addiction Research & Theory},
volume = {31},
number = {3},
pages = {174-177},
keywords = {Computer games, Game research, Gaming, Problematic gaming, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {other}
}
2022
Mukherjee, Souvik
Videogames in the Indian Subcontinent: Development, Culture(s) and Representations
Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022, ISBN: 9789354356919.
Book
Abstract | Links | Tags: Game culture, Game history, India, Ludic culture, Video games
@book{Mukherjee2022,
title = {Videogames in the Indian Subcontinent: Development, Culture(s) and Representations},
author = {Souvik Mukherjee},
url = {https://www.bloomsbury.com/in/videogames-in-the-indian-subcontinent-9789354356919/},
isbn = {9789354356919},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-11-25},
urldate = {2022-11-25},
publisher = {Bloomsbury Publishing},
abstract = {Videogames in the Indian Subcontinent: Development, Culture(s) and Representations explores the gaming culture of one of the most culturally diverse and populous regions of the world-the Indian subcontinent. Building on the author's earlier work on videogame culture in India, this book addresses issues of how discussions of equality and diversity sit within videogame studies, particularly in connection with the subcontinent, thereby presenting pioneering research on the videogame cultures of the region.
Drawing on a series of player and developer interviews and surveys conducted over the last five years, including some recent ones, this book provides a sense of how games have become a part of the culture of the region despite its huge diversity and plurality and opens up avenues for further study through vignettes and snapshots of the diverse gaming culture. It addresses the rapid rise of videogames as an entertainment medium in South Asia and, as such, also tries to better understand the recent controversies connected to gaming in the region In the process, it aims to make a larger connection between the development of videogames and player culture, in the subcontinent and globally, thus opening up channels for collaboration between the industry and academic research, local and global.},
keywords = {Game culture, Game history, India, Ludic culture, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {book}
}
Videogames in the Indian Subcontinent: Development, Culture(s) and Representations explores the gaming culture of one of the most culturally diverse and populous regions of the world-the Indian subcontinent. Building on the author's earlier work on videogame culture in India, this book addresses issues of how discussions of equality and diversity sit within videogame studies, particularly in connection with the subcontinent, thereby presenting pioneering research on the videogame cultures of the region.
Drawing on a series of player and developer interviews and surveys conducted over the last five years, including some recent ones, this book provides a sense of how games have become a part of the culture of the region despite its huge diversity and plurality and opens up avenues for further study through vignettes and snapshots of the diverse gaming culture. It addresses the rapid rise of videogames as an entertainment medium in South Asia and, as such, also tries to better understand the recent controversies connected to gaming in the region In the process, it aims to make a larger connection between the development of videogames and player culture, in the subcontinent and globally, thus opening up channels for collaboration between the industry and academic research, local and global.
Drawing on a series of player and developer interviews and surveys conducted over the last five years, including some recent ones, this book provides a sense of how games have become a part of the culture of the region despite its huge diversity and plurality and opens up avenues for further study through vignettes and snapshots of the diverse gaming culture. It addresses the rapid rise of videogames as an entertainment medium in South Asia and, as such, also tries to better understand the recent controversies connected to gaming in the region In the process, it aims to make a larger connection between the development of videogames and player culture, in the subcontinent and globally, thus opening up channels for collaboration between the industry and academic research, local and global.
Karhulahti, Veli-Matti; Siutila, Miia; Vahlo, Jukka; Koskimaa, Raine
Phenomenological Strands for Gaming Disorder and Esports Play: A Qualitative Registered Report
In: Collabra, vol. 8, iss. 1, 2022, ISSN: 2474-7394.
Journal article Open access
Abstract | Links | Tags: Addiction, Health, Phenomenology, Psychopathology, Video games
@article{Karhulahti2022e,
title = {Phenomenological Strands for Gaming Disorder and Esports Play: A Qualitative Registered Report},
author = {Veli-Matti Karhulahti and Miia Siutila and Jukka Vahlo and Raine Koskimaa},
url = {http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-202211015042},
doi = {10.1525/collabra.38819},
issn = {2474-7394},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-10-24},
urldate = {2022-10-24},
journal = {Collabra},
volume = {8},
issue = {1},
abstract = {The recent inclusion of gaming disorder in the ICD-11 as a mental disorder has further increased the importance of researching the health spectrum related to gaming. A critical area in this regard is the lack of clarity concerning the differences between gaming disorder and intensive play, the latter of which often involves several gaming hours per day without related health problems. In this study, we approached the above question by interpretive phenomenological analysis with interviews in two groups of highly involved videogame players: those who seek or have sought clinical help for their problems with gaming (n=6), and those who play esports more than 4 hours per day without self-reported related health problems (n=10). The interviews were carried out by using a new Phenomenology of Play (POP) interview frame. These data were contextualized with interviews of medical experts (n=6) who have experience of working with the former group. The findings imply that experiences of disorder derive from gaming interfering with what one wants to be, do, and have throughout life, whereas the experiences of intensive esport play derive from gaming being integrated into self throughout life. To our knowledge, this was the first registered report using qualitative phenomenological methods—we encourage researchers to explore the utility of registered reports with other qualitative methods to further optimize scientific progress.},
keywords = {Addiction, Health, Phenomenology, Psychopathology, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The recent inclusion of gaming disorder in the ICD-11 as a mental disorder has further increased the importance of researching the health spectrum related to gaming. A critical area in this regard is the lack of clarity concerning the differences between gaming disorder and intensive play, the latter of which often involves several gaming hours per day without related health problems. In this study, we approached the above question by interpretive phenomenological analysis with interviews in two groups of highly involved videogame players: those who seek or have sought clinical help for their problems with gaming (n=6), and those who play esports more than 4 hours per day without self-reported related health problems (n=10). The interviews were carried out by using a new Phenomenology of Play (POP) interview frame. These data were contextualized with interviews of medical experts (n=6) who have experience of working with the former group. The findings imply that experiences of disorder derive from gaming interfering with what one wants to be, do, and have throughout life, whereas the experiences of intensive esport play derive from gaming being integrated into self throughout life. To our knowledge, this was the first registered report using qualitative phenomenological methods—we encourage researchers to explore the utility of registered reports with other qualitative methods to further optimize scientific progress.
Blom, Joleen
In: Replaying Japan, vol. 4, pp. 23-34, 2022, ISSN: 2433-8060.
Journal article Open access
Abstract | Links | Tags: Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Character trade, Characters, Nintendo, Video games
@article{Blom2022c,
title = {Attachment, Possession or Personalization?: Why the Character Trade in Animal Crossing: New Horizons Exploded},
author = {Joleen Blom},
url = {https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202208106341},
doi = {10.34382/00017634},
issn = {2433-8060},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-07-31},
urldate = {2022-07-31},
journal = {Replaying Japan},
volume = {4},
pages = {23-34},
abstract = {A month after the release of the video game Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo 2020), virtual player markets arose where players could exchange characters and other goods, but this simultaneously led to players scamming each other during those trades. A year later Nintendo announced the Amiibo Sanrio Collaboration Pack, a set of character cards to be used in New Horizons, which a minute after its release was completely sold out so that consumers could only obtain the cards at private online vendors, another market economy, for a much higher price. This article is occupied with the question of why players are so willing to go through such great lengths to obtain virtual characters they desire, even risking being deceived? What do these characters mean to them? The article argues that the affective relationships between players and virtual characters cannot be understood independently from the marketing practices of a video game. It shows how the Animal Crossing ludo mix strategy’s uneven distribution of characters in- and outside of New Horizons is the underlying reason for fraudulent player practices to occur. It explains how Animal Crossing uses a blend of monetization approaches resembling the current game monetization trend of free-to-play games with random in-game purchases that use characters as fuel. Finally, it will argue that Nintendo needs to foster a community infrastructure that facilitates a safe exchange of the villagers and other items but due to its neglect to do so, it is actually the player market economies instead that are fostering such responsible gameplay.},
keywords = {Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Character trade, Characters, Nintendo, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
A month after the release of the video game Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo 2020), virtual player markets arose where players could exchange characters and other goods, but this simultaneously led to players scamming each other during those trades. A year later Nintendo announced the Amiibo Sanrio Collaboration Pack, a set of character cards to be used in New Horizons, which a minute after its release was completely sold out so that consumers could only obtain the cards at private online vendors, another market economy, for a much higher price. This article is occupied with the question of why players are so willing to go through such great lengths to obtain virtual characters they desire, even risking being deceived? What do these characters mean to them? The article argues that the affective relationships between players and virtual characters cannot be understood independently from the marketing practices of a video game. It shows how the Animal Crossing ludo mix strategy’s uneven distribution of characters in- and outside of New Horizons is the underlying reason for fraudulent player practices to occur. It explains how Animal Crossing uses a blend of monetization approaches resembling the current game monetization trend of free-to-play games with random in-game purchases that use characters as fuel. Finally, it will argue that Nintendo needs to foster a community infrastructure that facilitates a safe exchange of the villagers and other items but due to its neglect to do so, it is actually the player market economies instead that are fostering such responsible gameplay.
Karhulahti, Veli-Matti
In: Grabarczyk, Paweł (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Ludic Terms, Spring 2022, 2022.
Publication for professional or general audience Open access
Abstract | Links | Tags: Computer games, Concepts, Definitions, Digital games, Games, Video games
@other{Karhulahti2022g,
title = {Digital Games},
author = {Veli-Matti Karhulahti},
editor = {Paweł Grabarczyk},
url = {https://research.fi/en/results/publication/0392491322
https://eolt.org/articles/digital-games},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-04-21},
urldate = {2022-04-21},
booktitle = {Encyclopedia of Ludic Terms},
edition = {Spring 2022},
abstract = {This entry summarizes the history and current use of "digital games" and related terminology, such as "computer games", "electronic games", and "videogames". Despite their etymological variety, a few pragmatic differences between these competing terms exist, which has recently led researchers and practitioners to increasingly apply (even more) general concepts such as "gaming" and "esports". A recommendation is not to interpret and use such terms literally, but to choose related terminology based on context and consistency.},
keywords = {Computer games, Concepts, Definitions, Digital games, Games, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {other}
}
This entry summarizes the history and current use of "digital games" and related terminology, such as "computer games", "electronic games", and "videogames". Despite their etymological variety, a few pragmatic differences between these competing terms exist, which has recently led researchers and practitioners to increasingly apply (even more) general concepts such as "gaming" and "esports". A recommendation is not to interpret and use such terms literally, but to choose related terminology based on context and consistency.
Macey, Joseph; Hamari, Juho
In: New Media & Society, vol. Pre-print, 2022, ISSN: 1461-4448.
Journal article Open access
Abstract | Links | Tags: Consumption, Convergence, Decision-making, Digital games, Digital media, Gamblification, Gambling, Gamification, Loot boxes, Video games
@article{Macey2022b,
title = {Gamblification: A Definition},
author = {Joseph Macey and Juho Hamari},
url = {https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14614448221083903},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448221083903},
issn = {1461-4448},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-03-17},
journal = {New Media & Society},
volume = {Pre-print},
abstract = {In recent years, gambling has become increasingly prominent in everyday life; the term ‘gamblification’ first emerged in the late 2000s and was used to describe the colonisation of sports and sporting cultures by the gambling industry. Since that time, gamblification has been used to describe a range of phenomena in increasingly diffuse contexts; it has been variously used as a proxy for the convergence of gaming and gambling, to describe specific monetisation practices, or as a means of motivating consumer behaviours. Conceptual clarity has been further muddied by the positioning of gamblification as a form of gamification. This work provides a definition of gamblification, which draws upon and consolidates existing uses of the term while also providing a lens through which the differing aspects of gamblification can be understood and appraised. By doing so, this work will establish a clear conceptual framework, which can structure in-depth discussions of this multi-dimensional phenomenon.},
keywords = {Consumption, Convergence, Decision-making, Digital games, Digital media, Gamblification, Gambling, Gamification, Loot boxes, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
In recent years, gambling has become increasingly prominent in everyday life; the term ‘gamblification’ first emerged in the late 2000s and was used to describe the colonisation of sports and sporting cultures by the gambling industry. Since that time, gamblification has been used to describe a range of phenomena in increasingly diffuse contexts; it has been variously used as a proxy for the convergence of gaming and gambling, to describe specific monetisation practices, or as a means of motivating consumer behaviours. Conceptual clarity has been further muddied by the positioning of gamblification as a form of gamification. This work provides a definition of gamblification, which draws upon and consolidates existing uses of the term while also providing a lens through which the differing aspects of gamblification can be understood and appraised. By doing so, this work will establish a clear conceptual framework, which can structure in-depth discussions of this multi-dimensional phenomenon.
Ruotsalainen, Maria
In: Television & New Media, vol. Pre-print, 2022, ISSN: 1527-4764.
Journal article Open access
Abstract | Links | Tags: Age, Critical discourse analysis, Gender, Streaming, Twitch, Video games
@article{Ruotsalainen2022c,
title = {“Cute Goddess is Actually an Aunty”: The Evasive Middle-Aged Woman Streamer and Normative Performances of Femininity in Video Game Streaming},
author = {Maria Ruotsalainen},
url = {http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-202203211976},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1177/15274764221080962},
issn = {1527-4764},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-03-08},
journal = {Television & New Media},
volume = {Pre-print},
abstract = {In this paper the focus is on the representations of “middle-aged” or “aging” women streamers in western media. I analyze discussions in Western online media around a case of Chinese DouYu live-streamer. “Qiaobiluo Dianxia,” as her streamer name goes, became a topic in Western media after a glitch in her live stream revealed her to be a middle-aged woman, rather than young woman she was assumed to be. The discussions are analyzed with critical discourse analysis. It is argued that the aging bodies of women, both their presence and absence, should be read and understood through toxic gaming culture and geek masculinity and the hegemonic discourse they constitute.},
keywords = {Age, Critical discourse analysis, Gender, Streaming, Twitch, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
In this paper the focus is on the representations of “middle-aged” or “aging” women streamers in western media. I analyze discussions in Western online media around a case of Chinese DouYu live-streamer. “Qiaobiluo Dianxia,” as her streamer name goes, became a topic in Western media after a glitch in her live stream revealed her to be a middle-aged woman, rather than young woman she was assumed to be. The discussions are analyzed with critical discourse analysis. It is argued that the aging bodies of women, both their presence and absence, should be read and understood through toxic gaming culture and geek masculinity and the hegemonic discourse they constitute.
Kerttula, Tero
(Broad)casting the Game: The Spectacle of Real in Representing and Narrating Video Game Play
2022, ISBN: 978-951-39-8968-2.
Doctoral thesis Open access
Abstract | Links | Tags: Game history, Let's Play, Spectacle, Television, Video games
@phdthesis{Kerttula2022,
title = {(Broad)casting the Game: The Spectacle of Real in Representing and Narrating Video Game Play},
author = {Tero Kerttula},
url = {http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-39-8968-2},
isbn = {978-951-39-8968-2},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-01-22},
publisher = {University of Jyväskylä},
abstract = {Video games have been a notable part of our lives for a long time now, and also in non-playable ways. The games and the action of gaming have been possible to consume through reading magazines and web pages, watching television and in these days, through online videos. In this compilation dissertation I look at the ways the media has used and presented video games and video gaming in the past 40 years. My aim is to prove, that through different means of presentation the role of the player in these presentations rises to equal the role of the games and even surpasses that. At the same time, I attempt to put these presentations in a media-historical timeline and point out the similarities between modern self-made videos and the television productions and games journalism of the past. I research the subject in the preface through the concept of the media spectacle and I’ll also look at the articles the dissertation consists of through the same concept. The concept of the spectacle makes it possible to look at the different media productions from commercialist and nationalistic angle and also to see, which kind of elements of power in present in these productions. The articles approach the subject through narrativization, oral history and triangulation. One notable part of the research is the data compiled of different television shows about video games from the 1980s to present day. With the help of different articles and methods, the research as a whole draws numerous similarities between the media spectacles about video games of the past and modern media productions. The results of the research are many. From the angle of the spectacle, the modern Let’s Play -videos have connections to early television shows and other audiovisual productions. One specific similarity is the emphasis in the presentation of the player instead of the game. Because the early television shows tried to market the games to the audience by using visual methods also seen in sports spectacles, they also marketed the experience of playing video games. The role of the player is also a role of a narrator. Let’s Play -videos can be seen as a specific kind of stories about how the game in the video was like to play. At the same time the videos show the relationship between the player and the game, for example by oral history. This makes the Let’s Play -videos a part of the research of the history of video games and video game culture. These stories have also their roots in the media history. The stories were told especially in video game magazines and their role were quite the same as in the Let’s Plays, to tell a story about a video game experience in a review or a walkthrough. The research also makes a note about competitive gaming – or eSports – and the evolution of it through these media spectacles. From the results it is seen that the modern eSports broadcasts are in many ways alike to early television shows, which incorporated competitive gaming as a part of the show. Those shows in their own turn took influence from sports broadcasts. At the same time the findings suggest, that in the eSports broadcasts the games are comparable to sport disciplines, where the attention in on the athlete, but also on the other factors influencing the spectacle, like the sponsors.},
keywords = {Game history, Let's Play, Spectacle, Television, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {phdthesis}
}
Video games have been a notable part of our lives for a long time now, and also in non-playable ways. The games and the action of gaming have been possible to consume through reading magazines and web pages, watching television and in these days, through online videos. In this compilation dissertation I look at the ways the media has used and presented video games and video gaming in the past 40 years. My aim is to prove, that through different means of presentation the role of the player in these presentations rises to equal the role of the games and even surpasses that. At the same time, I attempt to put these presentations in a media-historical timeline and point out the similarities between modern self-made videos and the television productions and games journalism of the past. I research the subject in the preface through the concept of the media spectacle and I’ll also look at the articles the dissertation consists of through the same concept. The concept of the spectacle makes it possible to look at the different media productions from commercialist and nationalistic angle and also to see, which kind of elements of power in present in these productions. The articles approach the subject through narrativization, oral history and triangulation. One notable part of the research is the data compiled of different television shows about video games from the 1980s to present day. With the help of different articles and methods, the research as a whole draws numerous similarities between the media spectacles about video games of the past and modern media productions. The results of the research are many. From the angle of the spectacle, the modern Let’s Play -videos have connections to early television shows and other audiovisual productions. One specific similarity is the emphasis in the presentation of the player instead of the game. Because the early television shows tried to market the games to the audience by using visual methods also seen in sports spectacles, they also marketed the experience of playing video games. The role of the player is also a role of a narrator. Let’s Play -videos can be seen as a specific kind of stories about how the game in the video was like to play. At the same time the videos show the relationship between the player and the game, for example by oral history. This makes the Let’s Play -videos a part of the research of the history of video games and video game culture. These stories have also their roots in the media history. The stories were told especially in video game magazines and their role were quite the same as in the Let’s Plays, to tell a story about a video game experience in a review or a walkthrough. The research also makes a note about competitive gaming – or eSports – and the evolution of it through these media spectacles. From the results it is seen that the modern eSports broadcasts are in many ways alike to early television shows, which incorporated competitive gaming as a part of the show. Those shows in their own turn took influence from sports broadcasts. At the same time the findings suggest, that in the eSports broadcasts the games are comparable to sport disciplines, where the attention in on the athlete, but also on the other factors influencing the spectacle, like the sponsors.
2021
Koskimaa, Raine
In: Game Studies: the international journal of computer game research, vol. 21, no. 4, IT Universitetet i Koebenhavn, 2021, ISSN: 1604-7982.
Publication for professional or general audience Open access
Links | Tags: Book review, Game culture, Game studies, Pac-Man, Video games
@other{Koskimaa2021c,
title = {Book Review: How Pac-Man Eats},
author = {Raine Koskimaa},
url = {http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-202202011364
http://gamestudies.org/2104/articles/koskimaa_review},
issn = {1604-7982},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-12-31},
urldate = {2021-12-31},
booktitle = {Game Studies: the international journal of computer game research},
volume = {21},
number = {4},
publisher = {IT Universitetet i Koebenhavn},
keywords = {Book review, Game culture, Game studies, Pac-Man, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {other}
}
de Wildt, Lars; Aupers, Stef
Marketable Religion: How Game Company Ubisoft Commodified Religion for a Global Audience
In: Journal of Consumer Culture, vol. Pre-print, 2021, ISSN: 1469-5405.
Journal article
Abstract | Links | Tags: Assassin's Creed, Commodification, Cultural industries, Depoliticization, Game production studies, Marketable religion, Religion, Science-fictionalization, Universalization, Video games
@article{deWildt2021,
title = {Marketable Religion: How Game Company Ubisoft Commodified Religion for a Global Audience},
author = {Lars de Wildt and Stef Aupers},
doi = {10.1177/14695405211062060},
issn = {1469-5405},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-12-28},
journal = {Journal of Consumer Culture},
volume = {Pre-print},
abstract = {Videogame companies are selling religion to an overwhelmingly secular demographic. Ubisoft, the biggest company in the world's biggest cultural industry, created a best-selling franchise about a conflict over Biblical artefacts between Muslim Assassins and Christian Templars. Who decides to put religion into those games? How? And why? To find out, we interviewed 22 developers on the Assassin's Creed franchise, including directors and writers. Based on those, we show that the "who" of Ubisoft is not a person but an industry: a de-personalized and codified process. How? Marketing, editorial and production teams curb creative teams into reproducing a formula: a depoliticized, universalized, and science-fictionalized "marketable religion." Why? Because this marketable form of religious heritage can be consumed by everyone-regardless of cultural background or conviction. As such, this paper adds an empirically grounded perspective on the "who," "why," and "how" of cultural industries' successful commodification of religious and cultural heritage.},
keywords = {Assassin's Creed, Commodification, Cultural industries, Depoliticization, Game production studies, Marketable religion, Religion, Science-fictionalization, Universalization, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Videogame companies are selling religion to an overwhelmingly secular demographic. Ubisoft, the biggest company in the world's biggest cultural industry, created a best-selling franchise about a conflict over Biblical artefacts between Muslim Assassins and Christian Templars. Who decides to put religion into those games? How? And why? To find out, we interviewed 22 developers on the Assassin's Creed franchise, including directors and writers. Based on those, we show that the "who" of Ubisoft is not a person but an industry: a de-personalized and codified process. How? Marketing, editorial and production teams curb creative teams into reproducing a formula: a depoliticized, universalized, and science-fictionalized "marketable religion." Why? Because this marketable form of religious heritage can be consumed by everyone-regardless of cultural background or conviction. As such, this paper adds an empirically grounded perspective on the "who," "why," and "how" of cultural industries' successful commodification of religious and cultural heritage.
Macey, Joseph
A Whole New Ball Game: The Growing Prevalence of Video Game-Related Gambling
2021, ISBN: 978-952-03-2190-1.
Doctoral thesis Open access
Abstract | Links | Tags: Addiction, Betting, Cognitive bias, Consumption, Convergence, Digital media, Electronic sports, Free-to-play, Gamblification, Gambling, Gamification, Gaming, Loot boxes, MSSC, Problem gambling, Skins gambling, Video games, Virtual goods
@phdthesis{Macey2021b,
title = {A Whole New Ball Game: The Growing Prevalence of Video Game-Related Gambling},
author = {Joseph Macey},
url = {https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-03-2191-8},
isbn = {978-952-03-2190-1},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-12-01},
publisher = {Tampere University},
abstract = {Recent decades have seen the parallel trends of the growing liberalisation of gambling practices and the increasing significance of games as both entertainment media and cultural reference points. It is, therefore, unsurprising that there has been a rapid convergence between video game play and gambling; it is a process in which traditional distinctions are becoming increasingly blurred, creating not only new activities and driving the development of new social relationships and consumption practices.
The convergence of gaming and gambling facilitated by digital technologies has become the subject of growing academic attention in in recent years, spurred by the rapidly growing social and economic impact of these digital media products. Much attention has been focused on the in-game items known as loot boxes, however, there are many more examples of gambling, and gambling-like mechanics, being used to drive player engagement and, consequently, monetisation. Concerns have been raised about such developments, with commentators arguing that they are inherently exploitative, that they normalise gambling and gambling-like interactions, and that they encourage problematic consumption.
At the time this research was conducted, there existed a significant and notable dearth of empirical work addressing video games and gambling, with what published works there were predominantly focusing on legal and regulatory issues. The aim of this dissertation, therefore, is to investigate the emerging phenomenon of video game-related gambling (such as esports betting, virtual item lotteries, loot boxes, and other emergent practices) and its connection to video gaming habits, maladaptive cognitions, and motivations for consumption of online services. The work is divided into a series of complementary perspectives that, in unison, provide both depth and breadth to the investigation.
This dissertation constitutes the first empirical work dedicated to the study of video game-related gambling as a distinct topic; previously, work in this area had addressed individual activities, for example SCG or esports betting. In particular, the articles included as part of this work were among the first to address the role of loot boxes and other virtual items in facilitating gambling related to video games, an issue which has since gathered significant attention from within academia and beyond. Furthermore, this work provides a record of video game-related gambling at a key period of its development, a time of significant change and increased attention from those both inside and outside of the video game ecosystem.
Whereas prior works had examined populations of video game players, esports fans, or gamblers, this work is the first to identify those who reside at the intersection of these groups: those who participate in video game-related gambling specifically. A particular contribution of this work has been to highlight the presence of under-age individuals in the video game-gambling ecosystem. This is a group who are often absent from such studies, despite the increased risks known to be associated with early exposure to gambling.
Building upon these areas, this dissertation includes one of the first studies of gambling-related cognitions among video gamers who gamble; as a result of this work it developed the first measure for identifying such cognitions in this population. At the same time providing knowledge which can improve established measures used to identify gambling-related cognitions in traditional gambling populations, for example in reference to the ways in which luck and skill are conceptualised.
The knowledge generated by this body of work, both practical and theoretical, has contributed greatly to understanding the relationships between video game play and gambling behaviour. It has added to the growing body of evidence which questions the perspective that playing video games contributes directly to the development of problematic gambling. Instead, it highlights the influence of contextual factors, such as the surrounding consumption cultures associated with particular games or media formats, which are of greater significance to the development of gambling behaviours, rather than simply playing games.
All four articles included in this work employ quantitative methodologies in order to gain high-level insights into the phenomenon; they are among the first empirical investigations of video game-related gambling and its varied manifestations and, as such, provide a foundation upon which further research into specific phenomena can be built, while also serving as a record of activities and behaviours during a period of notable change in the field.},
keywords = {Addiction, Betting, Cognitive bias, Consumption, Convergence, Digital media, Electronic sports, Free-to-play, Gamblification, Gambling, Gamification, Gaming, Loot boxes, MSSC, Problem gambling, Skins gambling, Video games, Virtual goods},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {phdthesis}
}
Recent decades have seen the parallel trends of the growing liberalisation of gambling practices and the increasing significance of games as both entertainment media and cultural reference points. It is, therefore, unsurprising that there has been a rapid convergence between video game play and gambling; it is a process in which traditional distinctions are becoming increasingly blurred, creating not only new activities and driving the development of new social relationships and consumption practices.
The convergence of gaming and gambling facilitated by digital technologies has become the subject of growing academic attention in in recent years, spurred by the rapidly growing social and economic impact of these digital media products. Much attention has been focused on the in-game items known as loot boxes, however, there are many more examples of gambling, and gambling-like mechanics, being used to drive player engagement and, consequently, monetisation. Concerns have been raised about such developments, with commentators arguing that they are inherently exploitative, that they normalise gambling and gambling-like interactions, and that they encourage problematic consumption.
At the time this research was conducted, there existed a significant and notable dearth of empirical work addressing video games and gambling, with what published works there were predominantly focusing on legal and regulatory issues. The aim of this dissertation, therefore, is to investigate the emerging phenomenon of video game-related gambling (such as esports betting, virtual item lotteries, loot boxes, and other emergent practices) and its connection to video gaming habits, maladaptive cognitions, and motivations for consumption of online services. The work is divided into a series of complementary perspectives that, in unison, provide both depth and breadth to the investigation.
This dissertation constitutes the first empirical work dedicated to the study of video game-related gambling as a distinct topic; previously, work in this area had addressed individual activities, for example SCG or esports betting. In particular, the articles included as part of this work were among the first to address the role of loot boxes and other virtual items in facilitating gambling related to video games, an issue which has since gathered significant attention from within academia and beyond. Furthermore, this work provides a record of video game-related gambling at a key period of its development, a time of significant change and increased attention from those both inside and outside of the video game ecosystem.
Whereas prior works had examined populations of video game players, esports fans, or gamblers, this work is the first to identify those who reside at the intersection of these groups: those who participate in video game-related gambling specifically. A particular contribution of this work has been to highlight the presence of under-age individuals in the video game-gambling ecosystem. This is a group who are often absent from such studies, despite the increased risks known to be associated with early exposure to gambling.
Building upon these areas, this dissertation includes one of the first studies of gambling-related cognitions among video gamers who gamble; as a result of this work it developed the first measure for identifying such cognitions in this population. At the same time providing knowledge which can improve established measures used to identify gambling-related cognitions in traditional gambling populations, for example in reference to the ways in which luck and skill are conceptualised.
The knowledge generated by this body of work, both practical and theoretical, has contributed greatly to understanding the relationships between video game play and gambling behaviour. It has added to the growing body of evidence which questions the perspective that playing video games contributes directly to the development of problematic gambling. Instead, it highlights the influence of contextual factors, such as the surrounding consumption cultures associated with particular games or media formats, which are of greater significance to the development of gambling behaviours, rather than simply playing games.
All four articles included in this work employ quantitative methodologies in order to gain high-level insights into the phenomenon; they are among the first empirical investigations of video game-related gambling and its varied manifestations and, as such, provide a foundation upon which further research into specific phenomena can be built, while also serving as a record of activities and behaviours during a period of notable change in the field.
The convergence of gaming and gambling facilitated by digital technologies has become the subject of growing academic attention in in recent years, spurred by the rapidly growing social and economic impact of these digital media products. Much attention has been focused on the in-game items known as loot boxes, however, there are many more examples of gambling, and gambling-like mechanics, being used to drive player engagement and, consequently, monetisation. Concerns have been raised about such developments, with commentators arguing that they are inherently exploitative, that they normalise gambling and gambling-like interactions, and that they encourage problematic consumption.
At the time this research was conducted, there existed a significant and notable dearth of empirical work addressing video games and gambling, with what published works there were predominantly focusing on legal and regulatory issues. The aim of this dissertation, therefore, is to investigate the emerging phenomenon of video game-related gambling (such as esports betting, virtual item lotteries, loot boxes, and other emergent practices) and its connection to video gaming habits, maladaptive cognitions, and motivations for consumption of online services. The work is divided into a series of complementary perspectives that, in unison, provide both depth and breadth to the investigation.
This dissertation constitutes the first empirical work dedicated to the study of video game-related gambling as a distinct topic; previously, work in this area had addressed individual activities, for example SCG or esports betting. In particular, the articles included as part of this work were among the first to address the role of loot boxes and other virtual items in facilitating gambling related to video games, an issue which has since gathered significant attention from within academia and beyond. Furthermore, this work provides a record of video game-related gambling at a key period of its development, a time of significant change and increased attention from those both inside and outside of the video game ecosystem.
Whereas prior works had examined populations of video game players, esports fans, or gamblers, this work is the first to identify those who reside at the intersection of these groups: those who participate in video game-related gambling specifically. A particular contribution of this work has been to highlight the presence of under-age individuals in the video game-gambling ecosystem. This is a group who are often absent from such studies, despite the increased risks known to be associated with early exposure to gambling.
Building upon these areas, this dissertation includes one of the first studies of gambling-related cognitions among video gamers who gamble; as a result of this work it developed the first measure for identifying such cognitions in this population. At the same time providing knowledge which can improve established measures used to identify gambling-related cognitions in traditional gambling populations, for example in reference to the ways in which luck and skill are conceptualised.
The knowledge generated by this body of work, both practical and theoretical, has contributed greatly to understanding the relationships between video game play and gambling behaviour. It has added to the growing body of evidence which questions the perspective that playing video games contributes directly to the development of problematic gambling. Instead, it highlights the influence of contextual factors, such as the surrounding consumption cultures associated with particular games or media formats, which are of greater significance to the development of gambling behaviours, rather than simply playing games.
All four articles included in this work employ quantitative methodologies in order to gain high-level insights into the phenomenon; they are among the first empirical investigations of video game-related gambling and its varied manifestations and, as such, provide a foundation upon which further research into specific phenomena can be built, while also serving as a record of activities and behaviours during a period of notable change in the field.
Mukherjee, Souvik
The Cartography of Virtual Empires: Videogame Maps, Paratexts and Colonialism
In: Beil, Benjamin; Freyermuth, Gundolf S.; Schmidt, Hanns Christian (Ed.): Paratextualizing Games: Investigations on the Paraphernalia and Peripheries of Play, pp. 75-96, transcript Verlag, 2021, ISBN: 9783839454213.
Book chapter Open access
Links | Tags: Cartography, Colonialism, Paratext, Video game maps, Video games
@incollection{Mukherjee2021c,
title = {The Cartography of Virtual Empires: Videogame Maps, Paratexts and Colonialism},
author = {Souvik Mukherjee},
editor = {Benjamin Beil and Gundolf S. Freyermuth and Hanns Christian Schmidt},
url = {https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783839454213-004/html},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1515/9783839454213-004},
isbn = {9783839454213},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-11-27},
urldate = {2021-11-27},
booktitle = {Paratextualizing Games: Investigations on the Paraphernalia and Peripheries of Play},
pages = {75-96},
publisher = {transcript Verlag},
keywords = {Cartography, Colonialism, Paratext, Video game maps, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {incollection}
}
Korkeila, Henry
Social Capital in Video Game Studies: A Scoping Review
In: New Media & Society, vol. 2021, no. 146144482110547, 2021, ISSN: 1461-4448.
Journal article Open access
Abstract | Links | Tags: Digital games, Games, Scoping review, Social capital, Socialness, Video games
@article{Korkeila2021,
title = {Social Capital in Video Game Studies: A Scoping Review},
author = {Henry Korkeila},
url = {https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/67710434},
doi = {10.1177/14614448211054778},
issn = {1461-4448},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-11-14},
journal = {New Media & Society},
volume = {2021},
number = {146144482110547},
abstract = {This study explored how social capital has been utilized in video-game studies by conducting a scoping review. In total, 74 peer-reviewed publications were analysed from three different databases. The following aspects pertaining to social capital were analysed: definition, methodology, game or genre as stimulus, its utilization inside or outside the stimulus, whether it was the sole concept or variable, how it was utilized, whether social capital was used to predict variables or whether variables were used to predict it, and what where the predicted or predicting variables. The results of the analysis show that Putnam’s research, the quantitative method and Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games were most commonly combined. Social capital was predominantly utilized in binary form. It was utilized almost equally inside and outside the video games’ sphere of influence. The study then presents the main findings and discusses future research avenues.},
keywords = {Digital games, Games, Scoping review, Social capital, Socialness, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
This study explored how social capital has been utilized in video-game studies by conducting a scoping review. In total, 74 peer-reviewed publications were analysed from three different databases. The following aspects pertaining to social capital were analysed: definition, methodology, game or genre as stimulus, its utilization inside or outside the stimulus, whether it was the sole concept or variable, how it was utilized, whether social capital was used to predict variables or whether variables were used to predict it, and what where the predicted or predicting variables. The results of the analysis show that Putnam’s research, the quantitative method and Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games were most commonly combined. Social capital was predominantly utilized in binary form. It was utilized almost equally inside and outside the video games’ sphere of influence. The study then presents the main findings and discusses future research avenues.
Zeiler, Xenia; Mukherjee, Souvik
In: Games and Culture, vol. Pre-print, 2021, ISSN: 1555-4120.
Journal article Open access
Abstract | Links | Tags: Cultural and creative industries, Cultural heritage, India, Indie games, Video game development, Video games
@article{Zeiler2021,
title = {Video Game Development in India: A Cultural and Creative Industry Embracing Regional Cultural Heritage(s)},
author = {Xenia Zeiler and Souvik Mukherjee},
url = {https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/15554120211045143},
doi = {10.1177/15554120211045143},
issn = {1555-4120},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-09-24},
journal = {Games and Culture},
volume = {Pre-print},
abstract = {Game development and production practices are complex and highly reflected processes—worldwide. This explorative article discusses video game development as a cultural and creative industry in India, including the industry’s history and introducing recent trends which indicate profound transformations—the use and implementation of Indian cultural heritage in game settings. In the rather short history of Indian game development as compared to other countries—a significant number of games made in India first were produced around 2010—the industry has already lived through big changes and challenges. This article aims at introducing Indian game development and argues that especially independent (so-called indie) game studios in their search for their own, region-specific game development and stand-alone characteristics for Indian games increasingly turn to what they perceive as their own cultural heritage, including, for example, elements from history, art (music, dance, dress styles, and others), and architecture.},
keywords = {Cultural and creative industries, Cultural heritage, India, Indie games, Video game development, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Game development and production practices are complex and highly reflected processes—worldwide. This explorative article discusses video game development as a cultural and creative industry in India, including the industry’s history and introducing recent trends which indicate profound transformations—the use and implementation of Indian cultural heritage in game settings. In the rather short history of Indian game development as compared to other countries—a significant number of games made in India first were produced around 2010—the industry has already lived through big changes and challenges. This article aims at introducing Indian game development and argues that especially independent (so-called indie) game studios in their search for their own, region-specific game development and stand-alone characteristics for Indian games increasingly turn to what they perceive as their own cultural heritage, including, for example, elements from history, art (music, dance, dress styles, and others), and architecture.
Tuominen, Juho; Sotamaa, Olli
“Outlaws to the End” – A Study of the Social and Political Reality of Rockstar Games’ West
In: WiderScreen, vol. 24, 2021, ISSN: 1795-6161.
Journal article Open access
Abstract | Links | Tags: Computer games, Game industry, Ideology critique, Rockstar Games, Video games
@article{Tuominen2021,
title = {“Outlaws to the End” – A Study of the Social and Political Reality of Rockstar Games’ West},
author = {Juho Tuominen and Olli Sotamaa},
url = {https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202108316893},
issn = {1795-6161},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-08-11},
journal = {WiderScreen},
volume = {24},
abstract = {This article examines the relevance and applicability of ideology criticism to the study of video games. The aim is to highlight the sophistication and detail of the experiences video games render for a player. As video games have become highly popular and mainstream, we consider that it is crucial to study the political and ideological realities they offer. In this article we commit a close reading of Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption series from an Althusserian perspective and discover that critical analysis yields interesting insights of the social order designed for the game world. To form a better understanding of ideological underpinnings of these designed systems of play, we also inspect the material conditions under which they were created. We find that ideological and political analysis of a blockbuster game contributes to a better understanding of ways in which games operate and what kind of social and political realities they offer.},
keywords = {Computer games, Game industry, Ideology critique, Rockstar Games, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
This article examines the relevance and applicability of ideology criticism to the study of video games. The aim is to highlight the sophistication and detail of the experiences video games render for a player. As video games have become highly popular and mainstream, we consider that it is crucial to study the political and ideological realities they offer. In this article we commit a close reading of Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption series from an Althusserian perspective and discover that critical analysis yields interesting insights of the social order designed for the game world. To form a better understanding of ideological underpinnings of these designed systems of play, we also inspect the material conditions under which they were created. We find that ideological and political analysis of a blockbuster game contributes to a better understanding of ways in which games operate and what kind of social and political realities they offer.
Mochocki, Michał; Koskimaa, Raine
Story Beats in Videogames as Value-Driven Choice-Based Unit Operations
In: Images: The International Journal of European Film, Performing Arts and Audiovisual Communication, vol. 29, no. 38, pp. 5-31, 2021, ISSN: 1731-450X.
Journal article Open access
Abstract | Links | Tags: Beat, Character, Game studies, Narrative, Narratology, Transmedia, Video games
@article{Mochocki2021,
title = {Story Beats in Videogames as Value-Driven Choice-Based Unit Operations},
author = {Michał Mochocki and Raine Koskimaa},
url = {https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/78603
https://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/i/article/view/29815/26411},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.14746/i.2021.38.01},
issn = {1731-450X},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-06-15},
urldate = {2021-06-15},
journal = {Images: The International Journal of European Film, Performing Arts and Audiovisual Communication},
volume = {29},
number = {38},
pages = {5-31},
publisher = {Adam Mickiewicz University Poznan},
abstract = {We present a framework of story beats, defined as microunits of dramatic action, as a tool for the ludonarrative analysis of videogames. First, we explain the Goal - Action - Reaction - Outcome model of the story beat. Then, we present six types of story beats, Action, Interaction, Inaction, Mental, Emotion, and Sensory, providing videogame examples for each category. In the second half of the paper, we contextualise this framework in the classic game studies theory of videogame narrative and player action: unit operations, gamic action, anatomy of choice, and game design patterns, wrapping it up in the most recent trends in cognitive narratology. Ultimately, we present the story beat as a ludonarrative unit, working simultaneously as a ‘unit operation’ in the study of games as systems, and as a microunit of character action in narrative analysis. The conclusion outlines prospective directions for using story beats in formal, experiential, and cultural game research.},
keywords = {Beat, Character, Game studies, Narrative, Narratology, Transmedia, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
We present a framework of story beats, defined as microunits of dramatic action, as a tool for the ludonarrative analysis of videogames. First, we explain the Goal - Action - Reaction - Outcome model of the story beat. Then, we present six types of story beats, Action, Interaction, Inaction, Mental, Emotion, and Sensory, providing videogame examples for each category. In the second half of the paper, we contextualise this framework in the classic game studies theory of videogame narrative and player action: unit operations, gamic action, anatomy of choice, and game design patterns, wrapping it up in the most recent trends in cognitive narratology. Ultimately, we present the story beat as a ludonarrative unit, working simultaneously as a ‘unit operation’ in the study of games as systems, and as a microunit of character action in narrative analysis. The conclusion outlines prospective directions for using story beats in formal, experiential, and cultural game research.
Macey, Joseph; Hamari, Juho; Sjöblom, Max; Törhönen, Maria
In: Bujić, Mila; Koivisto, Jonna; Hamari, Juho (Ed.): Proceedings of the 5th International GamiFIN Conference Levi, Finland, April 7-9, 2021, pp. 120-129, CEUR-WS, 2021, ISSN: 1613-0073.
In proceedings Open access
Abstract | Links | Tags: Betting, Electronic sports, Gamblification, Gambling, Loot boxes, Skins, Video games
@inproceedings{Macey2021,
title = {Relationships Between the Consumption of Gamblified Media and Associated Gambling Activities in a Sample of Esports Fans},
author = {Joseph Macey and Juho Hamari and Max Sjöblom and Maria Törhönen},
editor = {Mila Bujić and Jonna Koivisto and Juho Hamari},
url = {https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202108176585},
issn = {1613-0073},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-04-07},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 5th International GamiFIN Conference Levi, Finland, April 7-9, 2021},
pages = {120-129},
publisher = {CEUR-WS},
abstract = {Recent years have seen increasing academic attention to the ways in which the convergence of video gaming and gambling creates novel activities, relationships, and business practices. The scale and pace of this convergence has been such that observers have referenced not only the gamification of gambling but, additionally, the gamblification of gaming. The phenomenon of esports, or competitive video game play, is the environment which is most obviously characterised by this process, combining as it does both novel forms of gamblified content and established gambling activities from the world of traditional sports. Given the concerns about the normalisation of gambling in young people there is a pressing need to investigate the ways in which the consumption of esports, as a gamblified media product, is associated with participation in gambling activities. The findings of this study highlight the importance of spectating esports as a predictor of involvement in gambling associated with esports, while also providing empirical evidence of under-age participation in gambling. Finally, it offers a snapshot of gamblified media consumption during a period of rapid change, serving both as a historical record and as a basis for comparison with subsequent developments in the field.
},
keywords = {Betting, Electronic sports, Gamblification, Gambling, Loot boxes, Skins, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Recent years have seen increasing academic attention to the ways in which the convergence of video gaming and gambling creates novel activities, relationships, and business practices. The scale and pace of this convergence has been such that observers have referenced not only the gamification of gambling but, additionally, the gamblification of gaming. The phenomenon of esports, or competitive video game play, is the environment which is most obviously characterised by this process, combining as it does both novel forms of gamblified content and established gambling activities from the world of traditional sports. Given the concerns about the normalisation of gambling in young people there is a pressing need to investigate the ways in which the consumption of esports, as a gamblified media product, is associated with participation in gambling activities. The findings of this study highlight the importance of spectating esports as a predictor of involvement in gambling associated with esports, while also providing empirical evidence of under-age participation in gambling. Finally, it offers a snapshot of gamblified media consumption during a period of rapid change, serving both as a historical record and as a basis for comparison with subsequent developments in the field.
Laiti, Outi; Harrer, Sabine; Uusiautti, Satu; Kultima, Annakaisa
Sustaining Intangible Heritage Through Video Game Storytelling: The Case of the Sami Game Jam
In: International Journal of Heritage Studies: IJHS, vol. 3, iss. 4, pp. 296-311, 2021, ISSN: 1352-7258.
Journal article Open access
Abstract | Links | Tags: Game jam, Indigenous studies, Intangible heritage, Revitalisation, Sámi, Video games
@article{Laiti2021,
title = {Sustaining Intangible Heritage Through Video Game Storytelling: The Case of the Sami Game Jam},
author = {Outi Laiti and Sabine Harrer and Satu Uusiautti and Annakaisa Kultima},
url = {https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202006055927},
doi = {10.1080/13527258.2020.1747103},
issn = {1352-7258},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-03-04},
journal = {International Journal of Heritage Studies: IJHS},
volume = {3},
issue = {4},
pages = {296-311},
abstract = {This article explores how game jams, a rapid collaborative game production format, can work to support the revitalisation of Indigenous self-narratives in the context of Sámi culture. The study focuses on the Sami Game Jam, an event designed and carried out in the Northern Finish Sámi community in Utsjoki, in February 2018. Using an ethnographic method including participatory observation, video interviews with Sámi participants, and textual video game analysis, the study first discusses the event design, and how the creation of Sámi themes and priorities created constraints for game design. The variety of themes selected for the jam reflects the diversity of concerns present in contemporary Sámi society, and the need to reflect them in media. Secondly, we address the process of collaborative game development to explore current Sámi experience in a dialogic, open-ended way. Finally, we discuss the games created during the game jam, and how their design translate Sámi themes into playable artefacts. Based on the findings, we conclude how game jamming as a cultural practice can be appropriated for the purpose of sustaining intangible cultural heritage.},
keywords = {Game jam, Indigenous studies, Intangible heritage, Revitalisation, Sámi, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
This article explores how game jams, a rapid collaborative game production format, can work to support the revitalisation of Indigenous self-narratives in the context of Sámi culture. The study focuses on the Sami Game Jam, an event designed and carried out in the Northern Finish Sámi community in Utsjoki, in February 2018. Using an ethnographic method including participatory observation, video interviews with Sámi participants, and textual video game analysis, the study first discusses the event design, and how the creation of Sámi themes and priorities created constraints for game design. The variety of themes selected for the jam reflects the diversity of concerns present in contemporary Sámi society, and the need to reflect them in media. Secondly, we address the process of collaborative game development to explore current Sámi experience in a dialogic, open-ended way. Finally, we discuss the games created during the game jam, and how their design translate Sámi themes into playable artefacts. Based on the findings, we conclude how game jamming as a cultural practice can be appropriated for the purpose of sustaining intangible cultural heritage.
Fordyce, Robbie; Apperley, Thomas H.
Exhausting Choices: Bandersnatch and the Future of Our Entertainment Platforms
In: Duarte, German A.; Battin, Justin Michael (Ed.): Reading "Black Mirror": Insights into Technology and the Post-Media Condition, pp. 87-102, Transcript Verlag, 2021, ISBN: 978-3-8376-5232-1.
Book chapter Open access
Abstract | Links | Tags: Black Mirror, Hypertext games, Streaming, Video games
@incollection{Fordyce2021,
title = {Exhausting Choices: Bandersnatch and the Future of Our Entertainment Platforms},
author = {Robbie Fordyce and Thomas H. Apperley },
editor = {German A. Duarte and Justin Michael Battin},
url = {https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202105245372},
doi = {10.14361/9783839452325-005},
isbn = {978-3-8376-5232-1},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-01-19},
urldate = {2021-01-19},
booktitle = {Reading "Black Mirror": Insights into Technology and the Post-Media Condition},
pages = {87-102},
publisher = {Transcript Verlag},
abstract = {This chapter interrogates the Netflix ‘film’ Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018), written by Charlie Brooker and directed by David Slade, using a close reading approach informed by metaphorical and allegorical analysis of videogames (Begy, 2013; Bogost, 2006; Murray, 1997; Wark, 2007), and seeks to draw out how the film explores the gamified choice-driven systems of the purchase screens of entertainment platforms. We argue that Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (Bandersnatch, hereafter) engages in a well-crafted reference to its conditions of distribution by finding similarities between the branching nature of selection-based play in hypertext games and the selection-based mechanisms of contemporary streaming video services, such as Netflix. In order to engage in this analysis, this study will examine both formalist ludological and visual themes within Bandersnatch and explore how these elements draw out themes of entertainment, exhaustion, and boredom in a manner that approximates entertainment platforms.},
keywords = {Black Mirror, Hypertext games, Streaming, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {incollection}
}
This chapter interrogates the Netflix ‘film’ Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018), written by Charlie Brooker and directed by David Slade, using a close reading approach informed by metaphorical and allegorical analysis of videogames (Begy, 2013; Bogost, 2006; Murray, 1997; Wark, 2007), and seeks to draw out how the film explores the gamified choice-driven systems of the purchase screens of entertainment platforms. We argue that Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (Bandersnatch, hereafter) engages in a well-crafted reference to its conditions of distribution by finding similarities between the branching nature of selection-based play in hypertext games and the selection-based mechanisms of contemporary streaming video services, such as Netflix. In order to engage in this analysis, this study will examine both formalist ludological and visual themes within Bandersnatch and explore how these elements draw out themes of entertainment, exhaustion, and boredom in a manner that approximates entertainment platforms.
2020
Švelch, Jan
Mediatization of a Card Game: Magic: The Gathering, Esports, and Streaming
In: Media, Culture & Society, vol. 42, iss. 6, pp. 838-856, 2020, ISSN: 0163-4437.
Journal article Open access
Abstract | Links | Tags: Card game, Electronic sports, Mediatization, Monetization, Professional player, Sportification, Streaming, Video games
@article{Švelch2020,
title = {Mediatization of a Card Game: Magic: The Gathering, Esports, and Streaming},
author = {Jan Švelch},
url = {https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-201910254099},
doi = {10.1177/0163443719876536},
issn = {0163-4437},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-09-01},
journal = {Media, Culture & Society},
volume = {42},
issue = {6},
pages = {838-856},
abstract = {Magic: The Gathering is a household name among analog games. Its publisher, Wizards of the Coast, has experimented with digital adaptations since the late 1990s, however, it was only in 2018–2019 when the company announced a more radical push for the video game market, including a strategy for streaming and esports. By analyzing streaming content, paratextual elements, and online discussions leading up to the first major digital tournament, I explore the attempted and heavily promoted transition of Magic: The Gathering from a primarily analog card game toward a transmedia esports property. Beside conflicting reactions from players and fans to particular aspects of this transformation, this change brings along deepened mediatization of the game as a way to improve the spectator experience by following the media logics of streaming and esports. Professional players in the newly formed esports league along with other sponsored content creators were recruited to serve as advocates for this transition.},
keywords = {Card game, Electronic sports, Mediatization, Monetization, Professional player, Sportification, Streaming, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Magic: The Gathering is a household name among analog games. Its publisher, Wizards of the Coast, has experimented with digital adaptations since the late 1990s, however, it was only in 2018–2019 when the company announced a more radical push for the video game market, including a strategy for streaming and esports. By analyzing streaming content, paratextual elements, and online discussions leading up to the first major digital tournament, I explore the attempted and heavily promoted transition of Magic: The Gathering from a primarily analog card game toward a transmedia esports property. Beside conflicting reactions from players and fans to particular aspects of this transformation, this change brings along deepened mediatization of the game as a way to improve the spectator experience by following the media logics of streaming and esports. Professional players in the newly formed esports league along with other sponsored content creators were recruited to serve as advocates for this transition.
Arjoranta, Jonne
Playing the Nonhuman: Alien Experiences in Aliens vs. Predator
In: Karkulehto, Sanna; Koistinen, Aino-Kaisa; Varis, Essi (Ed.): Reconfiguring Human, Nonhuman and Posthuman in Literature and Culture, pp. 108-124, Routledge, 2020, ISBN: 978-0-367-19747-6.
Book chapter Open access
Abstract | Links | Tags: Alien vs. Predator, Experience, Game characters, Posthumanism, Video games
@incollection{Arjoranta2020c,
title = {Playing the Nonhuman: Alien Experiences in Aliens vs. Predator},
author = {Jonne Arjoranta},
editor = {Sanna Karkulehto and Aino-Kaisa Koistinen and Essi Varis
},
url = {http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-202011166657},
doi = {10.4324/9780429243042},
isbn = {978-0-367-19747-6},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-07-30},
booktitle = {Reconfiguring Human, Nonhuman and Posthuman in Literature and Culture},
pages = {108-124},
publisher = {Routledge},
abstract = {What is it like to play a nonhuman character? In his classic essay, philosopher Thomas Nagel (1975) argues that we are fundamentally unable to imagine what it is like to be a bat, because our senses and cognition are structured in a way that is uniquely human – whereas bats’ senses and cognition have a uniquely bat-like configuration. In spite of this, media genres from fantasy to science-fiction routinely strive to imagine and show what it could be like to be something other than human. What is more, different media achieve this effect by different means: literature provides textual descriptions, audio-visual media rely on moving images, and comics employ different kinds of multimodal compositions, as discussed in the previous chapter. In the fifth chapter, Jonne Arjoranta continues investigating these medium-specific imaginations by examining how video games portray the nonhuman, what kind of assumptions they make about being nonhuman, and what kind of tools and techniques they use to convey the (imagined) experience of nonhumanness. The analysis focuses on Aliens vs. Predator (2010, Rebellion Developments), which features three different but intertwined campaigns that allow the player to play as a human, an alien, and a predator. The game thereby evokes two playing experiences that are supposedly nonhuman, and enables direct comparison between them and the “normal” experience of playing as human. The discussion around these playing experiences is further complemented with examples from other games that present playable nonhuman characters and, like the previous two chapters, draws theoretical support from the notion of embodied cognition.},
keywords = {Alien vs. Predator, Experience, Game characters, Posthumanism, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {incollection}
}
What is it like to play a nonhuman character? In his classic essay, philosopher Thomas Nagel (1975) argues that we are fundamentally unable to imagine what it is like to be a bat, because our senses and cognition are structured in a way that is uniquely human – whereas bats’ senses and cognition have a uniquely bat-like configuration. In spite of this, media genres from fantasy to science-fiction routinely strive to imagine and show what it could be like to be something other than human. What is more, different media achieve this effect by different means: literature provides textual descriptions, audio-visual media rely on moving images, and comics employ different kinds of multimodal compositions, as discussed in the previous chapter. In the fifth chapter, Jonne Arjoranta continues investigating these medium-specific imaginations by examining how video games portray the nonhuman, what kind of assumptions they make about being nonhuman, and what kind of tools and techniques they use to convey the (imagined) experience of nonhumanness. The analysis focuses on Aliens vs. Predator (2010, Rebellion Developments), which features three different but intertwined campaigns that allow the player to play as a human, an alien, and a predator. The game thereby evokes two playing experiences that are supposedly nonhuman, and enables direct comparison between them and the “normal” experience of playing as human. The discussion around these playing experiences is further complemented with examples from other games that present playable nonhuman characters and, like the previous two chapters, draws theoretical support from the notion of embodied cognition.
Kerttula, Tero
Early Television Video Game Tournaments as Sports Spectacles
In: Reitman, Jason G.; Anderson, Craig G.; Deppe, Mark; Steinkuehler, Constance (Ed.): Proceedings of the 2019 Esports Research Conference (ESC), ETC Press, 2020.
Publication for professional or general audience Open access
Abstract | Links | Tags: Electronic sports, Televisiointi, Television programs, Video games
@other{Kerttula2020b,
title = {Early Television Video Game Tournaments as Sports Spectacles},
author = {Tero Kerttula},
editor = {Jason G. Reitman and Craig G. Anderson and Mark Deppe and Constance Steinkuehler},
url = {http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-202005253439},
doi = {10.1184/R1/12217766.v1},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-04-29},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2019 Esports Research Conference (ESC)},
publisher = {ETC Press},
abstract = {This article looks at two televised video game tournaments from the 1980’s from the viewpoint of sports spectacle. Through the analysis of the television episodes and comparison to modern eSports-scene, the aim is to see, if there were similarities or differences between sports broadcasting and video game broadcasting at the time. The article suggests that because of visual choices made in sports broadcasting, the video game tournaments adapted this style coincidentally, which might have affected the style of eSports-broadcasting later.},
keywords = {Electronic sports, Televisiointi, Television programs, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {other}
}
This article looks at two televised video game tournaments from the 1980’s from the viewpoint of sports spectacle. Through the analysis of the television episodes and comparison to modern eSports-scene, the aim is to see, if there were similarities or differences between sports broadcasting and video game broadcasting at the time. The article suggests that because of visual choices made in sports broadcasting, the video game tournaments adapted this style coincidentally, which might have affected the style of eSports-broadcasting later.
Lammes, Sybille; Leorke, Dale (Ed.)
Games, Play and Urban Environments
American Journal of Play, vol. 12, 2020, ISSN: 1938-0399.
Special issue Open access
Abstract | Links | Tags: Location-based game, Minecraft, Pervasive games, Pokémon Go, Reviews, Urban play, Urban studies, Video games, Wayfinder Live
@collection{Lammes2020,
title = {Games, Play and Urban Environments},
editor = {Sybille Lammes and Dale Leorke},
url = {https://www.museumofplay.org/journalofplay/issues/volume-12-number-3/},
issn = {1938-0399},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-01-06},
urldate = {2020-01-06},
booktitle = {American Journal of Play},
volume = {12},
issue = {3},
abstract = {Welcome to The American Journal of Play’s special issue on games, play, and urban environments, another in our series of theme issues. This special issue appears as play itself, both outdoors and indoors, has been abruptly curtailed to fit the shifting regulations and safety concerns surrounding the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. To spotlight new scholarship and offer fresh perspectives on the relationship between play and space, guest editors Sybille Lammes and Dale Leorke have gathered a series of articles exploring this spatial relationship in video game play and design. Following their guest editors’ foreword, they begin with a roundtable discussion among the authors of Pervasive Games: Theory and Design—Markus Montola, Jaakko Stenros, and Annika Waern—about the evolution of pervasive games and the research it has inspired. Next, Troy Innocent and Dale Leorke take a new look at the concept of urban play, drawing on a case study of a location-based, augmented-reality game codesigned by Innocent. Hugh Davies offers an alternative cultural genealogy of Pokémon GO focused on the connections between Japan’s seasonal play and the popular augmented reality mobile game. Mia Consalvo and Andrew Phelps review the potential for game design to reveal the complex relationships between urban space, social class, and mental health through purposeful player navigation and narrative architecture. Hamza Bashandy closes the issue with an examination Minecraft’s contemporary use in community mapping and architectural design.
},
keywords = {Location-based game, Minecraft, Pervasive games, Pokémon Go, Reviews, Urban play, Urban studies, Video games, Wayfinder Live},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {collection}
}
Welcome to The American Journal of Play’s special issue on games, play, and urban environments, another in our series of theme issues. This special issue appears as play itself, both outdoors and indoors, has been abruptly curtailed to fit the shifting regulations and safety concerns surrounding the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. To spotlight new scholarship and offer fresh perspectives on the relationship between play and space, guest editors Sybille Lammes and Dale Leorke have gathered a series of articles exploring this spatial relationship in video game play and design. Following their guest editors’ foreword, they begin with a roundtable discussion among the authors of Pervasive Games: Theory and Design—Markus Montola, Jaakko Stenros, and Annika Waern—about the evolution of pervasive games and the research it has inspired. Next, Troy Innocent and Dale Leorke take a new look at the concept of urban play, drawing on a case study of a location-based, augmented-reality game codesigned by Innocent. Hugh Davies offers an alternative cultural genealogy of Pokémon GO focused on the connections between Japan’s seasonal play and the popular augmented reality mobile game. Mia Consalvo and Andrew Phelps review the potential for game design to reveal the complex relationships between urban space, social class, and mental health through purposeful player navigation and narrative architecture. Hamza Bashandy closes the issue with an examination Minecraft’s contemporary use in community mapping and architectural design.
Korkeila, Henry; Hamari, Juho
In: Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 102, pp. 14-21, 2020, ISSN: 0747-5632.
Journal article Open access
Abstract | Links | Tags: Avatars, Capital, Digitalization, MMORPG, Video games, Virtualization
@article{Korkeila2020,
title = {Avatar Capital: The Relationships Between Player Orientation and Their Avatar’s Social, Symbolic, Economic and Cultural Capital},
author = {Henry Korkeila and Juho Hamari},
url = {https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202101251653},
doi = {10.1016/j.chb.2019.07.036},
issn = {0747-5632},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-01-01},
urldate = {2020-01-01},
journal = {Computers in Human Behavior},
volume = {102},
pages = {14-21},
abstract = {Our everyday lives are increasingly digitized, virtualized and gamified. People increasingly live and act through a collection of various digital personas and avatars. However, the question of how peoples' psychological traits may predict the traits and features of their virtual avatars is still relatively unexplored. In this study investigates the relationship between the traits related to gaming preferences and forms of capital (economic, cultural, social and symbolic) their avatar commands. The data was gathered through an online survey (n = 905) amidst the players of a MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV. The results indicate that avatar's cultural capital is associated player's orientation towards achievement-mechanics, immersion and social aspects of games. Economic capital is associated with player's orientation towards achievement and relationship sides of games. Social capital is associated with players' orientation towards immersion and social parts of games, and in-game interests of the player. Symbolic capital is associated with player's orientation towards achievement and social orientations and one's tenure in the game.},
keywords = {Avatars, Capital, Digitalization, MMORPG, Video games, Virtualization},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Our everyday lives are increasingly digitized, virtualized and gamified. People increasingly live and act through a collection of various digital personas and avatars. However, the question of how peoples' psychological traits may predict the traits and features of their virtual avatars is still relatively unexplored. In this study investigates the relationship between the traits related to gaming preferences and forms of capital (economic, cultural, social and symbolic) their avatar commands. The data was gathered through an online survey (n = 905) amidst the players of a MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV. The results indicate that avatar's cultural capital is associated player's orientation towards achievement-mechanics, immersion and social aspects of games. Economic capital is associated with player's orientation towards achievement and relationship sides of games. Social capital is associated with players' orientation towards immersion and social parts of games, and in-game interests of the player. Symbolic capital is associated with player's orientation towards achievement and social orientations and one's tenure in the game.
2019
Arjoranta, Jonne; Friman, Usva; Koskimaa, Raine; Mäyrä, Frans; Sotamaa, Olli; Suominen, Jaakko
Pelitutkimuksen vuosikirja 2019
Pelitutkimuksen seura ry, 2019, ISSN: 1798-355X.
Book Open access
Abstract | Links | Tags: Death, Gamification, Geocaching, Geokätköily, Kuolema, Larp, Live-action role playing, Location-based game, Mourning, Muistelutyö, Paikkasidonnainen pelaaminen, Pelillistyminen, Reminiscence work, Suru, Video games, Videopelit
@book{Arjoranta2019b,
title = {Pelitutkimuksen vuosikirja 2019},
author = {Jonne Arjoranta and Usva Friman and Raine Koskimaa and Frans Mäyrä and Olli Sotamaa and Suominen, Jaakko},
url = {https://www.pelitutkimus.fi/vuosikirja-2019},
issn = {1798-355X},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-12-18},
publisher = {Pelitutkimuksen seura ry},
abstract = {Pelitutkimuksen vuosikirja on vertaisarvioitu, avoin tiedejulkaisu. Pelitutkimus on sekä monitieteinen tutkimusala että nuori akateeminen oppiaine, jonka parissa toimivien tutkijoiden huomion keskiössä on digitaalisten pelien erityisluonne. Suomessa tehdään korkeatasoista pelitutkimusta, jonka tulokset julkaistaan pääasiassa kansainvälisillä foorumeilla. Pelitutkimuksen vuosikirja tuo uusimpia tutkimustuloksia yleisön saataville myös suomeksi.
Pelitutkimuksen vuosikirjan 2019 aloittaa Joelssonin ja Reunasen tutkimusartikkeli, joka yhdistää pelitutkimusta kuolemantutkimukseen. Joelsson ja Reunanen korostavat, miten kuolema ja kuoleminen ovat keskeinen, jopa itsestäänselvä osa useimpia pelejä, mutta tutkimus on toistaiseksi kommentoinut aihetta vain vähän. He analysoivat, miten kuoleminen, hautaaminen ja sureminen näkyvät erilaisissa peleissä 1980-luvulta 2010-luvulle.
Vuosikirjan katsausartikkelit käsittelevät liveroolipelaamisen käyttämistä muistelutyön menetelmänä ja geokätköilyn taiteellistamista. Vuosikirja sisältää myös kaksi kirja-arviota, kirjoista Role-playing Game Studies: Transmedia Foundations (2018) ja Gaming the Iron Curtain: How Teenagers and Amateurs in Communist Czechoslovakia Claimed the Medium of Computer Games (2018), sekä pelitutkimukseen liittyvän lektion.},
keywords = {Death, Gamification, Geocaching, Geokätköily, Kuolema, Larp, Live-action role playing, Location-based game, Mourning, Muistelutyö, Paikkasidonnainen pelaaminen, Pelillistyminen, Reminiscence work, Suru, Video games, Videopelit},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {book}
}
Pelitutkimuksen vuosikirja on vertaisarvioitu, avoin tiedejulkaisu. Pelitutkimus on sekä monitieteinen tutkimusala että nuori akateeminen oppiaine, jonka parissa toimivien tutkijoiden huomion keskiössä on digitaalisten pelien erityisluonne. Suomessa tehdään korkeatasoista pelitutkimusta, jonka tulokset julkaistaan pääasiassa kansainvälisillä foorumeilla. Pelitutkimuksen vuosikirja tuo uusimpia tutkimustuloksia yleisön saataville myös suomeksi.
Pelitutkimuksen vuosikirjan 2019 aloittaa Joelssonin ja Reunasen tutkimusartikkeli, joka yhdistää pelitutkimusta kuolemantutkimukseen. Joelsson ja Reunanen korostavat, miten kuolema ja kuoleminen ovat keskeinen, jopa itsestäänselvä osa useimpia pelejä, mutta tutkimus on toistaiseksi kommentoinut aihetta vain vähän. He analysoivat, miten kuoleminen, hautaaminen ja sureminen näkyvät erilaisissa peleissä 1980-luvulta 2010-luvulle.
Vuosikirjan katsausartikkelit käsittelevät liveroolipelaamisen käyttämistä muistelutyön menetelmänä ja geokätköilyn taiteellistamista. Vuosikirja sisältää myös kaksi kirja-arviota, kirjoista Role-playing Game Studies: Transmedia Foundations (2018) ja Gaming the Iron Curtain: How Teenagers and Amateurs in Communist Czechoslovakia Claimed the Medium of Computer Games (2018), sekä pelitutkimukseen liittyvän lektion.
Pelitutkimuksen vuosikirjan 2019 aloittaa Joelssonin ja Reunasen tutkimusartikkeli, joka yhdistää pelitutkimusta kuolemantutkimukseen. Joelsson ja Reunanen korostavat, miten kuolema ja kuoleminen ovat keskeinen, jopa itsestäänselvä osa useimpia pelejä, mutta tutkimus on toistaiseksi kommentoinut aihetta vain vähän. He analysoivat, miten kuoleminen, hautaaminen ja sureminen näkyvät erilaisissa peleissä 1980-luvulta 2010-luvulle.
Vuosikirjan katsausartikkelit käsittelevät liveroolipelaamisen käyttämistä muistelutyön menetelmänä ja geokätköilyn taiteellistamista. Vuosikirja sisältää myös kaksi kirja-arviota, kirjoista Role-playing Game Studies: Transmedia Foundations (2018) ja Gaming the Iron Curtain: How Teenagers and Amateurs in Communist Czechoslovakia Claimed the Medium of Computer Games (2018), sekä pelitutkimukseen liittyvän lektion.
Kerttula, Tero
‘‘What an Eccentric Performance": Storytelling in Online Let's Plays
In: Games and Culture, vol. 14, iss. 3, pp. 236-255, 2019, ISSN: 1555-4120.
Journal article
Abstract | Links | Tags: Let's Play, Narrative, Video games, YouTube
@article{Kerttula2019,
title = {‘‘What an Eccentric Performance": Storytelling in Online Let's Plays},
author = {Tero Kerttula},
doi = {10.1177/1555412016678724},
issn = {1555-4120},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-11-21},
journal = {Games and Culture},
volume = {14},
issue = {3},
pages = {236-255},
abstract = {In this article, I examine the phenomenon called Let’s Play (LP) and conduct a narrative analysis on two LPs made of Sierra Entertainment’s Phantasmagoria games. The LPs tell viewers a story different from the one told in the games, that is, they tell the story of the player rather than that of the game. In that story, the experience of playing a video game is revealed to the audience. This story would be hidden without the player-narrators know as LPs around the world. I conduct my analysis by describing seven different narrative elements that form the narration of a LP and explain how these elements together form this story of the player.},
keywords = {Let's Play, Narrative, Video games, YouTube},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
In this article, I examine the phenomenon called Let’s Play (LP) and conduct a narrative analysis on two LPs made of Sierra Entertainment’s Phantasmagoria games. The LPs tell viewers a story different from the one told in the games, that is, they tell the story of the player rather than that of the game. In that story, the experience of playing a video game is revealed to the audience. This story would be hidden without the player-narrators know as LPs around the world. I conduct my analysis by describing seven different narrative elements that form the narration of a LP and explain how these elements together form this story of the player.
Švelch, Jan
Resisting the Perpetual Update: Struggles Against Protocological Power in Video Games
In: New Media & Society, vol. 21, iss. 7, pp. 1594-1612, 2019, ISSN: 1461-4448.
Journal article Open access
Abstract | Links | Tags: Contingent commodity, Digital distribution, Patch, Platform, Protocol, Protocological power, Update, User resistance, Video games
@article{Švelch2019,
title = {Resisting the Perpetual Update: Struggles Against Protocological Power in Video Games},
author = {Jan Švelch},
url = {https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-201908293061},
doi = {10.1177/1461444819828987},
issn = {1461-4448},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-07-01},
journal = {New Media & Society},
volume = {21},
issue = {7},
pages = {1594-1612},
abstract = {This article explores the evolution of video game updates and patches from a mechanism of customer support to a tool of control over the way games are played in the ecosystem of digital gaming platforms. It charts a historical trajectory across various cultural industries, including literary publishing, screen industries, and music, to show a shift from multiplicity of editions to one perpetually updated contingent commodity. Focusing on the issues of power and control enabled by the always-online platforms, the analysis shows that previously updating was often voluntary. However, now players must actively resist patches if they wish to play the game on their own terms. As illustrated by three case studies of update resistance, developers, publishers, and platform holders wield protocological power, which can be successfully opposed—although the outcome often remains localized and tends to alter a specific iteration of protocol and not the underlying infrastructure},
keywords = {Contingent commodity, Digital distribution, Patch, Platform, Protocol, Protocological power, Update, User resistance, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
This article explores the evolution of video game updates and patches from a mechanism of customer support to a tool of control over the way games are played in the ecosystem of digital gaming platforms. It charts a historical trajectory across various cultural industries, including literary publishing, screen industries, and music, to show a shift from multiplicity of editions to one perpetually updated contingent commodity. Focusing on the issues of power and control enabled by the always-online platforms, the analysis shows that previously updating was often voluntary. However, now players must actively resist patches if they wish to play the game on their own terms. As illustrated by three case studies of update resistance, developers, publishers, and platform holders wield protocological power, which can be successfully opposed—although the outcome often remains localized and tends to alter a specific iteration of protocol and not the underlying infrastructure
Arjoranta, Jonne
How to Define Games and Why We Need to
In: The Computer Games Journal, vol. 8, iss. 3-4, pp. 109-120, 2019, ISSN: 2052-773X.
Journal article Open access
Abstract | Links | Tags: Definition, Game, Video games
@article{Arjoranta2019,
title = {How to Define Games and Why We Need to},
author = {Jonne Arjoranta},
url = {https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s40869-019-00080-6.pdf},
doi = {10.1007/s40869-019-00080-6},
issn = {2052-773X},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-05-29},
journal = {The Computer Games Journal},
volume = {8},
issue = {3-4},
pages = {109-120},
abstract = {This article provides guidelines on how to make useful game definitions and discusses when that is a worthwhile undertaking. It examines a recent article attempting to define videogames (Bergonse in Comput Games J 6(4):239–255, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40869-017-0045-4), and uses it as an example to discuss game definitions in general. It concludes with reasons why making a final definition of games is not possible and why we need to continue to define games.},
keywords = {Definition, Game, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
This article provides guidelines on how to make useful game definitions and discusses when that is a worthwhile undertaking. It examines a recent article attempting to define videogames (Bergonse in Comput Games J 6(4):239–255, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40869-017-0045-4), and uses it as an example to discuss game definitions in general. It concludes with reasons why making a final definition of games is not possible and why we need to continue to define games.
Apperley, Thomas H.
Digital Gaming's South-South Connection
In: Penix-Tadsen, Phillip (Ed.): Video Games and the Global South, pp. 211-224, ETC Press, 2019, ISBN: 9780359641390.
Book chapter Open access
Links | Tags: Global South, Postcolonialism, Video games
@incollection{Apperley2019c,
title = {Digital Gaming's South-South Connection},
author = {Thomas H. Apperley},
editor = {Phillip Penix-Tadsen},
url = {https://kilthub.cmu.edu/articles/book/Video_Games_and_the_Global_South/8148680},
doi = {10.1184/R1/8148680},
isbn = {9780359641390},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-05-18},
booktitle = {Video Games and the Global South},
pages = {211-224},
publisher = {ETC Press},
keywords = {Global South, Postcolonialism, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {incollection}
}
Kerttula, Tero
“What an Eccentric Performance”: Storytelling in Online Let’s Plays
In: Games and Culture, vol. 14, iss. 3, pp. 236-255, 2019, ISSN: 1555-4120.
Journal article Open access
Abstract | Links | Tags: Narrative, Video games, YouTube
@article{Kerttula2019b,
title = {“What an Eccentric Performance”: Storytelling in Online Let’s Plays},
author = {Tero Kerttula},
url = {https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/63487},
doi = {10.1177/1555412016678724},
issn = {1555-4120},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-05-01},
urldate = {2019-05-01},
journal = {Games and Culture},
volume = {14},
issue = {3},
pages = {236-255},
abstract = {In this article, I examine the phenomenon called Let’s Play (LP) and conduct a narrative analysis on two LPs made of Sierra Entertainment’s Phantasmagoria games. The LPs tell viewers a story different from the one told in the games, that is, they tell the story of the player rather than that of the game. In that story, the experience of playing a video game is revealed to the audience. This story would be hidden without the player-narrators know as LPs around the world. I conduct my analysis by describing seven different narrative elements that form the narration of a LP and explain how these elements together form this story of the player.},
keywords = {Narrative, Video games, YouTube},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
In this article, I examine the phenomenon called Let’s Play (LP) and conduct a narrative analysis on two LPs made of Sierra Entertainment’s Phantasmagoria games. The LPs tell viewers a story different from the one told in the games, that is, they tell the story of the player rather than that of the game. In that story, the experience of playing a video game is revealed to the audience. This story would be hidden without the player-narrators know as LPs around the world. I conduct my analysis by describing seven different narrative elements that form the narration of a LP and explain how these elements together form this story of the player.
Junnila, Miikka; Reunanen, Markku; Heikkinen, Tero
The Interplay of Thematic and Ludological Elements in Western-Themed Games
In: Kinephanos, vol. 9, iss. 1, pp. 40-73, 2019, ISSN: 1916-985X.
Journal article Open access
Abstract | Links | Tags: Game genres, Thematization, Video games, Western
@article{Junnila2019,
title = {The Interplay of Thematic and Ludological Elements in Western-Themed Games},
author = {Miikka Junnila and Markku Reunanen and Tero Heikkinen},
url = {https://www.kinephanos.ca/2019/the-interplay-of-thematic-and-ludological-elements-in-western-themed-games/},
issn = {1916-985X},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-05-01},
urldate = {2019-05-01},
journal = {Kinephanos},
volume = {9},
issue = {1},
pages = {40-73},
abstract = {The Wild West has been productized and remediated a number of times over the last hundred of years – and even earlier than that. Computer and video games are a relative newcomer in this string of remediations, distilling the essential elements of the Western even further into archetypal scenes, characters and modes of play. Expanding on our previous works on genres, we study a colorful selection of Western-themed games, 31 in total, with the aim to reveal how a firmly established and codified theme affects gameplay. A well-established theme, such as the Western, manifests itself at very different depths based on the kind of game we are dealing with – at minimum, it acts as an artificial surface that does not affect the gameplay at all. At the other end of the spectrum, the theme affects all the aspects of a game, ranging from its audiovisual presentation to the narrative and the actions available to the player.},
keywords = {Game genres, Thematization, Video games, Western},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The Wild West has been productized and remediated a number of times over the last hundred of years – and even earlier than that. Computer and video games are a relative newcomer in this string of remediations, distilling the essential elements of the Western even further into archetypal scenes, characters and modes of play. Expanding on our previous works on genres, we study a colorful selection of Western-themed games, 31 in total, with the aim to reveal how a firmly established and codified theme affects gameplay. A well-established theme, such as the Western, manifests itself at very different depths based on the kind of game we are dealing with – at minimum, it acts as an artificial surface that does not affect the gameplay at all. At the other end of the spectrum, the theme affects all the aspects of a game, ranging from its audiovisual presentation to the narrative and the actions available to the player.
Harviainen, J. Tuomas; Paavilainen, Janne; Koskinen, Elina
Ayn Rand's Objectivist Ethics Applied to Video Game Business
In: Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 167, iss. 4, pp. 761-774, 2019, ISSN: 0167-4544.
Journal article Open access
Abstract | Links | Tags: Ayn Rand, Business ethics, Free-to-play, Monetization, Video games
@article{Harviainen2019,
title = {Ayn Rand's Objectivist Ethics Applied to Video Game Business},
author = {J. Tuomas Harviainen and Janne Paavilainen and Elina Koskinen},
url = {https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10551-019-04159-y.pdf},
doi = {10.1007/s10551-019-04159-y},
issn = {0167-4544},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-04-16},
journal = {Journal of Business Ethics},
volume = {167},
issue = {4},
pages = {761-774},
abstract = {This article analyzes the business ethics of digital games, using Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism. It identifies different types of monetization options as virtuous or nonvirtuous, based on Rand’s views on rational self-interest. It divides the options into ethical Mover and unethical Looter designs, presents those logics in relation to an illustrative case example, Zynga, and then discusses a view on the role of players in relation to game monetization designs. Through our analysis of monetization options in the context of Objectivist ethics, the article contributes to discussions on game revenue ethics. It also expands the still understudied area of applying Rand’s ethics to business, in the context of a new sector, game development, and business. This research enables ethicists to apply a wider-than-before perspective on virtue ethics to online business, and helps game developers act in a virtuous manner, which provides them with a long-term business advantage.},
keywords = {Ayn Rand, Business ethics, Free-to-play, Monetization, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
This article analyzes the business ethics of digital games, using Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism. It identifies different types of monetization options as virtuous or nonvirtuous, based on Rand’s views on rational self-interest. It divides the options into ethical Mover and unethical Looter designs, presents those logics in relation to an illustrative case example, Zynga, and then discusses a view on the role of players in relation to game monetization designs. Through our analysis of monetization options in the context of Objectivist ethics, the article contributes to discussions on game revenue ethics. It also expands the still understudied area of applying Rand’s ethics to business, in the context of a new sector, game development, and business. This research enables ethicists to apply a wider-than-before perspective on virtue ethics to online business, and helps game developers act in a virtuous manner, which provides them with a long-term business advantage.
Kerttula, Tero
In: Koivisto, Jonna; Hamari, Juho (Ed.): GamiFIN 2019: Proceedings of the 3rd International GamiFIN Conference, RWTH Aachen, 2019, ISSN: 1613-0073.
In proceedings Open access
Links | Tags: Let's Play, Narrative, Representation, Television programs, Video games
@inproceedings{Kerttula2019c,
title = {The Foundations of Let's Play: Live Action Representations of Video Games in Television and Online 1975-2018},
author = {Tero Kerttula},
editor = {Jonna Koivisto and Juho Hamari},
url = {http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-201912165304},
issn = {1613-0073},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-04-08},
booktitle = {GamiFIN 2019: Proceedings of the 3rd International GamiFIN Conference},
publisher = {RWTH Aachen},
keywords = {Let's Play, Narrative, Representation, Television programs, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
2018
Koskimaa, Raine; Arjoranta, Jonne; Friman, Usva; Mäyrä, Frans; Sotamaa, Olli; Suominen, Jaakko
Pelitutkimuksen vuosikirja 2018
Pelitutkimuksen seura ry, 2018, ISSN: 1798-355X.
Book Open access
Abstract | Links | Tags: Education, Electronic sports, Game history, Kasvatus, Kilpapelaaminen, Mölkky, Outdoor game, Pelihistoria, Role-playing games, Roolipelit, Sportification, Ulkopeli, Urheilullistuminen, Video games, Videopelit
@book{Koskimaa2018,
title = {Pelitutkimuksen vuosikirja 2018},
author = {Raine Koskimaa and Jonne Arjoranta and Usva Friman and Frans Mäyrä and Olli Sotamaa and Jaakko Suominen},
url = {https://www.pelitutkimus.fi/vuosikirja-2018},
issn = {1798-355X},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-12-19},
publisher = {Pelitutkimuksen seura ry},
abstract = {Pelitutkimuksen vuosikirja on vertaisarvioitu, avoin tiedejulkaisu. Pelitutkimus on sekä monitieteinen tutkimusala että nuori akateeminen oppiaine, jonka parissa toimivien tutkijoiden huomion keskiössä on digitaalisten pelien erityisluonne. Suomessa tehdään korkeatasoista pelitutkimusta, jonka tulokset julkaistaan pääasiassa kansainvälisillä foorumeilla. Pelitutkimuksen vuosikirja tuo uusimpia tutkimustuloksia yleisön saataville myös suomeksi. Kuluneen vuoden aikana e-urheilu eli kilpapelaaminen on noussut huomattavasti aiempaa näkyvimmin esiin julkisuudessa. Erityisesti tähän ovat vaikuttaneet suomalaispelaajien saavuttamat voitot kansainvälisissä turnauksissa. Nyt julkaistussa, jo kymmenennessä vuosikirjassa, käsitellään kilpapelaamisen varhaisvaiheita Suomessa 1980-luvulta 1990-luvun puoliväliin artikkelissa, joka tarjoaa perspektiiviä kilpapelaamisesta parhaillaan käytävälle keskustelulle. Toisessa tutkimusartikkelissa vertaillaan mittavan kyselyaineiston (yhteensä yli 4000 vastaajaa) perusteella videopelien pelaamisesta kiinnostuneiden kotimaisten pelaajien pelimieltymyksiä ja -tottumuksia japanilaisten ja kanadalaisten vastaaviin ja todetaan suomalaisten pelaajien mm. suosivan erityisesti yksin tapahtuvaa voimakkaasti vuorovaikutteista pelaamista.
Vertaisarvioitujen tutkimusartikkelien lisäksi vuosikirjassa on katsausartikkeleita, jotka käsittelevät Mölkky-pelin MM-kisoja, pelin ja leikin asemaa uudessa kansallisessa opetussuunnitelmassa sekä kuvailun merkitystä Advanced Dungeons & Dragons –pöytäroolipelin The Temple of Elemental Evil –moduulissa. Vuosikirjassa julkaistaan myös neljän lähiaikoina Suomessa järjestetyn pelitutkimusaiheisen väitöstilaisuuden avausesitelmät. Vuosikirjan päättävät merkittävän leikki- ja pelitutkija Bernie De Kovenin muistokirjoitus sekä arvio kirjasta Fans and Videogames. Histories, Fandom, Archives.},
keywords = {Education, Electronic sports, Game history, Kasvatus, Kilpapelaaminen, Mölkky, Outdoor game, Pelihistoria, Role-playing games, Roolipelit, Sportification, Ulkopeli, Urheilullistuminen, Video games, Videopelit},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {book}
}
Pelitutkimuksen vuosikirja on vertaisarvioitu, avoin tiedejulkaisu. Pelitutkimus on sekä monitieteinen tutkimusala että nuori akateeminen oppiaine, jonka parissa toimivien tutkijoiden huomion keskiössä on digitaalisten pelien erityisluonne. Suomessa tehdään korkeatasoista pelitutkimusta, jonka tulokset julkaistaan pääasiassa kansainvälisillä foorumeilla. Pelitutkimuksen vuosikirja tuo uusimpia tutkimustuloksia yleisön saataville myös suomeksi. Kuluneen vuoden aikana e-urheilu eli kilpapelaaminen on noussut huomattavasti aiempaa näkyvimmin esiin julkisuudessa. Erityisesti tähän ovat vaikuttaneet suomalaispelaajien saavuttamat voitot kansainvälisissä turnauksissa. Nyt julkaistussa, jo kymmenennessä vuosikirjassa, käsitellään kilpapelaamisen varhaisvaiheita Suomessa 1980-luvulta 1990-luvun puoliväliin artikkelissa, joka tarjoaa perspektiiviä kilpapelaamisesta parhaillaan käytävälle keskustelulle. Toisessa tutkimusartikkelissa vertaillaan mittavan kyselyaineiston (yhteensä yli 4000 vastaajaa) perusteella videopelien pelaamisesta kiinnostuneiden kotimaisten pelaajien pelimieltymyksiä ja -tottumuksia japanilaisten ja kanadalaisten vastaaviin ja todetaan suomalaisten pelaajien mm. suosivan erityisesti yksin tapahtuvaa voimakkaasti vuorovaikutteista pelaamista.
Vertaisarvioitujen tutkimusartikkelien lisäksi vuosikirjassa on katsausartikkeleita, jotka käsittelevät Mölkky-pelin MM-kisoja, pelin ja leikin asemaa uudessa kansallisessa opetussuunnitelmassa sekä kuvailun merkitystä Advanced Dungeons & Dragons –pöytäroolipelin The Temple of Elemental Evil –moduulissa. Vuosikirjassa julkaistaan myös neljän lähiaikoina Suomessa järjestetyn pelitutkimusaiheisen väitöstilaisuuden avausesitelmät. Vuosikirjan päättävät merkittävän leikki- ja pelitutkija Bernie De Kovenin muistokirjoitus sekä arvio kirjasta Fans and Videogames. Histories, Fandom, Archives.
Vertaisarvioitujen tutkimusartikkelien lisäksi vuosikirjassa on katsausartikkeleita, jotka käsittelevät Mölkky-pelin MM-kisoja, pelin ja leikin asemaa uudessa kansallisessa opetussuunnitelmassa sekä kuvailun merkitystä Advanced Dungeons & Dragons –pöytäroolipelin The Temple of Elemental Evil –moduulissa. Vuosikirjassa julkaistaan myös neljän lähiaikoina Suomessa järjestetyn pelitutkimusaiheisen väitöstilaisuuden avausesitelmät. Vuosikirjan päättävät merkittävän leikki- ja pelitutkija Bernie De Kovenin muistokirjoitus sekä arvio kirjasta Fans and Videogames. Histories, Fandom, Archives.
Vahlo, Jukka
In Gameplay: The Invariant Structures and Varieties of the Video Game Gameplay Experience
2018, ISBN: 978-951-29-7168-8.
Doctoral thesis Open access
Abstract | Links | Tags: Agency, Cognition, Emotions, Experience narrative, Factor analysis, Motivations, Performativity, Phenomenology, Storytelling, Variation, Video games
@phdthesis{Vahlo2018d,
title = {In Gameplay: The Invariant Structures and Varieties of the Video Game Gameplay Experience},
author = {Jukka Vahlo},
url = {https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-29-7169-5},
isbn = {978-951-29-7168-8},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-04-14},
urldate = {2018-04-14},
abstract = {This dissertation is a multidisciplinary study on video game gameplay as an autonomous form of vernacular experience. Plays and games are traditional research subjects in folkloristics, but commercial video games have not been studied yet. For this reason, methods and concepts of the folkloristic research tradition have remained unknown in contemporary games studies. This thesis combines folkloristics, game studies and phenomenological enactive cognitive science in its investigations into player–game interaction and the video game gameplay experience at large.
In this dissertation, three representative survey samples (N=2,594, N=845, N=1,053) on “Rewarding gameplay experience” are analyzed using statistical analysis methods. The samples were collected in 2014–2017 from Finnish and Danish adult populations. This dissertation also analyzes data from 32 interviews, through which the survey respondents’ gameplay preferences, gaming memories, and motivations to play were further investigated. By combining statistical and qualitative data analyses, this work puts forward a mixed-methods research strategy and discusses how the findings relate to prior game research from several disciplines and schools of thought.
Based on theoretical discussions, this dissertation argues that the video game gameplay experience as a cultural phenomenon consists of eight invariants in relation to which each individual gameplay experience can be interpreted: The player must demonstrate a lusory attitude (i), and a motivation to play (ii). The gameplay experience consists of explorative and coordinative practices (iii), which engender a change in the player’s self-experience (iv). This change renders the gameplay experience inherently emotional (v) and performative (vi) in relation to the gameworld (vii). The gameplay experience has the dramatic structure of a prototypical narrative (viii) although a game as an object cannot be regarded a narrative in itself.
As a key result of factor analytical studies and qualitative interview analyses, a novel approach to understanding player–game interaction is put forward. An original gameplay preference research tool and a player typology are introduced. This work argues, that, although video games as commercial products would not be intuitive research subjects for folkloristics, video game gameplay, player–game interaction, and the traditions in experiencing and narrating gameplay do not differ drastically from those of traditional social games. In contrast to this, all forms of gameplay are argued to be manifestations of the same vernacular phenomenon. Indeed, folkloristic research could pay more attention to how culture is experienced, modified, varied and expressed, regardless of whether the research subject is a commercial product or not.},
keywords = {Agency, Cognition, Emotions, Experience narrative, Factor analysis, Motivations, Performativity, Phenomenology, Storytelling, Variation, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {phdthesis}
}
This dissertation is a multidisciplinary study on video game gameplay as an autonomous form of vernacular experience. Plays and games are traditional research subjects in folkloristics, but commercial video games have not been studied yet. For this reason, methods and concepts of the folkloristic research tradition have remained unknown in contemporary games studies. This thesis combines folkloristics, game studies and phenomenological enactive cognitive science in its investigations into player–game interaction and the video game gameplay experience at large.
In this dissertation, three representative survey samples (N=2,594, N=845, N=1,053) on “Rewarding gameplay experience” are analyzed using statistical analysis methods. The samples were collected in 2014–2017 from Finnish and Danish adult populations. This dissertation also analyzes data from 32 interviews, through which the survey respondents’ gameplay preferences, gaming memories, and motivations to play were further investigated. By combining statistical and qualitative data analyses, this work puts forward a mixed-methods research strategy and discusses how the findings relate to prior game research from several disciplines and schools of thought.
Based on theoretical discussions, this dissertation argues that the video game gameplay experience as a cultural phenomenon consists of eight invariants in relation to which each individual gameplay experience can be interpreted: The player must demonstrate a lusory attitude (i), and a motivation to play (ii). The gameplay experience consists of explorative and coordinative practices (iii), which engender a change in the player’s self-experience (iv). This change renders the gameplay experience inherently emotional (v) and performative (vi) in relation to the gameworld (vii). The gameplay experience has the dramatic structure of a prototypical narrative (viii) although a game as an object cannot be regarded a narrative in itself.
As a key result of factor analytical studies and qualitative interview analyses, a novel approach to understanding player–game interaction is put forward. An original gameplay preference research tool and a player typology are introduced. This work argues, that, although video games as commercial products would not be intuitive research subjects for folkloristics, video game gameplay, player–game interaction, and the traditions in experiencing and narrating gameplay do not differ drastically from those of traditional social games. In contrast to this, all forms of gameplay are argued to be manifestations of the same vernacular phenomenon. Indeed, folkloristic research could pay more attention to how culture is experienced, modified, varied and expressed, regardless of whether the research subject is a commercial product or not.
In this dissertation, three representative survey samples (N=2,594, N=845, N=1,053) on “Rewarding gameplay experience” are analyzed using statistical analysis methods. The samples were collected in 2014–2017 from Finnish and Danish adult populations. This dissertation also analyzes data from 32 interviews, through which the survey respondents’ gameplay preferences, gaming memories, and motivations to play were further investigated. By combining statistical and qualitative data analyses, this work puts forward a mixed-methods research strategy and discusses how the findings relate to prior game research from several disciplines and schools of thought.
Based on theoretical discussions, this dissertation argues that the video game gameplay experience as a cultural phenomenon consists of eight invariants in relation to which each individual gameplay experience can be interpreted: The player must demonstrate a lusory attitude (i), and a motivation to play (ii). The gameplay experience consists of explorative and coordinative practices (iii), which engender a change in the player’s self-experience (iv). This change renders the gameplay experience inherently emotional (v) and performative (vi) in relation to the gameworld (vii). The gameplay experience has the dramatic structure of a prototypical narrative (viii) although a game as an object cannot be regarded a narrative in itself.
As a key result of factor analytical studies and qualitative interview analyses, a novel approach to understanding player–game interaction is put forward. An original gameplay preference research tool and a player typology are introduced. This work argues, that, although video games as commercial products would not be intuitive research subjects for folkloristics, video game gameplay, player–game interaction, and the traditions in experiencing and narrating gameplay do not differ drastically from those of traditional social games. In contrast to this, all forms of gameplay are argued to be manifestations of the same vernacular phenomenon. Indeed, folkloristic research could pay more attention to how culture is experienced, modified, varied and expressed, regardless of whether the research subject is a commercial product or not.
Ryn, Luke; Apperley, Thomas H.; Clemens, Justin
Avatar Economies: Affective Investment from Game to Platform
In: New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 291–306, 2018, ISSN: 17407842.
Journal article
Abstract | Links | Tags: Avatars, Platform, Video games
@article{VanRyn2018,
title = {Avatar Economies: Affective Investment from Game to Platform},
author = {Luke Ryn and Thomas H. Apperley and Justin Clemens},
doi = {10.1080/13614568.2019.1572790},
issn = {17407842},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-01-01},
urldate = {2018-01-01},
journal = {New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia},
volume = {24},
number = {4},
pages = {291--306},
publisher = {Taylor & Francis},
abstract = {Video game avatars have been understood as a key site of players' “affective investment” in play and games. In this article, we extend this conversation to explore the avatar's role in engaging players with gaming platforms. Through a case study of Team Fortress 2 (Valve Software, 2007) and the Steam platform, we demonstrate the avatar's function beyond gameworlds as a tool for encouraging certain kinds of play. Team Fortress 2, we argue, is a crucial testing ground for Valve's experiments with gaming economies via the Steam platform. By extension, we show the importance of video game avatars for encouraging affective investment in platforms more broadly, including Microsoft's Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and even workplace dashboards.},
keywords = {Avatars, Platform, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Video game avatars have been understood as a key site of players' “affective investment” in play and games. In this article, we extend this conversation to explore the avatar's role in engaging players with gaming platforms. Through a case study of Team Fortress 2 (Valve Software, 2007) and the Steam platform, we demonstrate the avatar's function beyond gameworlds as a tool for encouraging certain kinds of play. Team Fortress 2, we argue, is a crucial testing ground for Valve's experiments with gaming economies via the Steam platform. By extension, we show the importance of video game avatars for encouraging affective investment in platforms more broadly, including Microsoft's Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and even workplace dashboards.