Gaming the gift: The affective economy of League of Legends ‘fair’ free-to-play model

2021 ◽  
pp. 146954052199393
Author(s):  
Josh Jarrett
Keyword(s):  
The Internet ◽  
Live Streaming ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Internet Studies ◽  
Commercial Exchange ◽  
The Gift ◽  
Game Industry ◽  
Gift Exchanges ◽  
Industry Professionals ◽  
League Of Legends

With its release in late 2009, League of Legends (Riot Games) has influenced the game industry in several profound ways. Known for its vast popularity and its pivotal role in pioneering live streaming and electronic sports, League of Legends is also noteworthy for its model of ‘fair’ free-to-play. Described by Riot Games and many industry professionals as ‘fair’ due to its lack of any ‘pay-to-win’ content ( Graft, 2013 ; Nutt, 2014 ), this model of free-to-play has gone on to influence a paradigmatic shift towards ‘games as a service’. In this study, the model of ‘fair’ free-to-play is critically framed as a lucrative affective economy involving reciprocal gift exchanges between players and commercial games developers. Drawing on 49 qualitative Reddit responses from players who buy in-game skins, this study positions the microtransactions of League of Legends as a notable example of affective economics that is bound up in reciprocal forms of commercial exchange. Framing this hybrid model of co-creative relations alongside examples from game, fan and Internet studies, it is the critical aim of this study to frame the microtransactions of League of Legends as an instance of affective valorisation. Paralleling the affective economics of various digital platforms, it is the view of this study that microtransactions in games should be considered as part of the same political economy of the Internet.

Digital Platforms Focused on Audiovisual

2021 ◽  
pp. 262-283
Author(s):  
Narce Dalia Ruiz
Keyword(s):  
Work Teams ◽  
Western Hemisphere ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Film Festivals ◽  
Image Capture ◽  
Special Effects ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Industry Professionals

Audiovisual production involves a list of specific processes for its creation. These processes are tightly linked to literature, music, and other minor arts. They are also interrelated to technology. Examples of this are image capture devices, sound editing consoles, and special effects software. Consumption, distribution, and even the filmmaking process have been profoundly transformed by technology, but how work teams are formed has not. This study is focused on finding out how in an interconnected society, the intelligence of the mass and the proposals of strangers, can find their way to a collaborative production with people interacting through the internet. A first approach is to know which platforms proliferate on the Western hemisphere, spanning across Europe and America, through the participation in audiovisual production forums, interviews with industry professionals, visits to film festivals markets and performing an online census.

scholarly journals EXPLORING VIDEO-GAME PRODUCTION’S CONTINGENCY ON LIVE-STREAMING PLATFORMS: THE CASE OF TWITCH

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charilaos Papaevangelou ◽  
Elina Roinioti
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
Business Strategy ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Production Cycle ◽  
Live Streaming ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Game Industry ◽  
Game Developers ◽  
Cultural Contingency ◽  
Political Economic

This article studies the cultural contingency of video-game production on Amazon’s live-streaming platform, Twitch. It looks at this phenomenon from a political-economic perspective to unearth Twitch’s platformisation strategy to better understand what it means for the video-game industry. Platformisation signifies the infrastructural embeddedness of platforms, supported by a business strategy of expanding beyond their services’ boundaries to standardise appropriation, processing and exploitation of data, resulting in a dependency of content creators on digital platforms. Subsequently, we wish to grasp what dependencies are created and how it is made possible. We argue that Twitch is transforming into an integral part of the video-game production cycle by expanding its services to every stage of a game’s life cycle. Consequently, game developers are incentivised to apply these features in their game design, thus creating an economic feedback loop that a) aspires to increase user acquisition, retention and revenue, b) locks-in game developers and viewers alike, and c) “platformises” the gaming experience.

Internet-based Online Higher Education in Nepal Amidst COVID-19

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashis Acharya ◽  
Nabaraj Poudyal ◽  
Ganesh Lamichhane ◽  
Babita Aryal ◽  
Bibek Raj Bhattarai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Human Life ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Online Classes ◽  
Traditional Concept ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Online Higher Education ◽  
Alternative Means ◽  
The Government

The COVID-19 global pandemic has affected all aspects of human life, with education, not an exception. In an attempt to stop the SARS-CoV-2 spreading like wildfire, the Government of Nepal has implemented nationwide lockdowns since March 24, 2020, that have enforced schools and universities to shut down. As a consequence, more than four hundred thousand students of various levels in higher education institutions (HEIs) are in a dilemma about restoring the situation. Several HEIs, nationwide, have leaped forward from the traditional concept of learning—limited within the boundary of the classroom—to choosing digital platforms as an alternative means of teaching because of the pandemic. For this research, the descriptive and inferential analysis was carried out to investigate the effects and challenges of learning via digital platforms during this pandemic. Data were collected from students and faculty at various levels of higher education and analyzed statistically with different factors using t-test and ANOVA, and variables were found to be approximately normally distributed. The study revealed that 70% of the respondents had access to the Internet, but 36% of the Internet accessed did not continue online classes due to unexpected disturbance in Internet and electrical connectivity. Likewise, 65% of students did not feel comfortable with online classes, and among attendees of online classes, 78% of students want to meet the instructor for a better understanding of course matters. According to the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model, three factors, such as institutional policy, internet access, and poverty, are found to be significant factors affecting the online higher education systems in Nepal. On the brighter side, this outbreak has brought ample opportunities to reform the conventional teaching-learning paradigm in Nepal.

Citizen Deliberation Online

2019 ◽  
pp. 689-712
Author(s):  
Patrícia Rossini ◽  
Jennifer Stromer-Galley
Keyword(s):  
Political Engagement ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
The Core ◽  
Political Conversation ◽  
Political Talk ◽  
Citizen Deliberation ◽  
The Impact

Political conversation is at the heart of democratic societies, and it is an important precursor of political engagement. As society has become intertwined with the communication infrastructure of the Internet, we need to understand its uses and the implications of those uses for democracy. This chapter provides an overview of the core topics of scholarly concern around online citizen deliberation, focusing on three key areas of research: the standards of quality of communication and the normative stance on citizen deliberation online; the impact and importance of digital platforms in structuring political talk; and the differences between formal and informal political talk spaces. After providing a critical review of these three major areas of research, we outline directions for future research on online citizen deliberation.

scholarly journals Cyber-safety and COVID-19 in the early years: A research agenda

2021 ◽  
pp. 1476718X2110149
Author(s):  
Susan Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Internet Use ◽  
Early Years ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
Internet Studies ◽  
School Aged Children ◽  
Cyber Safety ◽  
Primary And Secondary School

Young children aged birth to 5 years are known users of the internet, both unsupervised and in collaboration with adults. Adults also use the internet to share details of children’s lives with others, via sharenting and educational apps. During COVID-19 internet use by children and families rose significantly during periods of enforced stay-home. Internet use by children, and by adults on behalf exposes children to conduct, contact and content risks online. These risks mean that cyber-safety in the early years is increasingly necessary, especially concerning increased internet usage during COVID-19. While cyber-safety is well developed for primary and secondary-school aged children this is not the case for young children, their families and educators. This paper proposes a research agenda for cyber-safety in the early years, using critical constructivism and internet studies to define the internet as a non-unitary technology. Three main objects of study concerning cyber-safety in the early years, including the reference to COVID-19 are identified for targeted research, including: technologies, context and policy.

scholarly journals The Utilization of Digital Platforms for Marketing in the Nigerian Entertainment and Media (E&M) Industry: Prospects and Challenges

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 60
Author(s):  
Nelson Obinna Omenugha
Keyword(s):  
Power Supply ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
The Internet ◽  
National Bureau ◽  
Network Infrastructure ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
The Government ◽  
Analogue To Digital ◽  
Economic Need ◽  
The Impact

The National Bureau of Statistics recently announced that the entertainment and media (E&M) industry in Nigeria recorded growth of 1.86% to 12.81%; contributing N54bn to the country’s GDP. The industry’s revenue is projected to reach an estimated $8.5bn in 2018, from $4bn in 2013, with internet as one of the key drivers (PwC report, 2016, p.14). This comes at a time when Nigeria’s economy has shrunk by 2.24% since 2015 and receded by 0.18% from the previous quarter. Therefore, this study unpacks the possibilities and challenges of the impact of e-marketing tools on the growth of the Nigerian E&M industry. E-marketing tools provide “a unique combination of powerful capabilities for marketers” (Parsons et al., 2015). E-marketing suitability for the E&M industry lies in its lower capital demand, and a convenient and online means of disseminating marketing messages across a heterogeneous population at an unlimited geographical space. E-marketing is a reality in Nigeria as a study by Mathew, Ogedebe & Ogedebe (2013, p. 549) shows that “Many Nigerians who used (sic) the internet as one form of communication or another are bombarded daily with advertisements of products and services from industries in the country.” This reality has brought a shift from mechanical to electronic and from analogue to digital; ultimately impacting the marketing realms. The internet enables these electronic/digital platforms; which marketers (E&M industry) and customers (content consumers) rely on to effectively reach and receive communication content and feedback respectively.  However, this study examined the challenges that have possibly hindered the full realization of the e-marketing tools of the Nigerian E&M industry and noted among others; poor power supply and unreliable network infrastructure in the country. There is also an increased customer expectation, security, content copyright and privacy issues as well as the challenge of compliance demand in the industry as influenced by ever dynamic digital boundaries. There is a huge economic need for the Nigerian government to live up to its obligation and enhance power supply and boost network infrastructure. The Nigerian E&M industry needs to continually integrate different digital platforms to reach targets and attract more content consumers. Both the government and industry should increasingly learn and bring a global perspective that can help the nation adapt to the constantly changing digital environment.

scholarly journals The politics of user-platform relationships: Co-scripting live-streaming on Twitch.tv

First Monday ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristine Ask ◽  
Hendrik Storstein Spilker ◽  
Martin Hansen
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Live Streaming ◽  
Script Theory ◽  
Internet Studies ◽  
Five Dimensions ◽  
Community Or ◽  
Course Changes ◽  
Individual Use ◽  
The Relationship

What characterises the relationship between users and platforms? How are use and users configured by platform design, and in turn, how do users accept or reject such efforts? Using the live-streaming platform Twitch, this paper explores the user-platform relationship to answer these questions. Twitch is a highly popular live-streaming platform with an emphasis on gaming, whose rise to fame has been far from streamlined or expected. Based on qualitative analysis of design, discourse and user practices, the paper draws on script theory from science and technology studies and platform theory from Internet studies, to unpack the configuration of use and users. By tracing the development of the platform, we identify a pattern of frequent interaction between platform owners and users, and consequent course changes, which we label co-scription. Finally, we analyse the current Twitch script and propose five dimensions of co-scription that determine the user-platform relationship: 1) Sociality: community or individual use; 2) Audience: specific or general; 3) Moderation: strictly moderated or laissez-faire; 4) Content: user-generated or commercial; and 5) Scope: specialised or multi-feature.

scholarly journals Using visualisation software to improve student approaches to HE online assessment

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
David Smith ◽  
M. Aslm Qayyum ◽  
Natascha Hard
Keyword(s):  
Information Search ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Online Assessment ◽  
Internet Studies ◽  
Learning Assessments ◽  
Information Tools ◽  
Common Activity ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Subject Material

Abstract Studying via the Internet using information tools is a common activity for students in higher education. With students accessing their subject material via the Internet, studies have shown that students have difficulty understanding the complete purpose of an assessment which leads to poor information search practices. The selection of relevant information for particular learning assessments is the topic of this paper as it describes a case study that focuses on the information tool use of a small group of participants and is a continuation of similar research studies. The study and discussed research findings point to the benefit of students use of a visualisation tool to provide relevant learning cues and to transition to improved engagement with online assessment.

scholarly journals Brand Promotion Peculiarities

2021 ◽  
pp. 82-86
Author(s):  
Svitlana Ivanytska ◽  
Anna Aheicheva
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Personal Selling ◽  
Loyalty Programs ◽  
Consumer Confidence ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Live Streaming ◽  
Brand Name ◽  
Free Trial ◽  
Brand Promotion ◽  
Valuable Content

The brand promotion peculiarities are studied. It has been determined that the process of brand promotion includes: marketing a brand name and logo, making souvenirs, placing on various media, releasing videos, layouts for advertising, announcements on the Internet and much more. Used methods to promote brands are considered, such as: advertising, personal selling, packaging, 360° campaign, brand promotion on the Internet. The ways to promote a brand have been proven to be: website building, search engine optimization, social media, live streaming, storytelling, creating valuable content, blogging, email, LinkedIn Publishing Platform, prizes, infographics, car wraps, networking events, offline ads, promotions, loyalty programs, free trial product giveaways, strong branding. As a result of the study, it was found that brand promotion is the creation of consumer confidence in a product.

Introduction: The Long Revolution

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Des Freedman
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Living Room ◽  
Policy Action ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
The Future ◽  
Future Policy

This introduction begins with a brief discussion on the staying power of television, given the fact that it is no longer supposed to exist with the rise of the Internet and digital platforms. In fact, the Internet has not killed television but actually extended its appeal — liberating it from the confines of the living room where it sat unchallenged for half a century and propelling it, via new screens, into our bedrooms, kitchens, offices, buses, trains and streets. The chapter then describes the Puttnam Inquiry into the Future of Public Service Television and sets out the book's purpose, which is to contribute to the discussion about what kind of public service media people want and to provide some blueprints for future policy action. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.

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