Masculine Pleasures as Normalized Practices: Character Design in the Video Game Industry

2021 ◽  
pp. 155541202110347
Author(s):  
Jessica E. Tompkins ◽  
Nicole Martins
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New Media ◽  
Corporate Culture ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Game Development ◽  
Video Game Industry ◽  
Character Design ◽  
Game Engines ◽  
Game Industry ◽  
Game Developers

Scholars have extensively studied video game labor practices (e.g., Bulut, E. (2015). Glamor above, precarity below: Immaterial labor in the video game industry. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 32(3), 193-207. https://doi.org/10.1080/15295036.2015.1047880 , Bulut, E. (2020). White masculinity, creative desires, and production ideology in video game development. Games and Culture, 16, 1555412020939873; Banks, J. (2013). Co-creating videogames. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Publishing; Kerr, A. (2010). The culture of gamework. In M. Deuze (Ed), Managing Media Work (pp. 225-236). London: Sage; O’Donnell (2009). The everyday lives of video game developers: Experimentally understanding underlying systems/structures. Transformative Works and Cultures, 2. https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2009.0073 , O’Donnell (2014). Developer’s dilemma: The secret world of videogame creators. Cambridge, MA: MIT press; Johnson, R. S. (2013). Toward greater production diversity. Games and Culture, 8(136), 136-160. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412013481848 , Johnson, R. (2014). Hiding in plain sight: Reproducing masculine culture at a video game studio. Communication, Culture & Critique, 7, 578-594. https://doi.org/10.1111/cccr.12023 ); yet, few have exclusively examined the process of character design (e.g., Srauy, S. (2017). Professional norms and race in the North American video game industry. Games and Culture, 14, 478-497. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412017708936 ). Using a grounded theory analysis of 19 interviews with games designers and developers, this work complements existing research with insights on how gender and gendered interactions, technologies, audiences, market logics, and corporate culture integrate and influence character design practices. We found that technological affordances (e.g., game engines and related software; see Whitson, J. R. (2018). Voodoo software and boundary objects in game development: How developers collaborate and conflict with game engines and art tools. New Media & Society, 20, 2315-2332) converged with the masculine, heteronormative identities of game developers to shape normalized valued practices for character design, resulting in formulaic tropes that generally appealed to a masculine audience. Changes in status quo character design were attributed to diversity-conscious individuals, who operated within organizational practices privileging proven formulas over innovative designs.

EXPLORATION VS. EXPLOITATION AND HOW VIDEO GAME DEVELOPERS ARE ABLE TO COMBINE THE TWO

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (06) ◽  
pp. 1650045
Author(s):  
BJÖRN REMNELAND WIKHAMN ◽  
ALEXANDER STYHRE ◽  
JAN LJUNGBERG ◽  
ANNA MARIA SZCZEPANSKA
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Creative Work ◽  
Game Development ◽  
Video Game Industry ◽  
Video Game Development ◽  
Game Industry ◽  
Game Developers ◽  
Suitable Case

This paper reports an in-depth qualitative study about innovation work in the Swedish video game industry. More specifically, it focuses on how video game developers are building ambidextrous capabilities to simultaneously addressing explorative and exploitative activities. The Swedish video game industry is a particularly suitable case to analyze ambidexterity, due to it’s extreme market success and continuous ability to adapt to shifts in technologies and demands. Based on the empirical data, three ambidextrous capabilities are pointed out as particularly valuable for video game developers; (1) the ability to separate between a creative work climate and the effectiveness in project organizing; (2) the balancing of inward and outward ideation influences, and (3) the diversity in operational means and knowledge paired with shared goals and motivations, derived from the love of video games and video game development.

scholarly journals Surrounded by a wall: The hermetic language of the Polish community of video gamers. Do Poles know the language of Polish gamers? The results of a survey-based study

2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-112
Author(s):  
Rafał Maćkowiak
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
Entertainment Industry ◽  
Game Development ◽  
Video Game Industry ◽  
Large Group ◽  
Colloquial Language ◽  
Game Industry ◽  
Sheer Size ◽  
Video Gamers

The video game industry is today one of the most rapidly developing branches of the entertainment industry. Such corporations as Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo are increasing their investment engagement in the manufacture of gaming hardware (e.g. computers, consoles, and tablets), and in game development for various platforms. There has developed and continues to expand an extensive terminology which due to the increasing consolidation of the user base is progressing towards producing a sociolect. Linguists have not yet examined the lexis of gamers which is why it must be studied considering the extent of the phenomenon and the sheer size of the gamer community. Video gamers form a large group. At this point it must be stressed that the gamer community and the lexis specific for it does not exist in isolation. The lexis used by gamers continues to permeate outside the community, e.g. to other media or the colloquial language. The author of this article conducted a survey to check whether the lexis of video gamers is known to random respondents. This article presents the results of the survey.

scholarly journals The Presence of Female Designers in French Video Game Industry, 1985–1993

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 670-684 ◽  
Author(s):  
Filip Jankowski
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Video Game ◽  
The United States ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Self ◽  
Video Game Industry ◽  
Game Industry ◽  
Everyday Experiences ◽  
Game Developers

Increasingly, more people do notice that female designers wrote their first games in the 1970s and 1980s. However, there was another country where women did also design games decades before the #GamerGate movement. This article examines the selected works of three French designers: Clotilde Marion, Chine Lanzmann, and Muriel Tramis. The analysis of those games took into account the self-representation of those designers—and women in general—within the game content. The conducted research has proven that within their games, Marion, Lanzmann, and Tramis included their everyday experiences as women. Using such techniques as simulated point of view and authorial signature, those women indicated their own role in the development and showed how females in general face male oppression against them. This means that the United States is not the only country with a long tradition of female game developers. Thus, video game history remains an undiscovered research field.

How Does Games Critique Impact Game Design Decisions? A Case Study of Monetization and Loot Boxes

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (8) ◽  
pp. 1004-1025
Author(s):  
Matthew E. Perks
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Game Studies ◽  
Design Decisions ◽  
Video Game Industry ◽  
Game Industry ◽  
Pragmatic Sociology ◽  
Game Developers

Games critics arguably influence the form games take, identities of players, and identities of game developers. However, very little work in Game Studies examines how critical games journalism, games, developers, and independent actors intersect. This article argues that pragmatic sociology of critique, developed by Luc Boltanski, can act as a theoretical framework to aid in understanding these processes of critique. Utilizing a theoretical lens such as this helps us better understand the function of games critique within the video game industry. Applying this framework to a case study of monetization and “loot boxes,” this article emphasizes the role and power of journalistic critique in shaping gaming cultures, and the consumption and production of media more generally.

Speaking in Public: What Women Say about Working in the Video Game Industry

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (8) ◽  
pp. 836-847 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne de Castell ◽  
Karen Skardzius
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
Video Game Industry ◽  
Public Speech ◽  
Considerable Research ◽  
Game Industry ◽  
Game Developers ◽  
Experiences Of Women ◽  
Scholarly Attention

Since the 1990s, conversations about the dearth of women working in the video game industry have centered on three topics: (1) ways to draw more women into the field, (2) the experiences of women working in the industry, and (3) the experiences of those who once worked in the industry but left. Although there has been considerable research on the conditions and occupational identities of video game developers, less scholarly attention has been devoted to women in gameswork, the barriers/obstacles and challenges/opportunities they face, and how they talk about their experiences. This article offers a feminist approach that demonstrates how discourse focused on affect can be reread as intimately related to silences about power and how the rhetorical constraints that public speech imposes upon what can be said about “women in games” aid us in understanding what might remain unspoken, and why.

scholarly journals Towards a “Filipino” Video Game: Teaching Filipino Culture and Identity for Video Game Development

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoffer Mitch C. Cerda
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Game Development ◽  
Video Game Development ◽  
Game Industry ◽  
Filipino Culture ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Game Developers

This paper uses the author’s experiences of teaching the Filipino module of a multidisciplinary video game development class as a case study in teaching Filipino culture and identity as an element of video game development. A preliminary definition of “Filipino video game” as having Filipino narratives and subject matter, made by Filipino video game developers, and catering to a Filipino audience, is proposed. The realities and limitations of video game development and the video game market in the Philippines is also discussed to show how the dominance of Western video game industry, in terms of the dominance of outsource work for Filipino video game developers and the dominance of non-Filipino video games played by Filipino players, has hindered the development of original Filipino video games. Using four Filipino video games as primary texts discussed in class, students were exposed to Filipinomade video games, and shown how these games use Filipino history, culture, and politics as source material for their narrative and design. Issues of how video games can be used to selfexoticization, and the use of propaganda is discussed, and also how video games can be used to confront and reimagine Filipinoness. The paper ends with a discussion of a student-made game titled Alibatas, a game that aims to teach baybayin, a neglected native writing system in the Philippines as a demonstration of how students can make a Filipino video game. The paper then shows the importance of student-made games, and the role that the academe plays in the critical understanding of Filipino video games, and in defining Filipino culture and identity.

Cybercrime in Online Gaming

2020 ◽  
pp. 881-892
Author(s):  
Boaventura DaCosta ◽  
Soonhwa Seok
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Money Laundering ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Video Game Industry ◽  
Data Breaches ◽  
The Past ◽  
Game Industry ◽  
Global Connectivity ◽  
Game Developers

Video games offer rich interactive experiences. Increasingly, however, their popularity coupled with their global connectivity has raised concerns about safety. Although it can be argued that video game developers and publishers have been plagued by cybercrime since the beginning of the industry, video game companies are not the only targets. Cybercriminals also have their sights on gamers. This article examines cybercrime affecting the video game industry and its players. Focused on some of the most deliberate forms of cybercrime found in the literature within the past few years, the article explores data breaches, compromised accounts and stolen data, the theft and sale of in-game items, and money laundering. While the information is anticipated to be of value to educators, practitioners, researchers, game developers, and publishers, it should by no means be considered an all-inclusive reference, but rather a catalyst for discussion, debate, and future research.

The Nintendo Entertainment System and the 10NES Chip: Carving the Video Game Industry in Silicon

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Casey O'Donnell
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Historical Data ◽  
Securities And Exchange Commission ◽  
Court Cases ◽  
Local Effects ◽  
Game Development ◽  
Video Game Industry ◽  
Video Game Development ◽  
Game Industry

This essay makes the argument that the numerous ‘‘networks’’ or ‘‘inter/intranetworks’’ that structure the video game industry have lived local effects for those involved in the production of video games. In particular, this is most visible in the realm of console video game development but is visible in many other contexts as well. It uses the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) as an index into this complex and highly structured world that frequently disappears from developers perception. The essay uses largely historical data drawn from patent filings, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, and court cases to analyze these networks. The essay argues that these inter/intranetworks, as constructed, have been instrumental in the way that the game industry now finds itself structured and that as the industry has ‘‘matured,’’ the networks have become less accessible and less interoperable.

White Masculinity, Creative Desires, and Production Ideology in Video Game Development

2020 ◽  
pp. 155541202093987 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ergin Bulut
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
Philosophy Of Technology ◽  
Game Studies ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Game Development ◽  
White Masculinity ◽  
Global Game ◽  
Video Game Development ◽  
Game Industry ◽  
Game Developers

Game workers have a problem. They code values and ideologies into games, but they are either not aware of it or deny it. Through a constructive and critical engagement with Games of Empire, I propose the concept of “ludic religiosity” to reveal how white masculinity informs game workers’ professional discourses, technological practices, ludic desires, and imaginations. Drawing on three-year-long ethnographic research and in conversation with cultural studies, philosophy of technology, and postcolonial game studies, I revisit desiring machine and ideology, two major concepts from Games of Empire. My goal is to demonstrate the racialized and gendered discourses and practices behind game developers’ desire to produce cognitive capitalism’s “escapist” commodities and rethink ideology within white masculine production cultures. Foregrounding how racialized and gendered practices and imaginations inform the desire behind the global game industry is crucial, especially in the aftermath of Gamergate and the rise of authoritarianism.

Developer Credit: Para-Industrial Hierarchies of In-Game Credit Attribution in the Video Game Industry

2021 ◽  
pp. 155541202110344
Author(s):  
Jan Švelch
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
Game Development ◽  
Video Game Industry ◽  
Film And Television ◽  
Video Game Development ◽  
Game Industry ◽  
Recurrent Patterns

Developer credit has been a contested issue in the video game industry since the 1970–80s, when Atari prevented its programmers from publicly claiming authorship for games they had developed. The negotiations over what constitutes a noteworthy contribution to video game development are ongoing and play out in the unregulated space of in-game credits. Here, some creators get top billing akin to film and television credits, while others struggle to be recognized for their work. By analyzing in-game credits of 100 contemporary games published between 2016 and 2020 and representing four major sectors of video game production (AAA, AA, indie, and freemium games as service), I identify recurrent patterns, such as opening credits, order, role descriptions (or lack thereof), and systematic credit omission, that both reinforce and subvert the notion of core development roles and above-the-line/below-the-line divisions.

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