scholarly journals Immaterial Fordism: the paradox of game industry labour

2007 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leif Schumacher
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
New Economy ◽  
Knowledge Work ◽  
Game Industry ◽  
New Form

In different ways, Marxist autonomist, regulation school, and neoliberal theories all claim that work in the new economy is increasingly characterised by high levels of creativity, cooperation, and innovation, albeit accompanied by uncertainty and a relentless pace of work, introducing a new form of labour that differs fundamentally from past forms. This paper does not disagree with the proposition that capital is currently in the process of intensifying its search for more efficient value extraction. However, through a case study of lawsuits launched against the video game company Electronic Arts regarding its labour practices, it argues that the change in the nature of knowledge work and immaterial labour has been overstated by the adherents of these three schools and that what we are witnessing is not so much a replacement of traditional Fordist practices by post-Fordist ones as a new fusion of the two forms.

Case Study in Game Design

2009 ◽  
pp. 316-330
Author(s):  
Patricia A. Young
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Online Games ◽  
Global Game ◽  
Multiplayer Online Games ◽  
Growth Area ◽  
Government Education ◽  
Game Industry

The global game industry expects substantial growth in the next decades. Massive multiplayer online games (MMOG) are expected to skyrocket from the $3.8 billion reported in 2006 to $11.8 billion by 2011 (Olausson, 2007). The video game industry is expected to grow at an annual rate of 9.1%, or from a $31.6 billion in 2006 to $48.9 by 2011. Serious games are the new growth area. These games are reportedly not for entertainment purposes and are being developed by and for industries such as government, education, health, and business (Scanlon, 2007). Given these figures, the role of game design will have global implications for groups of people around the world. Therefore, design and development must meet the challenges of this technological revolution.

‘The fate of Shenmue is in your hands now!’: Kickstarter, video games and the financialization of crowdfunding

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 985-999
Author(s):  
Dario Lolli
Keyword(s):  
Web 2.0 ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Effective Capacity ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Digital Ecosystem ◽  
Digital Convergence ◽  
History Of ◽  
Game Industry ◽  
Funding Mechanisms

In July 2015, a crowdfunding campaign launched to revive the notoriously unprofitable video game series Shenmue closed with the record figure of above US$6 million, to date the highest amount ever raised on Kickstarter for video game funding. This article takes this campaign as an endemic case study of the changing funding mechanisms concerning video game production in the digital ecosystem of Web 2.0. Although the campaign displays some of the participatory elements often attributed to crowdfunding and digital convergence, it also sheds doubts on accountability and the effective capacity of crowdfunding to substantially challenge and de-hierarchize power relations in the video game industry. In particular, the Shenmue III campaign illustrates how the crowdfunding initiative was instrumentally mobilized by its organizers to attract further corporate sponsorships and stakeholders outside crowdfunding. This controversial episode shows how commercial platforms like Kickstarter are increasingly facilitating a process of financialization of crowdfunding, whose main effect is not so much the equal coming together of media consumers and producers as the minimization of risks for large video game corporations. By mapping the history of the Shenmue franchise from its original failure in the era of physical distribution to its recent crowdfunded success, this article argues that the empowering potentials of crowdfunding cannot be readily assumed without a contingent analysis of the cultural and political economy underlying Web 2.0 and its digital platforms.

Estimating the Value of Excess: A Case Study of Gaming Computers, Consoles and the Video Game Industry

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darshan Yadav ◽  
Daniel Long ◽  
Beshoy Morkos ◽  
Scott Ferguson
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
End Users ◽  
Computer Hardware ◽  
Design Solution ◽  
Video Game Industry ◽  
Design Property ◽  
Game Industry ◽  
The One

Abstract A widely held belief among design practitioners is that an ideal design solution is the one that meets all the requirements while minimizing surplus cost incurred by exceeding requirements. In this research, we challenge this notion by exploring if providing design “excess”, the ability of a solution to exceed certain requirements, can increase the value of a solution to its end users. A case study is performed in the video game industry to explore if design excess is prevalent and its impact on the industry. This study is performed by examining various PC builds (budget, mid-range, and high-end dream) and gaming consoles (Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation) over an 18-year period. Based on a thorough investigation of video game requirements and capacity of different hardware, we find that design excess has existed in computer hardware and is intentionally used as a design property. The results indicate that mid-range solution provide the greatest value to its customers. Further, PC excess based value is adjusted during years when consoles are released. Using measurements of excess, this study also reveals a shift in technology push versus pull that occurs during the mid-2000s and is observable through the lens of system excess.

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.

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.

A model for collective behaviour propagation: a case study of video game industry

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (9) ◽  
pp. 4507-4517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Choujun Zhan ◽  
Bing Li ◽  
Xiaoting Zhong ◽  
Hu Min ◽  
Zhengdong Wu
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
Collective Behaviour ◽  
Video Game Industry ◽  
Game Industry

Masters of Craft

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard E. Ocejo
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Young Men ◽  
New Economy ◽  
Technical Skills ◽  
Manual Labor ◽  
Work Practices ◽  
Downward Mobility ◽  
Postindustrial City ◽  
New Form ◽  
Cultural Repertoires

In today's new economy—in which “good” jobs are typically knowledge or technology based—many well-educated and culturally savvy young men are instead choosing to pursue traditionally low-status manual-labor occupations as careers. This book looks at the renaissance of four such trades: bartending, distilling, barbering, and butchering. The book takes readers into the lives and workplaces of these people to examine how they are transforming these once-undesirable jobs into “cool” and highly specialized upscale occupational niches—and in the process complicating our notions about upward and downward mobility through work. It shows how they find meaning in these jobs by enacting a set of “cultural repertoires,” which include technical skills based on a renewed sense of craft and craftsmanship and an ability to understand and communicate that knowledge to others, resulting in a new form of elite taste-making. The book describes the paths people take to these jobs, how they learn their chosen trades, how they imbue their work practices with craftsmanship, and how they teach a sense of taste to their consumers. The book provides new insights into the stratification of taste, gentrification, and the evolving labor market in today's postindustrial city.

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