scholarly journals Struggling with Simulations: Decoding the Neoliberal Politics of Digital Games

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Thomas Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Game Studies ◽  
Assemblage Theory ◽  
Film And Television ◽  
Control Society ◽  
Digital Objects ◽  
High Level ◽  
Interdisciplinary Study ◽  
Rule Systems

As a creative industry currently rivalling film and television, digital games are filled with a variety of political tensions that exist both between and within particular works. Unfortunately, internal discrepancies are often dismissed as indicators of political ambivalence, or treated as formal flaws that need to be overcome. To address this gap, this dissertation draws from game studies, media studies, and political economics to investigate the contradictory relationships between popular games and neoliberalism, specifically in relation to playful forms of resistance and critique that emerge during gameplay. Part I develops this study’s methodology by drawing from corresponding uses of assemblage theory, specifically articulated in Ong (2006, 2007), Lazzarato (2012, 2015), and Gilbert’s (2013) control society approaches to neoliberalism and Taylor (2009), Pearce and Artemesia’s (2009) digital ethnographic approaches to play. Derived from the French agencement, assemblage theory emphasizes heterogeneous relations in constant states of becoming that are understood as being real. Part II implements the aforementioned methodology by examining some of the most popular gaming franchises produced to date, with each demonstrating emergent political correlations and dissonances springing from relationships between different ludic and narrative components. BioShock (2007–2013) and Red Dead Redemption (2011) are narratively structured by neoliberal discourse, yet each storyline fails to correspond with the resistant political logic embedded in their respective rule systems. Conversely, Call of Duty (2004 – present) attains a high level of political cohesion that does not result in a better playing experience, as much as it contributes to conflicts amongst publishers, developers, and fans. Finally, Minecraft (2009–present) provides a fascinating example of a game that representationally reinforces neoliberalism while simultaneously affording the creation of new digital objects, including objects that give players the opportunity to understand and appreciate the computational infrastructures that a neoliberal emphasis on source code takes for granted. This dissertation, as a result, charts the growing connections between emergent gameplay and new forms of resistance and critique—connections that contribute not only to game studies, but also to the study of digital media and the interdisciplinary study of neoliberalism.

scholarly journals Struggling with Simulations: Decoding the Neoliberal Politics of Digital Games

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Thomas Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Game Studies ◽  
Assemblage Theory ◽  
Film And Television ◽  
Control Society ◽  
Digital Objects ◽  
High Level ◽  
Interdisciplinary Study ◽  
Rule Systems

As a creative industry currently rivalling film and television, digital games are filled with a variety of political tensions that exist both between and within particular works. Unfortunately, internal discrepancies are often dismissed as indicators of political ambivalence, or treated as formal flaws that need to be overcome. To address this gap, this dissertation draws from game studies, media studies, and political economics to investigate the contradictory relationships between popular games and neoliberalism, specifically in relation to playful forms of resistance and critique that emerge during gameplay. Part I develops this study’s methodology by drawing from corresponding uses of assemblage theory, specifically articulated in Ong (2006, 2007), Lazzarato (2012, 2015), and Gilbert’s (2013) control society approaches to neoliberalism and Taylor (2009), Pearce and Artemesia’s (2009) digital ethnographic approaches to play. Derived from the French agencement, assemblage theory emphasizes heterogeneous relations in constant states of becoming that are understood as being real. Part II implements the aforementioned methodology by examining some of the most popular gaming franchises produced to date, with each demonstrating emergent political correlations and dissonances springing from relationships between different ludic and narrative components. BioShock (2007–2013) and Red Dead Redemption (2011) are narratively structured by neoliberal discourse, yet each storyline fails to correspond with the resistant political logic embedded in their respective rule systems. Conversely, Call of Duty (2004 – present) attains a high level of political cohesion that does not result in a better playing experience, as much as it contributes to conflicts amongst publishers, developers, and fans. Finally, Minecraft (2009–present) provides a fascinating example of a game that representationally reinforces neoliberalism while simultaneously affording the creation of new digital objects, including objects that give players the opportunity to understand and appreciate the computational infrastructures that a neoliberal emphasis on source code takes for granted. This dissertation, as a result, charts the growing connections between emergent gameplay and new forms of resistance and critique—connections that contribute not only to game studies, but also to the study of digital media and the interdisciplinary study of neoliberalism.

scholarly journals Game Studies meets Surveillance Studies at the Edge of Digital Culture: An Introduction to a special issue on Surveillance, Games and Play

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer R. Whitson ◽  
Bart Simon
Keyword(s):  
Data Gathering ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Game Studies ◽  
Digital Culture ◽  
Finite Range ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Surveillance Studies ◽  
The Past ◽  
Social Sorting ◽  
The Relationship

While we could attribute the close ties between surveillance and video games to their shared military roots, in this editorial we argue that the relationship goes much deeper to that. Even non-digital games such as chess require a mode of watchfulness: an attention to each piece in relation to the past, present, and future; a drive to predict an opponent’s movements; and, a distillation of the player-subject into a knowable finite range of possible actions defined by the rules. Games are social sorting, disciplinary, social control machines.In this introduction we tease apart some of the intersections of games and surveillance, beginning with a discussion of the NSA documents leaked by Edward Snowden on using games to both monitor and influence unsuspecting populations. Next, we provide an overview of corporate data-gathering practices in games and further outline the production of manageable, computable subjectivities. Then, we show how the game Watch Dogs explores the surveillant capacities of games at both the game mechanical and representational scales. These three different facets of surveillance, games, and play set the scene for the special issue and the diverse articles that follow.  In the following pages we pose new lines of questioning that highlight the nuances of play and offer new modes of thinking about what games - and the processes of watching and being watched that are a foundational part of the experience – can tell us about surveillance.

Automated State of Play

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 201-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonia Fizek
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Game Studies ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Fictional Character

Abstract Automation of play has become an ever more noticeable phenomenon in the domain of video games, expressed by self-playing game worlds, self-acting characters, and non-human agents traversing multiplayer spaces. This article proposes to look at AI-driven non-human play and, what follows, rethink digital games, taking into consideration their cybernetic nature, thus departing from the anthropocentric perspectives dominating the field of Game Studies. A decentralised posthumanist reading, as the author argues, not only allows to rethink digital games and play, but is a necessary condition to critically reflect AI, which due to the fictional character of video games, often plays by very different rules than the so-called “true” AI.

scholarly journals Reconnecting a Fragmented Monument through Digital Mapping: The City Walls of Athens

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-195
Author(s):  
Markos Katsianis ◽  
Stamatina Lampraki ◽  
Anna-Maria Theocharaki ◽  
Maria Pigaki ◽  
Leda Costaki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Geospatial Technologies ◽  
Archaeological Investigation ◽  
Digital Mapping ◽  
Cadastral Maps ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
City Walls ◽  
High Level ◽  
The City

The fortifications of Athens have been a recurrent theme of archaeological investigation. In the past two centuries, parts of the walls have been located during rescue interventions at numerous sites in the urban fabric. At present, the visibility of the entire monument remains rather low as the traces of the walls are hidden beneath the modern city, marginalized within larger archaeological sites or preserved entirely by record. Despite the high level of scholarly work devoted to synthesize the available material, the volume of information accumulated over the years requires a novel approach that would systematize different types of evidence using digital media. In this respect, we attempt to revisit the city walls of Athens through the use of geospatial technologies. We target the informed development of an efficient GIS platform to record, store, integrate, explore and eventually disseminate resources on the Athenian fortifications. Our research employs published and archival sources (e.g. excavation drawings) in combination with historical maps (e.g. early cadastral maps, first maps of modern Athens) and complementary historical evidence (e.g. writings, illustrations, photography) to locate, document and integrate in space and time available data on lost and surviving fortification remains.

scholarly journals Letterpress Reproduction——Information Visualization Design

2021 ◽  
Vol 236 ◽  
pp. 05079
Author(s):  
Li AnDong ◽  
Fang JianJun
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Information Visualization ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Letterpress Printing ◽  
Visualization Design ◽  
Modern Application ◽  
High Level ◽  
Visual Reading

At present, with the rapid development of society, digital media has become the mainstream of vision. Digital vision makes people form a new reading form of “Super-Attention”. The visual performance of letterpress printing conforms to this new form of visual reading very well. It is different from the tactile feeling of ordinary printing that further packages and shapes the original information and improves the expectation of information interpretation and experience to a high level. At the same time, the manual culture highlighted by letterpress printing is also one of the best means to cushion the tension of inconsistent technology and culture in modern society. We don't know the result of the confrontation between paper and digital media, but letterpress printing in digital society has shown its unique “Paper-Based” feelings. Through detailed analysis of the historical evolution of letterpress printing, the comparison between traditional letterpress printing and modern letterpress printing, this paper presents clearly the development of letterpress printing for readers, so that readers can truly understand this unique traditional process; and then it elaborates on the application of modern letterpress in creative products and the development status quo of modern letterpress at home and abroad. This paper probes into how to popularize the new nirvana letterpress once again, thus providing a set of modern application attempt of letterpress printing - Rejuvenation of Letterpress information visualization design, and from practice, looking for letterpress regeneration after integrating new design ideas in the new media era.

Agent-Based Modelling of Emotional Goals in Digital Media Design Projects

2018 ◽  
pp. 262-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Marshall
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Role Play ◽  
User Profiles ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
Media Design ◽  
Development Teams ◽  
Shared Language ◽  
Design Projects ◽  
High Level

The author promotes agent-oriented models to identify, represent, and evaluate high-level abstractions of digital media design projects. The models include emotional goals, in addition to functional goals and quality goals, to describe feelings such as having fun, being engaged, and feeling cared for. To establish emotional goals, digital media design methods and processes were employed including the development of emotional scripts, user profiles, mood boards and followed an iterative creative design process. Using agent-oriented models proved to be highly successful not only to represent emotional goals such as fun, tension, and empathy but also to facilitate the ideation, creation, and progressive evaluation of projects. The design process supported communication between designers, developers, and other stakeholders in large multidisciplinary development teams by providing a shared language and a common artefact. The process is demonstrated by describing the development of Aspergion, a multiplayer online role play game that promotes respect for people with Asperger's Syndrome.

Agent-Based Modelling of Emotional Goals in Digital Media Design Projects

2018 ◽  
pp. 681-697 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Marshall
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Participatory Design ◽  
Role Play ◽  
User Profiles ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
Media Design ◽  
Development Teams ◽  
Shared Language ◽  
Design Projects ◽  
High Level

The authors promote agent-oriented models to identify, represent and evaluate high-level abstractions of digital media design projects. A major aspect is the introduction of emotional goals, in addition to functional goals and quality goals to describe feelings such as having fun, being engaged and feeling cared for. To establish emotional goals, digital media design methods and processes were employed including the development of emotional scripts, user profiles, mood boards and following an iterative participatory design process. This approach proved to be highly successful, not only to represent emotional goals such as fun, tension and empathy, but also to facilitate the ideation, creation and progressive evaluation of projects. The process supports communication between designers, developers and other stakeholders in large multidisciplinary development teams by providing a shared language and common artefact. The process is demonstrated in the development of a Multiplayer Online Role Play Game (MORPG) called Aspergion that promotes respect for people with Asperger's Syndrome.

scholarly journals A smartphone game to prevent HIV among young Kenyans: Household dynamics of gameplay in a feasibility study

2019 ◽  
Vol 78 (5) ◽  
pp. 595-606 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Winskell ◽  
Gaëlle Sabben ◽  
Ken Ondeng’e ◽  
Isdorah Odero ◽  
Victor Akelo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Feasibility Study ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Log Files ◽  
Household Dynamics ◽  
And Shifts ◽  
Randomised Controlled ◽  
High Level ◽  
Survey Responses

Objective: mHealth interventions often favour individual-level effects. This is particularly problematic in contexts where social support and shifts in social norms are critical to sustained behaviour change. Mobile digital games represent a promising health education strategy for youth, including in low-resource settings. We sought to better understand the interpersonal and social interactions that can be elicited by digital games for health. Design: We piloted Tumaini, a smartphone game rooted in interactive narrative designed to prevent HIV among young Africans (aged 11–14), in a randomised controlled feasibility study and analysed reports of the household dynamics surrounding gameplay. Following a 16-day intervention period, phone gameplay log files were downloaded, and intervention arm participants ( n = 30) completed a gameplay experience survey; eight focus group discussions were held, four with intervention arm participants ( n = 27) and four with their parents ( n = 22). Setting: This study took place in Kisumu, Kenya, in Spring 2017. Method: Descriptive statistics were computed from survey responses and log files. Focus group transcripts were labelled, analysed thematically and compared demographically using MAXQDA software. Results: Data from log files, surveys and focus groups indicate that the game generated considerable interaction and dialogue with parents, siblings and friends and served as a catalyst for children to act as advocates for healthful decisions about sex, both within the family and beyond. The game showed a high level of acceptability with parents. Conclusion: Serious digital games using a smartphone platform can generate considerable household interaction. Games can model and facilitate these exchanges, maximising multi-level effects. An additional app for parents could reinforce these effects.

scholarly journals Playful Constructivism: Making Sense of Digital Games for Learning and Creativity Through Play, Design, and Participation

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vittorio Marone
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Social Constructivism ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Game Studies ◽  
Learning Theories ◽  
Game Based Learning ◽  
Visual Model ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities

The goal of this article is to provide a conceptual framework to better understand digital games in learning and creative contexts through the dimensions of play, design, and participation. This framework can be used as a guiding tool for the selection, implementation, and evaluation of game-based approaches in formal and informal educational settings, as well as a blueprint for making sense of playful learning and creativity in virtual worlds and technology-mediated environments. In essence, this article seeks to answer the question “What are digital games and how can we make sense of them for learning and creativity?” The proposed visual model and conceptual framework, here defined as Playful Constructivism, is grounded on the learning theories of Situated Cognition, Social Constructivism, and Constructionism, and draws from play and game studies, design-based learning, and affinity spaces research. This framework is not intended as the “ultimate” conceptualization of game-based learning, but rather as an agile tool that can guide scholars, practitioners, and students through the affordances, challenges, and opportunities of implementing and using digital games in learning and creative contexts.

Between Mutation and Glitch

2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-178
Author(s):  
Alina R. Latypova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Computer Games ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Digital Environment ◽  
Niklas Luhmann ◽  
Philosophical Approach ◽  
Digital World ◽  
Digital Objects ◽  
Levels Of Functioning

The following paper considers the immanent principles of digital media evolution. The features of the evolutional route of digital objects are conditioned by glitches, errors and bugs, which appear in media functioning, what in its turn gives birth to the new forms, structures and configurations of digital reality. The glitches are considered not only as a kind of digital mutations, but also as a sign of activity of media. Decisions elaborated from the programs’ failures enlarge the resolution capacity of new technologies. The paper provides an analysis of certain errors and glitches, which engineers, programmers, game designers faced with during their work with digital environment. The theoretical framework includes Henri Bergson’s theory of creative evolution, Gram Harman’s object-oriented philosophy, media philosophical approach to the problem of the activity of object proposed by Valery Savchuk and the theory of self-organisation and autopoiesis of the social systems worked out by Niklas Luhmann. The analysis of digital objects activity demonstrates two levels of functioning. The first one, fictional level, reveals mainly (but not only) in the computer games and concerns the content of media, when we gain a habit to interact with digital objects/characters as if they are real. The second level, operational, realises in the digital environment in general and concerns the form of media. On this level, glitches and bugs have crucial meaning, because they might evoke the changes in the digital world organisation, starting from the local decisions for the certain program (e.g. the elaboration of the new ways in solving locomotional tasks in simulations, which might be later use in other projects) and ending with the replacement of practices and representations typical for the human of digital era. The paper shows that it is possible to talk about digital evolution not in terms of the history of technological inventions, but in terms of the changes in digital objects caused by the inner logic of media, independently from the human will and expectations.

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