Digital Games and Sociology Research

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Digital Games and Sociology Research

• Alex Burns (aburns_at_swin.edu.au)
• Smart Internet Technology CRC
• 13 September 2005

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Industry Government Partners

• Industry Partners
• Telstra
• Westpac
• Legalco
• Infoysys
• Tenix
• Pacific Knowledge Systems
• SME Consortium Partners
• ACT (The Distillery, Catalyst Interactive, Wizard
  Epicorp)
• NSW, Vic, Tas, Qld in progress
• Government Partners
• NSW State Government

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University Partners

• University of New South Wales
• University of Sydney
• University of Wollongong
• Australian Graduate School of Management
• Australian National University
• Swinburne University
• Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
• University of Melbourne
• University of Adelaide
• Griffith University
• University of Tasmania

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Agenda

• Computer Game History
• Global and Australian Industry Context
• Auteurs and Independents
• Digital Game-Based Learning
• Game Studies

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Computer Game History 1

• First videogame developed in 1958
• DECs SpaceWar! (1961) and Ataris Pong (1972)
• Golden Age of videogame arcades
• Space Invaders (1978), Asteroids (1979), Pac-Man
  (1980)
• 1983 bubble due to over-supply in console market
• Console industry
• 6-to-8 year technological cycle of new consoles
• 32-bit (early 1990s) and 64-bit (late 1990s)
  machines
• Sony and Microsoft emerged as key manufacturers
  in 2001

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Computer Game History 2

• Online market
• Has often overstated its market share (Stephen
  Poole)
• Older audience and diverse demographics than
  youth market
• Currently provides a niche for hybrid games
• Retro games
• Archive the early history of videogames
• Abandonware and console emulators solve
  digital continuity
• May be bundled with mobile phones but are
  unlikely to be a profitable subscription-based
  revenue model

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Global Context 1

• Global industry revenues of US30 billion
  annually
• Four major markets
• Arcade, PC (IBM compatible, Apple), Handhelds
  Nintendo, Sony, mobiles) and Console (Microsoft
  Xbox and Sony PlayStation)
• Two tiers game publishers and developers
• Doom 3 sold 300,000 units in first week (August
  2004)
• New sales cycle in 2005
• Microsoft Xbox 360 (2005) and Sony PlayStation 3
  (2006)

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Global Context 2

• Barriers To Entry
• Dominated by large firms
• Low profit margin Of 3,000 games released in
  2001, 100 were profitable, and 50 were mega-hits
• Console industry controlled by licensing,
  publishing and software development kits (SDKs)
• High cost of games development
• Inter-firm competition for talent
• Threat of government regulation (violent games
  debate)
• Entertainment as threat of substitute products

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Digital Homes

• Rich Media school of thought
• Digital Hollywoods preferred vision
• New Broadband-enabled entertainment console
  (Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3)
• Always connected, always personalized, and
  always in high-definition (Microsoft, GDCA,
  2005)
• Broader gamer demographics than youthful
  stereotype

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Australian Industry Context

• Generated A100 million in exports (2002)
• Game Developers Association forecasts
• A500 million (2005) and A1 billion (2010)
• Potential for Digital Media/Games clusters
• Victorias GamePlan (Multimedia Victoria)
• QUTs Creative Industries program
• Australian firms have won international contracts
  for game development

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Auteurs

• Auteur coined by French New Wave theorists to
  honour Hollywood Studio Systems distinctive
  directors
• Used by games publishers to describe influential
  designers
• Shigeru Miyamoto (Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros.)
• Sid Meier (Civilization series)
• John Carmack and John Romero (Doom 1 and 2)
• Auteurs can be a risky strategy
• May create brand recognition and long-term
  franchises
• Intensely personal vision may derail projects
  (Romeros Daikatana project nearly bankrupted
  Eidos Interactive)

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Independents 1

• May take many different forms
• Hobbyists, amateur designers and political
  activists
• Mainstream designers working on projects
• Independent sector in Australia
• Operates outside Government cluster models
• Represented by Free Play conference (2004)
• Training ground for designers and innovative
  projects
• Potential entrepreneurial start-ups and new game
  publishers

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Independents 2

• Small indie firms
• Likely to use Internet distribution rather than
  sell-through
• Operate on an arthouse model (parallels Miramax
  four-wall distribution in mid-1970s) and
• Small teams that echo games development in early
  1980s
• Goes beyond binary-oppositional model (Eric
  Zimmerman)
• Wild Cards
• Indie designers may innovate features for
  future best-sellers
• Unorthodox RD practices (Hacking the Xbox) which
  drives technological innovation in consoles market

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Digital Game-Based Learning

• Precursors
• AI cognition, LOGO, Seymour Paperts exploration
  of microworlds
• Studies of Generation X (1965-82) and computers
  in education
• Digital Game Based Learning
• Draws on collaborative action learning and
  knowledge management
• Simulations with non-linearity to teach about
  uncertainty
• Marc Prenskys Digital Game-Based Learning (2001)
• Applications in custom-based training and higher
  education
• Mark Pesces Playful World (2000) surveys
  consumer applications

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Sherry Turkle

• Director, MIT Initiative on the Self
• Paralleled Howard Rheingolds research on
  virtual communities
• The Second Self (1984) examines user identities
  via Freudian psychoanalysis and sociology
• Life On The Screen (1995) investigated MOOs and
  MUDs
• Dotcom era example of immersive field research
• Attacked by critics as postmodern

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Mark Dery

• Cultural critic and Professor at New York
  University
• Popularised culture jamming (1992)
• Escape Velocity (1995) was an important study of
  subcultures industrial and cyberculture
• The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium (1999) examined
  pre-millennialist and conspiracy subcultures
  online

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Siva Vaidhyanathan

• Associate Professor at New York University
• Author of The Anarchist In The Library (2004)
• Influenced by political philosopher Robert Nozick
• Coevolutionary model of technology and users
• Warns of bleed-through when online debates have
  serious offline implications (legal precedents,
  social norms)
• Useful to understand post-Dotcom era debates

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Games Studies 1

• A new academic discipline in Cultural/Media
  Studies
• Draws on Cinema Studies and Literary Theory
• Year Zero was 2001 emergence of Ludology
  school
• Game Studies journal
• Eric Zimmermans Rules of Play (2004), James
  Newmans Videogames (2004), Michael J.P. Wolfs
  Videogame Reader (2004)
• Game development courses are creating industry
  links
• Swinburne University BA in Games course
• Postgraduate research in Games Studies
• Focus on game physics and programming skills

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Games Studies 2

• Emerging academic discipline that studies
  videogames on their own terms
• Provides rich insights and design philosophies
  for games developers
• Year One was 2001
• Key theorists Michael J.P. Wolf, Eric Zimmerman,
  Katie Salen, Espen Aarseth
• Some theorists write for Games Studies journal
  (www.gamestudies.org)
• Perspectives include aesthetics, narratology,
  ludology (the study of game-play), political
  economy and user centred design

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Games Studies and Sociology

• Game Studies scholars have a potential role to
  play
• Game Studies counter-balances the
  techno-determinist School of Thought with
  alternate viewpoints
• Game designers (Chris Crawford, Andrew Rollings,
  Ernest Adams) document their insights, philosophy
  and post-mortems
• Academic researchers can provide strategic advice
  about the epistemology, frameworks and worldviews
  used to construct game characters and worlds
• Socially legitimates videogames as a medium
  rather than its media portrayal as mindless youth
  entertainment
• Can provide public testimony to counter the
  moral panics

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Regulation 1 The Violent Videogames Debate

• Censorship began with the arcade game Death Race
  (1976)
• Parallels the cyclical emergence of moral
  panics
• Video nasties in Great Britain (early 1980s)
• PMRC music hearings in United States (mid-1980s)
• Key themes Juvenile delinquency, poor IQ scores,
  gang violence
• 1998 Australian Government study found
• Differences along gender development lines
• Interviewees were self-critical of videogame
  violence
• Videogames perceived differently to film and
  television violence

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Regulation 2 The Violent Videogames Debate

• Columbine massacre (1999)
• Killers Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris were Doom
  players
• id Software and Marilyn Manson blamed by
  Republicans
• US Army Lt. Col. (ret) Dave Grossman becomes
  prominent critic, after he compares videogames to
  desensitization training
• Charles Tilly counter-argues that violence is a
  socialized act
• Implications for Australia
• OFLC has not issued R classification for
  overseas games
• Players use Internet downloads to bypass national
  censorship
• Lobby groups may have regulatory impact on
  Australian industry

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Regulation 3 The Violent Videogames Debate

• Criticisms of the debate and sociological
  research
• Usually relies on a Functionalist interpretation
• Media will frame the debate as a moral panic
• Definition and labelling problems
• Methodological problems in online research
• Research can influence policymaking networks
  unexpectedly
• Researchers can be used for political agendas
• Steven Johnsons counter-argument in Everything
  Bad Is Good For You (2005) about Digital
  Cultures positive impacts

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Social Networks 1

• Crucial to the early success of ADVENT and
  SpaceWar!
• Underpins the growth of RPG and MMRPGs
• Doom pioneered user-created levels and features
  (mods)
• South Koreas Counter-Strike became one of the
  most highly successful games due to player
  communities
• Innovative designers in player communities are
  often hired by game publishers/developers

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Social Networks 2

• The cultural infrastructure for MMOGs (Sony)
• Many MMOGs feature clans of regular players
• The challenge of developing a sustainable culture
  for an MMOG remains uncharted territory
• Virtual economies are an unforeseen effect
• Insights from anthroplogy (Clifford Geertz),
  sociology (Anthony Giddens, Ulrich Beck) and
  complexity (Duncan Watts) may provide solutions
  for MMOGs

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Future Games Hybrid Games

• Influenced by cross-genre experiments and films
• Underpins the success of MMRPGs
• Strategy to create diverse and loyal audience
• Stealth-Action games
• Thief (2004) and Tom Clancys Splinter Cell
  (2003)
• Action Role-Playing games
• Deus Ex Machina (2002)
• Ultima Online (2002) and Everquest (2002)

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Multi-Civilizational Games 1

• Many computer games have a Cold War logic
• Missile Command (1980) evokes Mutually Assured
  Destruction
• Tom Clancys Splinter Cell series uses
  mercenaries and spies
• Full Spectrum Warrior (2004) based on US Army
  simulation
• These games are part of a broader culture
• keeps alive the idea of the Cold War whilst
  avoiding its reality (Mary Kaldor)
• entailed vast covert operations and nuclear
  weapons systems (Robert Kaplan)

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Multi-Civilizational Games 2

• Multi-Civilizational Games posits an alternate
  future
• Recognizes the civilization (Judeo-Christian,
  Muslim, Indian, Sinic) as a post-Cold War unit of
  analysis
• Disagrees with Samuel P. Huntingtons clash of
  civilizations thesis
• A multi-civilizational world (Ziauddin Sardar)
• Is a blueprint for the post-War on Terror
• Goes beyond ethnic and nationalist identities
• Shaped by epistemology, historiography and
  philosophy of life
• Emerges from demographic, geopolitical and
  religious trends

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Multi-Civilizational Games 3

• Multi-Civilizational Games
• Forerunners in Japanese arcade hits and Russias
  Tetris
• Makes explicit its assumptions, norms and values
• Closer to sub-altern narratives in
  post-colonial studies
• Draws on Macrohistory (study of the histories of
  social systems, along separate trajectories, in
  search of patterns)
• Case Study Sid Meiers Civilization III (2002)
• Influenced by William MacLeans Rise of the West
  (1965)
• Can be modded using writings by Jared Diamond,
  Howard Bloom Riane Eisler, Manuel De Landa and
  Robert Wright

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EAs Majestic Experiment (2001)

• Electronic Arts (EA) was an innovator in MMOGs
• Majestic was a Live-Action Roleplay Gaming
  experiment
• Altered players perceptions of what the Internet
  was
• AOL IM chats with game characters the game that
  plays you.
• Fake newscasts / Infiltrated online conspiracy
  subcultures
• EA shutdown Majestic after the September 11
  attacks
• Lessons
• X-Files style plotline split the online
  subcultures and community
• Many players not ready for meta-fictional
  elements
• Has influenced Doom 3 (2004) and Sociolotron
  (2004)

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Further Sources