the expectable rise, pyrrhic victory, and designerly future of game studies as an interdiscipline
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the expectable rise, ...pyrrhic victory, and designerly future of game studies as an interdisciplineSebastian DeterdingRochester Institute of TechnologyCritical Evaluation of Game Studies Seminar, Tampere, April 28, 2014
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“Game studies are an interdisciplinary field …”
Aarseth 2001, Krzywinska, Mäyrä & Crogan 2005, Mäyrä 2008, Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Heide Smith & Tosca 2012, Waern & Zagal 2013
Game studies as interdiscipline
• ID seen as logical consequence of the newness of GS
• ID seen as necessity, given overcomplexity of games
• ID seen as primary strength of GS (relative to …?)
• ID seen as major challenge of GS: What’s “core”, how to organize & integrate?
Aarseth 2001, Krzywinska, Mäyrä & Crogan 2005, Mäyrä 2008, Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Heide Smith & Tosca 2012, Waern & Zagal 2013
1 What is ID?2 how ID-y are game studies?3 what are the challenges?4 so what do we do?
<insert data here>
<1>what is
interdisciplinarity?
multidisciplinarityJuxtaposition of disciplines
transdisciplinarityTranscendence of disciplines
interdisciplinarityInteraction & integration of disciplines
partial full
auxiliary supplementary structural
auxiliary supplementary structural
contextualising integrated generalising
theo
rym
eth
od
dat
a
degree of integration
narrow broadscope of disciplines
few disciplines,epistemologically
homogenous
many disciplines,epistemologically
heterogeneous
increasing dissolution of disciplinary boundaries
Adapted from Klein 2010
<2>How interdisciplinary
are game studies?
drivers of interdisciplinary fields
• New epistemic questions give rise to topical IDs: interactive fiction, ...
• New technology creates new societal issues: video game violence, game-based learning
• Social groups legitimise and push their interests through forming life experience IDs: aca/fans
• New vocations create economic demand for professional preparation IDs: game design
Jacobs & Frickel 2009
trajectories of iD fields
• Initial groundswell of young scholars driven by new ground, little competition, freedom from structure, big student & public interest
• As field matures, resistance of traditional disciplines, struggle for institutionalization
• Internal differentiation into sub-communities
• Traditional disciplines develop critical mass of scholars & bodies of work that pull scholars back
Raasch et al. 2013, Pfirman & Martin 2010, Jacobs & Frickel 2009, Holbrook 2010, van Rijnsoever & Kessels 2011
full, broad interdisciplinarity
• Educational: Experiential, collaborative, problem-based learning; support & practicing of perspective-taking, contextualization, critical thinking, synthesis, application across disciplines & theory/practice: ?
• Empirical: Routine & necessary integration of divergent data forms to answer research questions: ?
• Methodological: Unique new methods from mixing old ones: gameplay reviews (Williams), TRUE (Kim)?
• Theoretical: Germane new concepts & theories driven by & valuable for divergent disciplines and social domains; organise new research across epistemically divergent methods, disciplines: procedural rhetorics (Bogost)?
Klein 2010, Huutoniemi et al. 2010, DeZure 2010
multidisciplinarityJuxtaposition of disciplines
transdisciplinarityTranscendence of disciplines
interdisciplinarityInteraction & integration of disciplines
partial full
auxiliary supplementary structural
auxiliary supplementary structural
contextualising integrated generalising
theo
rym
eth
od
dat
a
degree of integration
narrow broadscope of disciplines
few disciplines,epistemicallyhomogenous
many disciplines,epistemically
heterogeneous
increasing dissolution of disciplinary boundaries
Adapted from Klein 2010
game studies
Hermeneutic, formal, qualitative media
studies
gamestudies
Hermeneutic, formal, qualitative media
studies
the phyrric victory of game studies
rele
van
ce o
f g
ames
recog
nitio
n o
f gam
e research
volume of game research(ers), resources
hciPlayability, game UX,
game UR
communicationPresence, MMT, SDT,
Involvement
economicsVirtual economies,
marketing, nudging, IP
psychologyAggression, addiction,
motivation
...
cf. Jacobs & Frickel 2009, van Rijnsoever & Kessels 2011
game studies
Hermeneutic, formal, qualitative media
studies
Boutet, Coavoux & Zabban 2014 (Category “Interdisciplinary” removed from data set)
3%5%5%
6%
7%
10%
11%12%
16%
4%
22%
CommunicationComputer ScienceSocial SciencesMedia StudiesEducationArtGame StudiesLiteratureHumanitiesCultural StudiesDesign
authors in Game studies journals
ludic
paidic
liminalliminoid
cultural formAesthetics, media studies
perfect feedbackNeoclassical economics
nudgesBehavioural economics
exploitationCritical theory
status displayMarketing, social psych.
communal performancePerf. studies, anthrop.
immersive performancePerf. studies, art
reinforcementBehavioural psychology
hedonic wellbeingPositive psychology
eudaimonic wellbeingDesign, philosophy
pleasureUX design, advertising
playfulnessDesign, philosophy
expressive systemsComputer science, rhetorics
microworldsEducation
Deterding, in print
differentiation of rhetorics
“Player studies”
“Formal”game studies
“Second waveColonizers”
“Indigeneous”
<3>what are the challenges?
hurdles for interdisciplinary fields
• Less recognition, doubts over lacking quality/rigour
• Less resources (journals, jobs, funding bodies, teaching materials, political representation)
• Friction of epistemic cultures (e.g. in peer review)
• No overarching theories, epistemic objects
• Unclear/traditional hiring & promotion criteria
• Disciplinarily organized job markets
Raasch et al. 2013, Pfirman & Martin 2010, Jacobs & Frickel 2009, Holbrook 2010, van Rijnsoever & Kessels 2011
<4>so what do we do?
Answer
#1
Boradkar 2010
Answer
#2
game *design* studies
• Design is inherently cross-disciplinary problem-solving, with integrative pedagogies (studio, project) and methods (design-based research, research-design, critical making, carpentry, ...)
• Applied focus gives relevance across social domains, design research gives critical corrective
• Institutionalised through interlocking educational programs, PhD/MFA degrees, and hiring/promotion criteria that create a self-sustaining job market
Jacobs & Frickel 2009, Boradkar 2010
Enable & bridgeepistemological
pluralism
Answer
#3
discourses .
stake-holderframes
media producer
frames
media textframes
audienceframes
with middle range theories/objects… that cut across epistemically divergent sites, theories, operationalizations: like news framing
media studies,comm. research
Close readings,formalization,
content analysis
media studies,comm. researchCorpus analysis,
discourse analysis
media psych.Experiments,
questionnaires
journalism r.Interviews,
studies of work
public relationsInterviews,
document analysis
cf. Merton 2004, Entman 1993, De Vreese 2005
discourses .
stake-holders
game creation games audiences
imagine a procedural rhetorics ...… that cuts across epistemically divergent sites, theories, operationalizations
cs, digital humanitiesClose readings,formalization,
content analysis
media studies,comm. researchCorpus analysis,cultural analytics
media psych.,qual. sociology
Experiments,questionnaires,
interviews,observation
cs, anthropology,digital humanities
Interviews,studies of work, ANT,
code analysis
sociology,media studies
Interviews,document analysis
sebastian@codingconduct.cc
@dingstweets
codingconduct.cc
Thank you.
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