39 research outputs found

    YouTube and YouTube gamers: Converting gameplay into social recognition, on an ever-changing platform

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    Besides standardising the daily use of ICTs, computer games have developed and transformed the current global economy. Furthermore, the gaming industry has instilled new working practices, which have completely transformed the processes of consumption and production, yet blurred the lines between work and play. YouTube embodies this new economy. On the one hand, it is a site where users actively participate and collaborate, creating relevant and sharable content. On the other hand, it is a mainstream media company that handles ongoing tensions between professional and amateur users, who wish to attain recognition, as the level of competition increases. Since YouTube’s business model is based on the circulation of user-generated content, the remaining question is whether the user’s approach changes, as the platform evolves and institutionalises. An online inquiry was applied to a sample of 10 YouTube Gamers from four different nationalities (Portuguese, American, Brazilian and Austrian) aged between 25 and 42, with the intention to analyse a YouTube Gamer’s identity, the creative and technical process of creating content, the YouTube Gaming Community, and finally, the perception each respondent had over the platform. The results of this study show that as the level of recognition increases, so does a YouTube Gamer’s need to perform better online, not just in terms of content, but also on how they present themselves. In addition, a YouTube Gamer’s perception of Youtube as a disseminator of viral content, negatively effects their user experience, which might lead them into searching for new online platforms.Para além de terem normalizado o uso das TIC, os jogos de computador tiveram um grande impacto na economia global atual, nomeadamente na introdução de novas práticas laborais e na alteração dos processos de produção e consumo, o que dificultou a distinção entre trabalho e lazer. O YouTube expressa esta nova economia. Por um lado, permite aos seus utilizadores participaram e colaborarem na criação de conteúdo relevante. Por outro lado, é uma corporação que lida com tensões entre profissionais e amadores, que tentam atingir reconhecimento, à medida que o nível de competição aumenta. Dado que o modelo de negócio do YouTube é baseado na circulação de conteúdo gerado pelo utilizador, questionou-se a abordagem dos utilizares face à institucionalização da plataforma. Um inquérito online foi realizado a uma amostra de 10 YouTube Gamers de quatro diferentes nacionalidades (portuguesa, americana, brasileira e austríaca) com as idades compreendidas entre os 25 e os 42 anos, com o objetivo de analisar a identidade de um YouTube Gamer, o processo técnico e criativo na criação de conteúdo, a comunidade gaming, e a percepção que cada inquirido têm acerca da plataforma. Os resultados demonstram que à medida que o nível de reconhecimento de um YouTube Gamer aumenta, também aumenta a sua necessidade de ter um melhor desempenho, não só em termos de conteúdo, como também na sua forma de apresentação. Ademais, a percepção de que o YouTube dissemina conteúdo viral, afecta negativamente a experiência do YouTube Gamer, o que o fará procurar por outras plataformas

    Enhancing fan experience during live sports broadcasts through second screen applications

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    When sports fans attend live sports events, they usually engage in social experiences with friends, family members and other fans at the venue sharing the same affiliation. However, fans watching the same event through a live television broadcast end up not feeling so emotionally connected with the athletes and other fans as they would if they were watching it live, together with thousands of other fans. With this in mind, we seek to create mobile applications that deliver engaging social experiences involving remote fans watching live broadcasted sports events. Taking into account the growing use of mobile devices when watching TV broadcasts, these mobile applications explore the second screen concept, which allows users to interact with content that complements the TV broadcast. Within this context, we present a set of second screen application prototypes developed to test our concepts, the corresponding user studies and results, as well as suggestions on how to apply the prototypes’ concepts not only in different sports, but also during TV shows and electronic sports. Finally, we also present the challenges we faced and the guidelines we followed during the development and evaluation phases, which may give a considerable contribution to the development of future second screen applications for live broadcasted events

    Corporate Governance Gaming: The Collective Power of Retail Investors

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    The GameStop saga and meme stock frenzy have shown the pathway to the most disruptive revolution in corporate governance of the millennium. New generations of retail investors use technologies, online forums, and gaming dynamics to coordinate their actions and obtain unprecedented results. Signals indicate that these investors, whom we can dub wireless investors, are currently expanding their actions to corporate governance. Wireless investors\u27 generational characteristics suggest that they will use corporate governance to pursue social and environmental causes. In fact, wireless investors can set in motion asocial movement able to bring business corporations to serve their original partly-private-partly-public purpose. This Article discusses premises, architecture, and characteristics of the movement that would cause business corporations to remarry their partly-private -partly-public purpose. If such a movement proves successful, the paradigm shift that finally makes corporations serve the welfare of a broader range of stakeholders would happen at the hands of shareholders

    Corporate Governance Gaming: The Collective Power of Retail Investors

    Get PDF
    The GameStop saga and meme stock frenzy have shown the pathway to the most disruptive revolution in corporate governance of the millennium. New generations of retail investors use technologies, online forums, and gaming dynamics to coordinate their actions and obtain unprecedented results. Signals indicate that these investors, whom we can dub wireless investors, are currently expanding their actions to corporate governance. Wireless investors\u27 generational characteristics suggest that they will use corporate governance to pursue social and environmental causes. In fact, wireless investors can set in motion asocial movement able to bring business corporations to serve their original partly-private-partly-public purpose. This Article discusses premises, architecture, and characteristics of the movement that would cause business corporations to remarry their partly-private -partly-public purpose. If such a movement proves successful, the paradigm shift that finally makes corporations serve the welfare of a broader range of stakeholders would happen at the hands of shareholders

    Mental Health - Atmospheres - Video Games: New Directions in Game Research II

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    Gaming has never been disconnected from reality. When we engage with ever more lavish virtual worlds, something happens to us. The game imposes itself on us and influences how we feel about it, the world, and ourselves. How do games accomplish this and to what end? The contributors explore the video game as an atmospheric medium of hitherto unimagined potential. Is the medium too powerful, too influential? A danger to our mental health or an ally through even the darkest of times? This volume compiles papers from the Young Academics Workshop at the Clash of Realities conferences of 2019 and 2020 to provide answers to these questions

    Mental Health | Atmospheres | Video Games

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    Gaming has never been disconnected from reality. When we engage with ever more lavish virtual worlds, something happens to us. The game imposes itself on us and influences how we feel about it, the world, and ourselves. How do games accomplish this and to what end? The contributors explore the video game as an atmospheric medium of hitherto unimagined potential. Is the medium too powerful, too influential? A danger to our mental health or an ally through even the darkest of times? This volume compiles papers from the Young Academics Workshop at the Clash of Realities conferences of 2019 and 2020 to provide answers to these questions

    Mental Health | Atmospheres | Video Games

    Get PDF
    Gaming has never been disconnected from reality. When we engage with ever more lavish virtual worlds, something happens to us. The game imposes itself on us and influences how we feel about it, the world, and ourselves. How do games accomplish this and to what end? The contributors explore the video game as an atmospheric medium of hitherto unimagined potential. Is the medium too powerful, too influential? A danger to our mental health or an ally through even the darkest of times? This volume compiles papers from the Young Academics Workshop at the Clash of Realities conferences of 2019 and 2020 to provide answers to these questions

    Examining cosmetic virtual item purchase in World of Warcraft: A theory of consumption values perspective

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    The online gaming market has grown drastically in the recent years. However, instead of the actual game sales, most of the profits now come from selling virtual items in-game for real money. To support this, many games are moving away from a subscription-based model and into a free-to-play model. World of Warcraft is one of the few major MMOs still utilizing a subscription-based model, and thus provides an interesting context in which cosmetic virtual items are bought for real money. This study took the theory of consumption values literature as a main theoretical framework from which to approach this concept. Also, theory on virtual item purchase, and cosmetic items specifically, was used to build a framework for this study. The theoretical framework was based on a modification of the original theory of consumption values and combining it with previously unused parts from the original model. Therefore, this paper has a basis in previous research on the field, while also contributing to the research of (cosmetic) online game item purchase intention by introducing a new framework with which to inspect this phenomenon. As of late-2018, this study is the first to inspect cosmetic game item purchase intention in a pay-to-play online game. An online questionnaire was used to gather responses from World of Warcraft players from official and unofficial forums, closed Facebook groups and specific sub-Reddits. The final sample size for the study was 202. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was run on the results to confirm framework validity, and structural equation modeling was used to form a new framework (p < ,000) with which to examine cosmetic online game purchasing behaviour. The primary findings of this paper indicate that an increase in visual authority (i.e. status) will increase the enjoyment players derive from using cosmetic game items, which in turn leads to an increased intention to purchase said items. Furthermore, a higher perceived value for money leads to an increased intention to purchase said items. Other factors, such as perceived network size, were found to not influence intention to purchase. In other words, cosmetic virtual item purchasing intention is influenced by social, emotional and monetary values. This paper has contributed to present scientific knowledge on both the theory of consumption values and cosmetic game item purchase by examining them in the context of World of Warcraft, and subsequently developing a new structural framework through which said purchasing can be examined more accurately. The findings are also in line with previous research done in World of Warcraft in similar contexts. Managerial implications are also discussed, and new ways of offering cosmetic virtual items are examined, such as offering them as limited-time accessories for World of Warcraft’s e-sports tournaments Additionally, limitations of this study and avenues for further research are discussed

    Saudi-Arab Emerging Video Game Cultures, Archetypes, Narratives, and User Experiences

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    Arab representation in media has been a major focus of many works of renowned scholars, such as Edward Said (1978), Shaheen (2000), Karim (2005) and others. Journalism, film, television, and ancient literature have all been studied in these works. A recent addition to the study of Arab representation is the medium of video games. This was first examined by Reichmuth and Werning (2006) and Machin and Suleiman (2006) and extended by many works that are discussed in this thesis. The vast majority of the literature on Arab representation in video games focuses on Western video games and the reaction of Arab developers to these representations. Lack of specificity is another characteristic of this field. Both characteristics manifest in repeated comparative studies, where scholars select one local culture as an archetype, then embark on a comparative study of the global gaming community. In so doing, there is an unfair generalisation of Arab identity across broad and diverse regions, in terms of ethnic, ideological, national, historical, and even linguistic components. The present investigation critiques the shortcomings of this previous literature, while testing some alternative methods and approaches needed to re-examine the lack of access, language barriers and the aforementioned generalisations that have limited this field until now. Rather than assuming a single archetype for Saudi culture, this thesis departs from previous scholarship by examining the various aspects of the transformation process leading to what could be called an emergent “Saudiness”. Specifically, this study examines the construction and depiction of Saudi-Arab identity through the narratives and audiovisual content of video games, paying close attention to recent developments in Saudi cultural and media policy and the mandates set forth by the Vision 2030 development plan (SCEDA, 2016). Using theories on participatory culture (Jenkins, 2009) and spreadable media (Jenkins, Ford, and Green, 2013) as well as a content analysis of previously understudied material shared by a cohort of Saudi gamers, this research investigates the particular markers and strategies used to distinguish the spectrum of cultural aspects and elements with which Saudi gamers identify. To achieve this, the analysis focuses on three distinct archetypes of Saudi Arabs in video games: (a) the Saudis in Western video games, as suggested by previous works; (b) the Saudi citizen archetype, as recommended by state policy; and (c) the Saudi culture, as represented by Saudi gamers and Saudi game producers -- who in many cases reject the idea of a single archetype. In sum, this research sheds new light on the interactions between centralised and decentralised media in Saudi Arabia, as well as the Saudi gamers\u27 sense of agency, demonstrating how Saudis perceive Saudi representations in video games as part of a complex spectrum of interactions within a larger global gaming community

    Defining the indie game as process: aesthetic, production and community

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    The video game industry is now considered one of the largest entertainment industries in the world. This growth coincided with larger teams, budgets, and expectations to provide the latest technological advanced video games. However, in the mid to late 2000s there was a different type of game emerging – the indie game. Despite there being preconceptions about the qualifying factors of their classification - such as publishing independence - it has since become clear that indie games are not simply an abbreviation of independent. They represent and reflect different ways of working, ideas, values, and beliefs. In turn, there have been attempts to define “indie”, with some claiming that the term cannot be defined and therefore no longer makes sense. This research seeks to provide an intervention. Asserting that the term “indie” can be – and has been – understood in a variety of ways by a wide range of audiences over a period of several decades. This research draws on textual analysis, original practice-based research involving the production of an indie game, original interviews, and original audience research (drawing on a survey of 966 respondents) to arrive at a definition: Indie as process. Within this notion of indie as process, it is possible to identify three predominant themes. Indie as Aesthetic Process, Indie as Production Process, and Indie as Community Process. These processes, when considered in isolation or together, begin to inform our shared understanding of the indie game, allowing us to move beyond rigid ideas of what makes an indie game “indie”
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