Redistributed consumer desire in digital virtual worlds of consumption.

The aim of this paper is to discuss and illustrate how the use of software available in digital virtual worlds of consumption, including wish lists, watch lists, and digital virtual goods (DVGs), interact with consumer desiring practices. We draw on a data set of three interpretative studies with technology users living in the South of England. Our study makes a unique contribution to our understanding of consumer desire and digital virtual consumption by bringing to the fore the often-neglected role of non-human agents in the practice of consumer desire. In particular, it shows (1) the assemblage of consumer desire in human–non-human hybrids (composed of consumers and online wish lists, online auction tools, and video-game resources; (2) the redistribution of competence and skills in human–software hybrids; (3) the r-distribution of affect and commitment in human–software hybrids; and (4) the refocusing of desire in human–software hybrids. Based on our findings, we conclude that, over time, the use of software in the construction and actualisation of desire reconfigures consumer desire practices into a goal-orientated task, where the focus is not daydreaming activity or material commodities per se but rather the software itself. Here, the software not only presents things to be desired, but also absorbs some of the skill and competence needed to conjure up desire. Ultimately, these configurations appear to create breaks in the experience of desire that weaken the hold previously binding consumers to objects of desire

Possession work on hosted digital consumption objects as consumer ensnarement

This paper extends prior critical discussions of digital prosumption by demonstrating that prosumer reliant online business models represent new ways to valorise consumer labour through the creation of multiple realities whereby digital consumption objects are simultaneously enacted as assests by companies, and as possessions by consumers. We argue that this ontological multiplicity means that consumers’ ‘possession work’ no longer serves to separate these objects from the market sphere, as in prior work. This produces a new form of consumer lock-in, or actually ensnarement as it is consumers’ own efforts to make objects meaningful that keep them in the market, similar to the psychological attachments seen in ‘brand love’, but also incorporating aspects of proprietary tie-ins, and access-based market systems. We further consider the implications of such a system. For companies we portray such ensnarement as an attractive, emerging mechanism for ongoing valorization of ‘free labour’. Yet we also argue that this presents significant consequences for ensnared consumers who may be subject not only to the ongoing financial exploitation of their possession work, but also restrictions on possession. As a broader contribution we highlight how the examination of multiple, potentially conflicting

Platformised possessions and relational labour

In this article, we focus on relational labour as a form of emotional labour associated with the use of platformised possessions, such as pins, messages, photos, videos and playlists hosted on digital platforms, to maintain relationships with friends and family. We argue that this ongoing effort is a type of consumer labour because it generates profitable engagements for digital platforms, which intentionally exploit negative emotions, namely, anxiety and guilt, associated with maintaining social connections. Drawing on 47 depth interviews with people living in the South of the UK, we identify the direct (communication via platforms) and indirect (information gathered via platforms to attain relational goals) relational work undertaken by consumers via their platformised possessions. We then consider the emotional experiences related to this work, demonstrating how such experiences differ from reports of possession work on material goods, while maintaining platform profits. Recognising that this work is the basis of much platform engagement, and hence profit, we further show how this effort becomes a form of unpaid labour. We thus contribute to the nascent literature on platformisation and emotion, to broader studies of possession work, and to critical marketing scholarship on consumer labour

Digital play and the actualisation of the consumer imagination

In this article, the authors consider emerging consumer practices in digital virtual spaces. Building on constructions of consumer behavior as both a sense-making activity and a resource for the construction of daydreams, as well as anthropological readings of performance, the authors speculate that many performances during digital play are products of consumer fantasy. The authors develop an interpretation of the relationship between the real and the virtual that is better equipped to understand the movement between consumer daydreams and those practices actualized in the material and now also in digital virtual reality. The authors argue that digital virtual performances present opportunities for liminoid transformations through inversions, speculations, and playfulness acted out in aesthetic dramas. To illustrate, the authors consider specific examples of the theatrical productions available to consumers in digital spaces, highlighting the consumer imagination that feeds them, the performances they produce, and the potential for transformation in consumer-players

The relationship between ownership and possession: observations from the context of digital virtual goods

This theoretical article highlights limitations in the current trend towards dichotomizing full ownership and access-based consumption by recognizing a broader, more complex array of ‘fragmented’ ownership configurations in the context of digital virtual goods 10 (DVGs). In challenging this dichotomy, we recognise that the relationship between ownership and possession becomes particularly significant. We therefore consider how prominent DVG ownership configurations may shape the way in which possession is assembled, potentially reducing consumers’ scope of action rela- 15 tive to DVGs and leaving possession susceptible to disruption. Conversely, we acknowledge ways in which consumers’ continued attempts at possession may impinge upon the agency of ownership mechanisms within the market. Our analysis ultimately builds upon existing understandings of both ownership and possession, 20 theorizing their often overlooked relation in consumptio

"I'll sell this and I'll buy them that": eBay and the management of possessions as stock

In this paper we document practices associated with selecting and selling previously owned goods through the online auction house and marketplace, eBay. More specifically, we discuss the processes through which the economic or exchange values of previously owned goods are re-activated and the role eBay plays in facilitating such practices. Drawing from phenomenological interviews with heavy eBay users from various backgrounds living in the South of England, we discuss key emerging themes on the ways in which eBay is used for the disposal of goods. We find that eBay fuels practices of disposal that may encourage the transformation of the humble pre-owned good into valuable stock. Besides those curative practices which have been captured in previous research into the divestment of possessions we find that work of another kind is required to move a used good back to a commodity phase in its career. We see this as turning used goods into stock. This transformation accelerates a good's biography as it enters the realm of the owned possession and then quickly returned to a sphere of exchange. In such process, goods become assets which are reinvested to fuel promiscuous consumer behaviour

An exploratory study of the failure of online organisational communication

In this paper two online activities are discussed that are becoming increasingly interesting to organisations because they suggest a potential change in the balance of power between producers and consumers. The activities are peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing and online groups. An analysis is provided of 848 messages from approximately 150 users of a forum on Audiogalaxy's Web site immediately after the suspension of its P2P service following an RIAA lawsuit. Much of the interaction on the forums is “informational” in nature, and significant in terms of directing users to alternative P2P services. Other exchanges appear more “transformational”, attempting to energise the group into physical protest, although protests appear to be contained online. Also highlighted is the role of “recreational” exchanges in developing “relational” and “informational” exchanges and it is suggested that more research is needed in this area. The implications for file-sharers and for organisations that might deal with online consumers are discussed. It is concluded that the RIAA's actions were largely counter-productive as they were unable to prevent users moving to another P2P service and encouraged discourses which support file sharing. However the risk of “real-life” protests as a result of the online groups’ reaction also seems low