Games as Consumers as Producers

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Games as Consumers as Producers

• Jason Rutter, CRIC
• DigiPlay Experience and Consequence of
  Technologies of Leisure
• 14-15th January 2004

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Overview

• Consumption
• Production/Consumption of Communities
• Production/Consumption of Cultures
• Production/Consumption of Commodities
• Possible ways forward?

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Consumption 1

• Often conflated with demand in economics
• Retail, marketing, etc. mediate between
  production and consumption
• Seen as a single event

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Consumption 2

• Consumption as practice
• Consumption as a knowledge activity
• Consumption as social activity
• Consumption as Capitalism
• Commodification of leisure

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Historical Context

• Separation of production and consumption
• Shift from agrarian societies to paid labour and
  mass production
• Professionalization
• Fragmentation
• Specialisation
• Sub-contracting, etc
• Advent of consumer culture and creation of
  shopping.

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Production/Consumption of Communities

• Internet based communities
• Web for a
• Newsgroups
• ICQ
• Official communities rising or falling?
• Physical communities
• Informal networks
• LAN parties
• Playgrounds

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Production/Consumption of Communities

• Exchange of goods
• Exchange of services
• Mutual support
• Development of knowledge

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Production/Consumption of Cultures

• The production studios produce a commodity, a
  programme, and sell it to the distributors, the
  broadcasting or cable networks, for a profit.
  This is a simple financial exchange common to all
  commodities. But this is not the end of the
  matter, for a television programme, or cultural
  commodity, is not the same sort of commodity as a
  material one such as a microwave or even or a
  pair of jeans. The economic function of a
  television programme is not complete once it has
  been sold, for in its moment of consumption it
  changes to become a producer, and what it
  produces is an audience, which is then sold to
  advertisers.
• Fiske, 1989

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Production/Consumption of Cultures

• Games exist with cultures
• Analysis tends towards the utopian (Racist mods?
  Americas Army?)
• Does not address non-virtual culture of community
  members
• Creates customs of practice, standards, knowledge
• Production of consumer culture - Nutt Railton,
  2003

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Commodification of leisure

• Consumption as leisure
• Technology as leisure
• Creation of leisure markets and niche markets
  within
• Establishing of norms, measures of excellence and
  proper process

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Production/Consumption of Commodities

• Jenkins, Longhurst Abercrombie
• Game mods
• Doom, Quake, Medal of Honour, etc.
• Character skins
• New physics
• DarkFishs Halo mod

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DarkFish Halo Mod

• Damage lowered
• Less gravity on civvie hog
• Powered up explosions
• www.halo-mods.com

www.halo-mods.com/index.php?showtopic1893hldark
fish
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Professional Modders
Time to completion 2-4 years 6 month-2 years
Total Expenses Not including distribution 2-5 million 0-10,000 if equipment is included
Labour cost-salaries 1-2 million None
Postigo, 2003
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Possible ways forward?

• Need to theorise description
• Move out from the spectacular
• Challenge emphasis on the utopian
• Explore significance
• Demonstrate links between consumer practice and
  industry production
• Explore packaging and intermediation of knowledge