DEFINING GAMES STUDIES: HOW THE FIELD IS CONSTRUCTED IN

INTRODUCTORY TEXTS

Dr. Marcus Leaning University of Winchester

Paper presented at:

Media Education Summit,

Ravensbourne

6th September 2011

Introduction What gets studied in British HE is

constantly changing. New subjects emerge and old ones decline

and the focus within field shifts. Intent here is to look at how one new area,

the study of video games is ‘constructed ‘ through textbooks aimed at UG students.

Initial presented here are results of stage 1 of a project describing how games are constructed as an academic field.

Games in British Higher Education Currently 226 Foundation or

UG degree programmes from 79 institutions on offer for entry in 2012 in the UK that UCAS identifies as Games (UCAS, 2011).

Majority are courses for students aspiring to work in industry and 9 of these are recognized by Skillset.

Provide training in game design, programming, art work, project management etc.

Where?

2% 3% 6%

6%

75%

8%

Russell Group Universities

Red Brick Universities

Plate Glass Universities

Specialist Colleges / University Colleges

Post 1992 Universities

Further Education Colleges offering franchise courses

Mix of FE colleges running franchises, specialist colleges, post -92s, some Redbricks, a few Plateglass and (ahem) two Russell Group members.

Percentages of Computer Games courses offered by type of institution

Not only but also…

As well as the practical / production side games are studied from the humanities and social sciences.

Currently identified 42 course that do this (but there must be more…).

It is these courses I’m interested in.

Studying Video Games - Background Quite a lot of debate about how to study

games and what should be the focus.Lots of ‘effects’ studies and attendant resistance

from ‘cultural studies’.Big debate about narrative vs ludic approaches.

Several attempts to define a remit for the study of games (Corliss, 2011; Eskelinen, 2004; Gee, 2006; Malaby, 2007) or a manifesto for a particular form of study of games (Pinchbeck, 2010).

Consequence

This is a field very much dominated by a top-down approach.

Instead this project is to offer a ‘bottom-up’ description of the academic field.

Not a ‘normative’ prescriptive account but a descriptive one; what is actually taught.

Stage one…

Interested in how games studies has been articulated in textbooks for undergraduate students in the humanities and social scientific disciplines.

A search was done for texts.

Search(“computer” OR “video”) + (“game” OR “gamer” OR “games” OR “gaming”) + (“studies” OR “study”)

After removal of duplicates 573 texts

Criteria to exclude:1. Type: must be a book, not a journal2. Subject audience: game analysis not design.3. Intent: introductory text books – not research.4. Academic level: undergraduate audience or just below. 5. Writing style: not be journalistic or populist in nature

Database searched No. of returns on filter

Google books 591

Books in print 328

British library 125

Amazon.com 281

Ended up with…

8 booksDovey and Kennedy (2006), Egenfeldt, Smith and Tosca (2008) Hjorth (2011)Mayra, (2008) Newman (2004)Newman and Oram (2006). Rutter and Bryce (2006)

Scrutiny

Identified key topics from each book. Developed a composite coding sheet of

topics with definitions. All books were then examined against

this coding sheet.

Category/ Book Carr, Buckingham Burn and Schott (2006)

Dovey and Kennedy (2006)

Egenfeldt, Smith and Tosca (2008)

Hjorth (2011)

Mayra, (2008)

Newman (2004)

Newman and Oram (2006).

Rutter and Bryce (2006)

Agency *

Avatars and representation

* * * * * *

Cultural factors * * * *

Definition of games * * * * *

Economics, business and industry of games,

* * * * * *

Game aesthetics and game space

* * * *

Future games * * *

Game genre * * *

Gamer culture * * * * * *

Games, other media and adaptation

* *

Games as new media * * * * *

Gender * * * * *

History * * * * *

Interactivity and interface

* * * *

Ludic qualities * * * * * * *Multiplayer and community

* * * *

Narrative theory and story

* * * * * * *

Players * * * * *Rationale for and description of games studies

* * * * * * *

Researching and analysing games

* *

Social and educational aspects

* * * *

Negative aspects * *

1

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Agency

Negative aspects

Researching and analysing games

Games, other media and adaptation

Game genre

Future games

Social and educational aspects

Multiplayer and community

Interactivity and interface

Gender

Game aesthetics and game space

Cultural factors

Players

History

Games as new media

Definition of games

Gamer culture

Economics, business and industry of games,

Avatars and representation

Rationale for and description of games studies

Narrative theory and story

Ludic qualities

Analysis

3 things leap out:There are core topics that nearly all texts

cover but there is also a ‘long tail’ of several topics that are only covered by a few books.

Narrative and ludology are in 7/8 texts – perhaps an echo of the strength of the debate.

Gender is only in 4/8 - odd given the humanities and social scientific background.

Conclusion

Stage 2 will be to identify all programmes that examine games and contact them and ask questions.

What to do with this information? It is just descriptive, it articulates a description of the field but does it reinforce a particular perspective?

ReferencesCarr, D. (2006). Computer games: text, narrative and play. Cambridge: Polity.

Corliss, J. (2011). Introduction: The Social Science Study of Video Games. Games and Culture, 6(1), 3-16.

Dovey, J., & Kennedy, H. W. (2006). Game cultures: computer games as new media. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.

Egenfeldt-Nielsen, S., Smith, J. H., & Tosca, S. P. (2008). Understanding video games: the essential introduction. London: Routledge.

Eskelinen, M. (2004). Towards computer game studies. In P. Harrigan (Ed.), First person: New media as story, performance, and game Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Frasca, G. (2003). Ludologists Love Stories, Too: Notes from a Debate that Never Took Place. Paper presented at the Level Up, Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) Conference Proceedings.

Gee, J. P. (2006). Why Game Studies Now? Video Games: A New Art Form. Games and Culture, 1(1), 58-61.

Hjorth, L. (2011). Games and Gaming: An Introduction to New Media. Oxford: Berg Publishers.

Malaby, T. M. (2007). Beyond Play. Games and Culture, 2(2), 95-113.

Mäyrä, F. (2008). An introduction to games studies: games in culture. London: SAGE.

Newman, J. (2004). Videogames. London and New York: Routledge.

Newman, J., & Oram, B. (2006). Teaching videogames. London: BFI.

Pinchbeck, D. (2010). Adventures in the Chinese room: doing practice-based research in games. Paper presented at the Under The Mask: Perspectives on the Gamer. Retrieved 31 May 2011, from http://www.thechineseroom.co.uk/pinchbeckbuild.pdf

Rutter, J., & Bryce, J. (2006). Understanding digital games. London: SAGE Publications.

UCAS. (2011). UCAS course search - search results. Retrieved 31 May, 2011, from http://search.ucas.com/cgi-bin/hsrun/search/search/StateId/QJQNColqK6rS95X0u5upTBe6TGRzI-VYz8/HAHTpage/search.HsKeywordSuggestion.whereNext?query=277&word=GAME&single=N