disambiguating playan exploratory analysis of gaming modesSebastian DeterdingMAGIC Lab, Rochester Institute of TechnologyDiGRA 2013, Atlanta, August 27, 2013

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Researchproblem

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Method

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Theory

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Empiricalresults

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Summary

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Method

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Theory

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Empiricalresults

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Summary

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Researchproblem

the trouble with formalist game studies

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Game: an object with formal

features

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what it sees

Gaming: a specific mode of

engagement

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what it takes for granted

jumping cracks on walkways six degrees of wikipedia

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informal games: gaming w/ many objects

debugging

playtesting/reviewing

making a machinima

testing screen resolution

a scientific study

learning (serious games)

sports (e-sports)

work (goldfarming)

instrumental play: gaming Forms ...

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Taylor 2006, Sicart 2011

… that lack typical »game« features

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The challenge of instrumental play

• Instrumental play has features (folk-theoretically) associated with work, not play nor games Taylor 2006; Yee 2006; Malaby 2007; Nardi 2009

• Often involuntary, inautonomous, exotelic

• Often serious, predefined, non-negotiable consequence

• Often negative emotions

• Often repetitive, pre-organised, effortful

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Jesper Juul

»According to Roger Caillois, the professional player or athlete is working rather than playing. This quickly becomes counterintuitive since a contest such as a marathon may include professional athletes as well as amateurs who are running “for the fun of it.” This logically means that the marathon is or is not a game at the same time. A better explanation is that even professional players are playing a game, but that in this specific game session, the consequences have been negotiated to be financial and career-determining.«

half-real (2005: 62)

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how to disentangle situational forms of

engaging with games?

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What is this? What forms does it

take?

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What sense do they make of their

experience?

frame analysis

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A frame analytic account of the conventions, understandings, experiences of »video gaming« in leisurely and instrumental contexts

research goal

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Researchproblem

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Method

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Theory

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A frame is »the definition of a situation«: »principles of organization which govern events ... and our subjective involvement in them.«

Erving Goffmanframe analysis (1986: 8, 10-11)

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Basic tenets of frame analysis

• Frames are people’s socially co-oriented and reproduced »organising principles« for types of situations

• They organise both covert experience and overt behaviour

• Frames do so materially (how situation X is), and epistemically (how people perceive, conceive, identify, expect X), and normatively (how people demand/sanction X ought to be)

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gaming frameTotal mesh of actors, objects, processes reproducing-changing the reoccurrence of similar types of situations over space & time

framing as »gaming«Process of constituting a situation

as being »gaming« game objects/settingsStabilise affordances relative to

dispositions

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the gaming frame

frame understandingCurrent understanding of

situation as »gaming«

gaming dispositionsEnable understanding, perception,

enactment relative to objects

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Researchproblem

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Empiricalresults

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Summary

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Method

Method

• Purposive sampling of interviewees gaming leisurely & instrumentally: journalism, design, research, e-sport (n=19)

• Semi-structured interviews, 90-120 min. each

• Interviewees invited to report »typical« flow of events, then report norm (breaches) following conceptual framework, then compare contexts

• Transcription of all interviews

• Coding and analysis w/ MAXQDA following directed qualitative content analysis Hsieh & Shannon 2005, Gläser & Laudel 2011

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Researchproblem

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Method

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Summary

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Empiricalresults

»gaming« is a multitude

24Photo: Robert Hedge

»I would call it a game – but I did not play it.«

Object

Framing

Instrumental gaming

instrumental keyingsleisurely modes

Exotelic instrumental goalProfessional norms

Highly consequentialMostly controlled

Autotelic enjoymentSportsmanship normsSlightly consequentialMostly autonomous

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Review gamingAnalytic gamingE-sport training

E-sport tournament

Relaxing gamingSocialising gamingEngrossing gamingHardcore gaming

Competitive gaming

instrumental gaming

leisurelygaming

not a completely new insight ...

modes of leisurely gamingrelaxing socialising engrossing hardcore competitive

Motivational relevancy

Relaxation Relatedness Engrossment Competence Achievement

Telicity Very low Low Medium High Very high

Absorption Very low Low Very high High Very high

Arousal Very low Medium-high Medium High Very high

Gameworthiness Very low Low Medium High Very high

Harmony Very low/absent Very high Low/absent Very low/absent Very low

Typical contexture

Mostly singleplayer F2F Multiplayer Mostly singleplayer Mostly singleplayer Multiplayer

Typical genres Social & casual games

Party & board games

RPG, adventure, TBS, simulation

Shooter, RTS, action, MMORPG

Combat, sports, shooters, RTS

Typical devices Mobile, tablet, PC Console, PC PC, console Console, PC PC, console

Typical settings Transit, recreation spots, home

Private or shared room at home

Private room at home

Private room at home

Private room at home

28Cf. Strong 1979

instrumental gaming

• Again, multiple forms of instrumental gaming: reviewing, analysing, training, tournament

• Participants reported instrumental gaming to be »not playing«, used emic terms to distinguish them

• Experience of instrumental gaming is very different

• But: Behaviour and material configurations are highly similar to leisurely gaming

‣ Instrumental play is a keying: a re-framing

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Keyings are »conventions by which a given activity, ... meaningful in terms of some primary framework, is transformed into something patterned on this activity but seen by the participants to be something quite else.«

Erving Goffmanframe analysis (1986: 43-44)

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e.g. A rehearsal

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Johan Huizinga

»First and foremost, all play is a voluntary activity.«

homo ludens (1938/1950: 7)

Cf. Caillois 2001, Suits 2005, Pellegrini 2009, Burghardt 2005

controlled motivation

• Instrumental gaming gives rise to experience of controlled motivation Deci & Ryan 2012

• Occurs when current needs mismatch situational givens and salient controlling motivations keep individual from changing or leaving

• Leisurely gaming typically allows freedom to change or leave the situation: Taken-for-granted absence of controlling motivation is part of game enjoyment

• Events framed as »play« feel »work-like« if experienced as controlled motivated, events framed as work feel »like play« if autonomously motivated

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Researchproblem

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Method

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Theory

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Empiricalresults

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Summary

summary• Frame analysis distinguishing »games« as objects from

»gaming« as situational framing accounts for• Informal games: Situational actor-object relation affords gaming, but actors

constitute it with objects

• Instrumental play: A keying of gaming as instrumental task

• The is no one video gaming frame, but leisurely modes of gaming around types of enjoyment and instrumental keyings around types of instrumental goals

• Leisurely gaming is enjoyable partially because it provides the autonomy to reconfigure or leave the situation

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sebastian@codingconduct.cc

@dingstweets

codingconduct.cc

Thank you.