A Playful Multitude? Mobilising and Counter-Mobilising Immaterial Game Labour
Using the conceptual grid of "immaterial labour" in the age of Empire, this article is a preliminary portrait of work in the video and computer game development industry, a sector of creative, cognitive labour that exemplifies the allure but also the peril of new media work. Drawing on int...
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2005-01-01
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doaj-a72d91f6519b4c7cad1a53e8b70aa0542020-11-24T23:25:26ZengOpen Humanities PressFibreculture Journal1449-14432005-01-015A Playful Multitude? Mobilising and Counter-Mobilising Immaterial Game LabourNick Dyer-WithefordGreig de PeuterUsing the conceptual grid of "immaterial labour" in the age of Empire, this article is a preliminary portrait of work in the video and computer game development industry, a sector of creative, cognitive labour that exemplifies the allure but also the peril of new media work. Drawing on interviews we conducted with game developers in Canada , we examine the conditions of labour in game studios, this cultural industry's "work as play" ethos, the pleasures and potentialities of game production, the blemishes that mar this attractive vista, and the new infractions these tensions provoke. Confirming that Empire sets in motion potentialities it cannot fully control, we also observe an emergent counter-mobilisation of game labour, whose manifestations range from digital piracy to dissident games produced in the context of activism. These experiments of a playful multitude flow into the wider currents of tactical media, hacktivism, open-source software, and distributed computing that are generating tumults throughout the circuits of Empire.http://five.fibreculturejournal.org/fcj-024-a-playful-multitude-mobilising-and-counter-mobilising-immaterial-game-labour/precarious labourimmaterial labourcomputers games |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Nick Dyer-Witheford Greig de Peuter |
spellingShingle |
Nick Dyer-Witheford Greig de Peuter A Playful Multitude? Mobilising and Counter-Mobilising Immaterial Game Labour Fibreculture Journal precarious labour immaterial labour computers games |
author_facet |
Nick Dyer-Witheford Greig de Peuter |
author_sort |
Nick Dyer-Witheford |
title |
A Playful Multitude? Mobilising and Counter-Mobilising Immaterial Game Labour |
title_short |
A Playful Multitude? Mobilising and Counter-Mobilising Immaterial Game Labour |
title_full |
A Playful Multitude? Mobilising and Counter-Mobilising Immaterial Game Labour |
title_fullStr |
A Playful Multitude? Mobilising and Counter-Mobilising Immaterial Game Labour |
title_full_unstemmed |
A Playful Multitude? Mobilising and Counter-Mobilising Immaterial Game Labour |
title_sort |
playful multitude? mobilising and counter-mobilising immaterial game labour |
publisher |
Open Humanities Press |
series |
Fibreculture Journal |
issn |
1449-1443 |
publishDate |
2005-01-01 |
description |
Using the conceptual grid of "immaterial labour" in the age of Empire, this article is a preliminary portrait of work in the video and computer game development industry, a sector of creative, cognitive labour that exemplifies the allure but also the peril of new media work. Drawing on interviews we conducted with game developers in Canada , we examine the conditions of labour in game studios, this cultural industry's "work as play" ethos, the pleasures and potentialities of game production, the blemishes that mar this attractive vista, and the new infractions these tensions provoke. Confirming that Empire sets in motion potentialities it cannot fully control, we also observe an emergent counter-mobilisation of game labour, whose manifestations range from digital piracy to dissident games produced in the context of activism. These experiments of a playful multitude flow into the wider currents of tactical media, hacktivism, open-source software, and distributed computing that are generating tumults throughout the circuits of Empire. |
topic |
precarious labour immaterial labour computers games |
url |
http://five.fibreculturejournal.org/fcj-024-a-playful-multitude-mobilising-and-counter-mobilising-immaterial-game-labour/ |
work_keys_str_mv |
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