Becoming an ideal co-creator: Web materiality and intensive laboring practices in game modding

Abstract

This article focuses on the concept of labor in co-creation, arguing that its definition needs to be expanded to include a process of intensity. Intensity foregrounds the different degrees in which participants involve themselves in a craft, and also the elements of time, effort, and affectivity. Using game modification as a case study, the article analyzes how automated, computerized systems of evaluations, embedded into webpages, can create grounds for a self-understanding of productive abilities. Maneuvering through the three registers of industry, websites, and game modders, it examines the discourses of evaluative systems and details how participants use these technologies to self-manage and calibrate their labor. Interviews showed that the increasingly competitive drive for optimal standards of production comes at a cost to the well-being of participants. Studies of labor therefore need to consider the "intense" aspect of participatory production, and the impact it may have on its participants.

Brand community coping

“…Our findings illustrate the difficulty of maintaining such an alignment and what a sudden misalignment in the form of a brand transgression means for marketers. Bioware had extensively used co-creation in developing the Mass Effect brand, yielding financial benefits for the firm as well as stronger brand relationships for consumers (Hong & Chen, 2013). Our analysis showed that a brand transgression and the ensuing communal coping process can significantly alter the dynamics of established co-creative practices between a marketer and a brand community.…”

“…Previous netnographic work has used gaming contexts to study communal brand relations where co-creation plays a major role (Cova & White, 2010;Hong & Chen, 2013). In line with this work, we investigated the disappointment and conflict surrounding the final installment of Bioware's popular video game trilogy Mass Effect (ME, 2007(ME, -2013.…”

“…As our data will attest, this often leads to strong emotional character attachments during the extended gameplay experience. Hong and Chen (2013) show that Bioware has a history of systematic co-creation through idea solicitation via their online forum, Bioware Social Network (BSN). Bioware used feedback from BSN extensively when working on Mass Effect 2.…”

The backer–developer connection: Exploring crowdfunding’s influence on video game production

“…A notable example would be the body of work concerning the activity of modding (i.e. modifying) published video game content (Davidovici-Nora, 2009;Hong R and Hsueh-Hua Chen, 2013;Kücklich, 2005;Poor, 2013;Postigo, 2003Postigo, , 2007Postigo, , 2008Sotamaa, 2010;Targett et al, 2012;Taylor 2006b).…”

Computer Hacking as a Social Problem

“…Modding a computer game entails persons, other than the creators ordevelopers of the game, making changes to the mechanics of game play, changing or adding new levels, content and rewards, and even entirely new versions of the game (Hong and Chen 2013). The essence of the game modification or "mod" is that it is the result of activity by outside parties, even though the separation of users from developers/creators is not always clear-cut, and user/creator overlap is itself the object of ongoing debate and research.…”