In the inaugural issue of the new game studies journal Games and Culture, Celia Pearce and I wrote two short articles that touched upon some similar themes. We both challenged the assumption of unproductive play in different ways. The full articles from that issue of Games and Culture are available after a free registration.
In Celia’s piece (link to abstract), she uses the example of the Myst/Uru diaspora to argue that play can be productive. The Myst/Uru example also highlights the blurring between content producers and content consumers. In my piece (link to abstract), I use the example of pharmaceutical manufacturing in Star Wars Galaxies (sadly, no longer a potential profession in SWG) to rethink games as work platforms where some players are trained to do work that may be more complex and stressful than their real-life jobs.
Instead of doing a normal post, Celia suggested we do a series of back-and-forth discussion posts via the comments thread so that we could think through some of the issues together. Of course, others should feel free to hop in at any time.
Celia, one question I’m particularly interested in is where you see this trend heading. I’m a little more cynical about this trend, and I see the hypothetical cancer-screening example as something that will eventually happen in some form. What’s your take on the blurring of production and leisure?
Your piece also seemed to resonate with other commentaries I’ve seen with regards to networked forums and communities (such as humdog’s perspective of The Well as a place where people pay to produce and consume their own gut-wrenching spectacles – also a cynical take). Do you see the “productive play” phenomenon as part of a bigger trend in networked media, or is there something special going on in games?
Off to you, Celia. Looking forward to hear your thoughts.
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