‘Crunch’ – a period of unpaid overtime meant to speed up lagging projects – is a common labor practice in the video game industry and persists despite many costs to developers. To understand why, we conducted a critical discourse analysis of Game Developer magazine (2000–2010) to explore how industry members perceive and discuss gamework (1) in a publication for developers, by developers and (2) during the first decade in which serious conversations about labor emerge in the games industry. Our analysis found that many gameworkers treat crunch as ‘inevitable’ due to three specific themes: games as an unmanageable creative industry, an anti-corporate ethos, and a stereotypical developer identity based on passion and perfectionism. These constructions – combined with the industry’s project-based nature and cultures of passion and secrecy – build crunch into the habitus of gamework, helping reproduce exploitative labor practices. However, habitus can and does change over time, providing interested employees, companies, and labor organizers a means to intercede in existing work practices. We suggest a multipronged intervention that could build a healthier, more sustainable habitus of gamework.

The video game industry’s labor practices have become an increasingly common topic of discussion throughout game studies and the gaming community, especially when it comes to “crunch” or periods of intense, extended overtime. Despite this attention, crunch persists, and the industry’s tendency to distinguish externally mandated or excessive crunch from self-directed or scheduled crunch continues to be problematic. This article considers the distinction between “good” and “bad” crunch as a form of cruel optimism, in which the idea of a tolerable crunch actually prevents the game industry from imagining how to produce games without any crunch. Drawing on a critical discourse analysis of industry trade press—specifically Game Developer magazine and Game Developers Conference presentations—this research demonstrates how viewing any form of crunch as acceptable quells potential innovations in video game production and locks developers into an unsustainable cycle. We encourage developers instead to rethink labor practices more expansively.

Ratioing describes when a reply earns more likes than an original post on social media. They also offer influencers opportunities to convert audience attention into political actions capable of temporarily shaping online discourse. Ratios are then one of many influencer-driven strategies that leverage platform features and affordances to direct audiences to specific actions that amplify the influencer’s content in the crowded social media entertainment market. Hasan Piker is one of the most popular political influencers on Twitch, which he uses as a base to organize and direct his audience into coordinated actions across multiple platforms. Piker reigns on Twitch, but has significantly less Twitter followers than all of his targets, meaning the ratio strategy prompts targeted actions that simultaneously increase his visibility. This article uses three case studies to highlight ratioing as a strategy for eliciting political participation, such as when Piker ratioed rivaling political influencers, a US Senator, and a famous rapper.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, universities were among the first institutions to shift to an online model. As they did so, nascent collegiate esports program lost access to campus spaces and in-person connections, potentially destabilizing this rising industry. Conversely, universities also worked to provide students remote access to resources, and many components of esports already occur online. Therefore, collegiate esports may have adjusted to distancing measures, potentially strengthening their footholds on US campuses. This paper draws on in-depth interviews with collegiate esports players, student employees, program directors, and administrators to address different programs’ reactions to the pandemic, specifically the challenges and opportunities they faced. Overall, interviews reveal how COVID-19 shifted the understandings of and practices around gaming and esports, highlighted the intermittent relationship of online and offline spheres, and presented various possibilities and challenges for different stakeholders during the global pandemic.

As with many media industries, poor labor practices such as crunch—excessive, often unpaid overtime—are common within video game production. Researchers have addressed how industry structures normalize crunch, but game consumers’ integration in this process is less understood. This case study of comments (n = 1,080) on articles about crunch develops an overall perspective on consumer attitudes by coding whether comments support or critique crunch and then evaluating the comments’ main ideas. More comments supported crunch than critiqued it, often treating it as inevitable, justifying paid/short-term crunch, or comparing game development crunch to commenters’ experiences. Conversely, critical comments considered crunch’s negative consequences, blamed its persistence on executives, and advocated for better work practices across industries. While this piece focuses on games, the conclusions potentially speak across media industries by addressing the pervasive nature of “Do What You Love” ideologies and asking: Do consumers care about the conditions under which media is produced?

No abstract

Few online communities exhibit the tensions between independence and interdependence better than collegiate esports. Twitch, the primary platform for live streaming esports, is central in such strife. The platform is a vital tool for colleges and athletes to forward brand, community, and entrepreneurship, while simultaneously its unbridled use indicates the need for administration and institutional interventions by universities. As such the proposed study aims to illuminate how collegiate esports clubs, including players, administrators, and program directors, use Twitch to promote independence and interdependence with esports publishers, players, fans, and college culture. Preliminary findings from 19 interviews with athletes and directors suggest some commonalities, particularly in optimism about the platform as a tool for entree into the industry. However, beyond this, directors and athletes diverged when it came to how Twitch should be employed, the labor required to successfully navigate the program, and concerns over toxic behavior associated with competitive gaming that manifested during live play. Finally, grey areas colored the interdependency between Twitch and the university. Monetization and use of streams were not clearly articulated, along with undefined policies on how to act professionally and represent universities on the platform. Ultimately, these early findings point to the lack of knowledge and flexibility of institutions like universities as they increasingly rely on platforms to foster online and offline communities.