An assemblage of avatars: Digital organization as affective intensification in the GamerGate controversy

Abstract

Through a study of the so-called GamerGate controversy, this article argues that a new dynamic of affective intensification is currently instating itself in the digital organization of not only highly collaborative industries, such as that of gaming, but of society as such. This dynamic may best be understood and conceptualized through reconsiderations of the notions of affective economies and affective labour. The affective constitution of digital organization is a process of affective intensification that not only works like an economy but is directly productive of economic value, and not only involves human emotionality but technological affectivity as well. Guided by the notions of assemblage, affordance and agency, the article offers a conceptual framework for studying affective intensification in and as socio-technical processes of value production.

Social media and hyper‐masculine work cultures

“…While lad culture is evident in offline contexts (Phipps & Young, 2013, 2015), it increasingly thrives on social media and illustrates the toxic forms of anti‐feminism gaining ground on online ‘manospheres’ (Farrell, Fernandez, Novotny, & Alani, 2019; Ging, 2019; Gotell & Dutton, 2016; Marwick & Caplan, 2018). A case in point is the gaming industry where what became known as ‘GamerGate’ brought to the surface anti‐feminist and hyper‐masculine attitudes but also their counterforces (Just, 2019).…”

Eudaimonia: The sociocultural value of consumers’ social labor

“…Techno-economic materiality has become the habitus of technocapitalism, a contemporary form of capitalism strongly anchored in corporate power and its exploitation of technological creativity (Suarez-Villa, 2009: 3). Central to the idea of technocapitalism, algorithmic cognition and computational connectivity capture, commodify, and appropriate social labor outcomes from consumers, transforming their intensity into a source of economic value (Chaput, 2010; Clough et al, 2007; Just, 2019). When affective and technological intensification processes merge with economic value production, this generates a system of digital affective capitalism (Karppi et al, 2016).…”

“…When affective and technological intensification processes merge with economic value production, this generates a system of digital affective capitalism (Karppi et al, 2016). In this system, all the participants circulate, extract (Fuchs, 2015), and capitalize (Just, 2019: 5) the cultural and emotional consumers’ investments.…”

“…This phenomenon is defined by Just (2019) as a new affective and technological intensification dynamic. Affect is emerging as an unescapable driving and organizing force through which value is circulated, acquired, and accumulated (Just, 2019). This affective constitution of society’s digital organization is a “communicative process (Kuhn et al, 2017) in which participants continuously seek to shape the involved affective signs and steer their circulations so as to produce value; that is, to harness affective intensities towards desired emotional and economic outcomes” (Just, 2019: 8).…”

“…Affect is emerging as an unescapable driving and organizing force through which value is circulated, acquired, and accumulated (Just, 2019). This affective constitution of society’s digital organization is a “communicative process (Kuhn et al, 2017) in which participants continuously seek to shape the involved affective signs and steer their circulations so as to produce value; that is, to harness affective intensities towards desired emotional and economic outcomes” (Just, 2019: 8). The affective intensification that is part of society’s digital constitution involves not only human emotionality but also technological affectivity (Just, 2019).…”