Building Momentum for Collectivity in the Digital Game Community

Weststar, Johanna; Legault, Marie-Josée

doi:10.1177/1527476419851087

Cited by 19 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Weststar & Marie-Josée [36] quickly cite a reported scandal case related to the sexist culture at RG. The respective Section dealt with the working conditions of developers in digital game companies.…”

Section: Research Methodology and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Subjectivities in Software Development from an STS and Social Institution Perspective, a Riot Games Case Study

Carvalho¹,

Oliveira²

2020

Anais Do Workshop Sobre Aspectos Sociais, Humanos E Econômicos De Software (WASHES 2020)

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We are influenced and influence Social Institutions, which shape our subjectivities and, consequently, our actions, such as software engineering. In this work, we use a socio technical perspective to study and analyze the interrelation between the dimensions of an Information System, Social Institutions, and subjectivities, applied in the software company Riot Games. We develop a perception of co conducting culture and values between the requirements of an artifact and its other dimensions, for example, through organizational culture, habits, codes of conduct, among others.

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Section: Research Methodology and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We proceeded to the cue provided in Weststar & Marie-Josée [36], choosing the dialogue between Socio-Technical System (STS) [33] and Case Study qualitative methodology [34], where we will analyze the sexist discrimination case of the company RG. Case Study analysis involves "why?"…”

Section: Research Methodology and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Subjectivities in Software Development from an STS and Social Institution Perspective, a Riot Games Case Study

Carvalho¹,

Oliveira²

2020

Anais Do Workshop Sobre Aspectos Sociais, Humanos E Econômicos De Software (WASHES 2020)

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“…Finally, with their focus on the resisting capacities of game developers, Games of Empire foresaw the organizing capacities of the multitude reflected in the global movement “Game Workers Unite” (Weststar & Legault, 2019; Woodcock, 2020). Although one might critique Games of Empire ’s overemphasis on flows of desire, its stress on struggle and labor autonomy is valuable, given the promising transnational struggle of Game Workers Unite.…”

Section: White Masculinity Ideology and Technological Practice In Gmentioning

confidence: 99%

White Masculinity, Creative Desires, and Production Ideology in Video Game Development

Bulut

2020

Games and Culture

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Game workers have a problem. They code values and ideologies into games, but they are either not aware of it or deny it. Through a constructive and critical engagement with Games of Empire, I propose the concept of “ludic religiosity” to reveal how white masculinity informs game workers’ professional discourses, technological practices, ludic desires, and imaginations. Drawing on three-year-long ethnographic research and in conversation with cultural studies, philosophy of technology, and postcolonial game studies, I revisit desiring machine and ideology, two major concepts from Games of Empire. My goal is to demonstrate the racialized and gendered discourses and practices behind game developers’ desire to produce cognitive capitalism’s “escapist” commodities and rethink ideology within white masculine production cultures. Foregrounding how racialized and gendered practices and imaginations inform the desire behind the global game industry is crucial, especially in the aftermath of Gamergate and the rise of authoritarianism.

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“…Kerr, 2010; Bulut, 2014; Deuze, 2007; Deuze et al , 2007; Dyer-Witheford and De Peuter, 2006). However, despite growing conflicts in recent years, the discussion of unionization is less developed in this sector (for exceptions, see Legault and Weststar (2015, 2017) and Weststar and Legault (2017, 2019)). Based on quantitative (international survey) and qualitative (lengthy interviews) data, Legault and Weststar (2015) and Weststar and Legault (2017) show that while collective action may occur, many obstacles still exist for the formation of the enterprise-level union and that industry unionism may be more relevant for game workers.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, few people think that labour unions will be formed quickly in the game industry. Overall, the game industry has many characteristics that do not harmonize with unionism, in particular enterprise union (Legault and Weststar, 2015; Weststar and Legault, 2017, 2019). Structurally, the industry often runs on a project basis, and workers do not stay in the same company for many years.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tackling the crunch mode: the rise of an enterprise union in South Korea's game industry

Chung

Kwon

2020

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PurposeThe present study seeks to trace the unionization process of a global top 10 video game company (Company N) in which workers formed the first enterprise union in South Korea's game sector. Drawing upon the analytical framework of Kelly's (1998) mobilization theory, the authors investigated what motivated workers to form a union and what factors facilitated unionization.Design/methodology/approachThis study used a qualitative research method on a single case study basis. The authors collected 41 in-depth interviews with game developers, full-time union staff from the case company and union leaders in their affiliated union, as well as game journalists, labour attorneys, and human resource professionals in the video game industry. The authors had their original data supplemented and triangulated by archival data including union letters and other documents and media reports. They analysed the data using computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS).FindingsThere are three key findings. First, in the game sector, a high barrier against unionization exists, arising from industry characteristics such as a project-based work system, high mobility, reputation-based hiring, meritocracy, and a continuous influx of game-loving young developers. Hence, although the time was ripe for worker activism, latent grievances failed to be converted into real collective mobilization, resulting in non-organized workplaces for the past decades. Second, the mandatory labour-management negotiations arising from a legal change acted as a key catalyst for unionization at Company N. The newly elected three employee representatives came to identify and develop their own collective interests through the direct experience of negotiations, which greatly augmented their negative emotions and improved their legal consciousness. These three representatives could identify numerous deep-rooted problems, attribute these problems to their employer, and realize that they are ordinary salaried workers different from their employer. Going through the three-month negotiation and post-negotiation period, a set of ordinary game developers transformed themselves into natural union leaders who started a union in the game industry, which was traditionally non-organized. Third, various layers of external factors, such as a sister union, the upper umbrella union, the changed socio-political atmosphere following the candlelight protests for presidential impeachment, and the improved union image facilitated the unionization at Company N.Practical implicationsThis study offers practical implications to governments, union activists, and employers in the game sector and more broadly in the tech industry, where labour-management conflicts are escalating across the globe.Originality/valueOur study of a rare unionization event in the difficult game sector offers a nuanced understanding of mobilization and its process. Theoretically, by introducing the dynamic process of natural leader emergence and spontaneous union formation in a young industry where neither pre-existing leadership nor extant union influence exists, this study suggests that the mobilization process is more complex and variegated than suggested by Kelly's study and subsequent studies. Therefore, this study can advance the current discussion of mobilization mechanisms in the field of industrial relations. Our study also contributes to current research by introducing collective mobilization in a new context, i.e. the young, dynamic game industry in a non-Western country, which is a context that has been under-studied thus far.

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Building Momentum for Collectivity in the Digital Game Community

Cited by 19 publications

References 3 publications

Subjectivities in Software Development from an STS and Social Institution Perspective, a Riot Games Case Study

Subjectivities in Software Development from an STS and Social Institution Perspective, a Riot Games Case Study

White Masculinity, Creative Desires, and Production Ideology in Video Game Development

Tackling the crunch mode: the rise of an enterprise union in South Korea's game industry

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