From Discussion Forum to Discursive Studio

Abstract

In recent years, playful design environments and digital games have been offering increasingly accessible programming tools and integrated editors, significantly expanding opportunities for the creation and sharing of user-generated content. These practices have engendered the diffusion of participatory online environments in which users present, discuss, and critique their creations. This study analyzes one of these design-driven environments dedicated to game levels created with the popular series LittleBigPlanet. Findings suggest that participants interact guided by their desire to become skilled designers and be recognized as such by their peers. To do so, they enact situated discursive functions that entail a pervasive use of specialist language, the formation of shared design references, and the valorization of new forms of originality based on remixing and intertextuality. By engaging in multimodal practices in a competent community of peer designers, participants create a safe ''discursive studio'' that offers a multiplicity of trajectories for learning and creativity.

Malleable Games - A Literature Review on Communities of Game Modders

“…With one of their main motivation being receiving recognition for their work, it does not necessarily mean that the object of their work needs to be played a lot [51]. Getting appreciate comments that recognize the amount of work and creativity that went into the mod is sometimes enough to be worthwhile [43].…”

“…The latter comprises game modders enjoying the sense of community when sharing, collaborating, commenting on mods. (Social) interaction is immensely important for modders since it is not only a source of receiving feedback [55,70] and recognition [43] for their hard work and dedication but also support [55], recommendations as well as a source of inspiration [2,51]. It is commonly agreed that modding is a highly participatory and collaborative activity [36,44,51,56,57].…”

“…Since this review will make reference to both a number of games and mods, it seems reasonable to include a short paragraph that explains some of the terminology used in this context. As Marone pointed out, modders make extensive use of specialist language within their communities to signal both competence as well as belonging, but also to build their identity as knowledgeable insiders [43]. Apart from insider terms, there is a plethora of types of mods that are known by specific terms.…”

“…Others talked more general about fan-art [15,79]. Another type of mod that was featured quite often are levels [9,22,43,45]. User-interface modifications were picked as a central theme by [62,66,74].…”

“…For both games three papers each exclusively focused on modding practices related to that game. Other games that were featured in game modding research are Little Big Planet [9,43], Skyrim [57,66], Minecraft [5,46], Super Mario [45,48], Battlefield [14,54], League of Legends [14], Civilization [49], Counter-Strike [83], Grand Theft Auto [38] and Dark Souls [20]. From this (non-exhaustive) list we can infer the different game genres that are being discussed in research as examples of game modding practices.…”