Lecture prepared for "New Media ACC-2013" at Victoria University, May 2013.

1. Gaming Cultures
Luke van Ryn, University of Melbourne
lvanryn@student.unimelb.edu.au
TEXT
Monday, 13 May 13

2. contents
audiences
technologies
industries
Monday, 13 May 13

3. what is an
audience?
receiver
consumer
meaning-maker
ideal audience
Monday, 13 May 13

4. a gaming
audience?
Gamer
User
Fan
Worker
Citizen
Client
Monday, 13 May 13

5. GAMERS
IDENTITY, GENDER, ACHIEVEMENT
Monday, 13 May 13

6. Users
Testing
Usability
Patching
Monday, 13 May 13

7. FANS
GAMING SUBCULTURES, REMEDIATION, PRODUCTIVITY
Monday, 13 May 13

8. Workers
“playbour”
free-to-play
modding
Monday, 13 May 13

9. CLIENTS
CUSTOMERS, MARKETS, CULTURES
Monday, 13 May 13

10. Methods
Observation
Surveys
#DATA!
Monday, 13 May 13

11. Gaming
Technologies
Hardware
Software
Platforms
Monday, 13 May 13

12. HARDWARE
RANKED BY SALES TO MAY 2013
Monday, 13 May 13

13. HARDWARE
FROM BUTTONS TO BODIES
Monday, 13 May 13

14. SOFTWARE
THE RISE OF BROWSER GAMES
Monday, 13 May 13

15. ZYNGA’S RISE AND FALL
SINCE INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING (DEC. 2011)
Monday, 13 May 13

16. PLATFORMS
Monday, 13 May 13

17. Industries
Production
Distribution
Research
Monday, 13 May 13

18. industry
research
Does it work? (QA)
Is it fun? (play-testing)
Can it be better? (feedback)
like us! (reviews)
Monday, 13 May 13

19. PROJECT
DATE CLIENT
2011 HALO REACH
GAMEPLAY METRICS
KILLS (LEFT) VERSUS DEATHS (RIGHT)
Monday, 13 May 13

20. PROJECT
DATE CLIENT
2007... VALVE
TEAM FORTRESS 2
THE WORLD’S BEST HAT SIMULATOR
Monday, 13 May 13

21. The TF2
Economy
Monday, 13 May 13

22. ACADEMIC RESEARCH
IDENTITY, MEANING, POLITICS, CODE, SOCIALITY
Monday, 13 May 13

23. PROJECT
DATE AUTHOR
2010 APPERLEY
GAMING RHYTHMS
GAMING IN MELBOURNE AND CARACAS
Monday, 13 May 13

24. PROJECT
DATE AUTHOR
2009 TWIXT (DAVID MYERS)
ANTI-PLAY
GRIEFING IN CITY OF HEROES
Monday, 13 May 13

25. PROJECT
DATE AUTHOR
2010 KOLO AND BAUR
SOCIAL DYNAMICS
ULTIMA ONLINE
Monday, 13 May 13

26. PROJECT
DATE AUTHOR
2010 BOGOST
COW CLICKER
A FACEBOOK GAME ABOUT FACEBOOK GAMES
Monday, 13 May 13

27. Questions:
Audience: gamer? user? fan? worker?
Technologies: iOS? Nintendo DS? Wii?
“Scenes”: At home? In transit? At school?
Method: observation? survey? participation?
Theories: gender? gesture? nationalism?
Monday, 13 May 13

28. Further reading
Ben Lewis-Evans (“user” research)
http://is.gd/JtcXPy
Jo Iacovides (learning and gameplay)
http://joiacovides.blogspot.com.au
Jane McGonigal (gamification)
http://janemcgonigal.com/
Monday, 13 May 13