| 1. |
- Dymek, Mikolaj, et al.
(författare)
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Among pasta-loving mafiosos, drug-selling Columbians and noodle-eating triads : Race, humour and interactive ethics in Grand Theft Auto III
- 2005
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Ingår i: Proceedings of DiGRA 2005 Conference.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper explores the intersection of race, humour and interactivity in Grand Theft Auto 3. We argue that video games not only diffuse cultural and symbolic meanings, but also provide new loci for reflection and critique of issues of inter alia race. Two different analytical perspectives are juxtaposed when studying racial issues of GTA3. The first perspective is Critical Race Theory (CRT). The second perspective derives from the phthonic and incongruity theory of humour (Morreall 1986). We will argue that the CRT perspective is consistent with the phthonic theory of humour, while the incongruity theory goes beyond CRT presenting a novel way of interpreting games. This theoretical framework is applied when analysing the controversial game GTA3. By presenting stereotypical images of race in GTA3 as humorous, the player is provided with cues for reflecting and evaluating his/her own perspectives on issues of race.
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| 2. |
- Dymek, Mikolaj
(författare)
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Content strategies of the future : Between games and Stories - Crossroads for the video game industry
- 2008
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The video game industry is the combination of two worlds: technology (IT) and show-biz/media/cultural industries. This paper explores this tension by exposing the shortcomings of the culture economics perspective and its lack of understanding for the unique characteristics of the video game medium, thus subsequently proposing a deeper analysis of the medium by turning to literary theoretical perspectives on games, such as ludology and narratology. Due the lack of technological dimensions in its theoretical framework, narratology is deemed less fruitful as an analytical tool and ludology is preferred. Ludology, with Espen Aarseth's cybertext theory elucidates aspects of "interactivity ", author-medium-reader power relations and the mechanical organization of textual machines, which provides perspectives on practice in the video game industry.
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| 3. |
- Dymek, Mikolaj, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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Ecosystems of indie porn game development : co-dependent partial organisations
- 2023
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Ingår i: FDG 2023. - New York : ACM Press. - 9781450398558
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Building on case study data, this paper identifies processes and actors that form an enabling ecosystem for indie porn game development consisting of: game platform technologies, asset stores,commission-based artists, F95zone, Steam, Discord, and crowd-funding platforms (e.g., Patreon). Co-creational and organisational perspectives provide a rewarding exploration of this phenomenon.
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| 4. |
- Dymek, Mikolaj, 1978-
(författare)
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Expanding the magic circle – gamification as a marketplace icon
- 2018
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Ingår i: Consumption, markets & culture. - : Routledge. - 1025-3866 .- 1477-223X. ; :6, s. 590-602
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article explores the gamification trend sweeping the globe promising increased engagement and motivation, in practically any industry, context and culture, based on a stratagem of “game design elements in non-game contexts,” which is its most quoted definition [Deterding, Sebastian, Miguel Sicart, Lennart Nacke, Kenton O'Hara, and Dan Dixon. 2011. “Gamification – Using Game-Design Elements in Non-Gaming Contexts.” Paper presented at the CHI EA “11 proceedings of the 2011 annual conference extended abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Vancouver, BC, May 7–12.]. The rise of gamification as marketplace icon is examined and particularly claims that position gamification as the manifestation of a wider societal transformation into playful societies – a “ludic turn.” Many of these grandiose statements are the result of ahistoricity and ambiguity regarding the definition of gamification. Based on game philosophy, game studies and gamification research this article posits gamification as an emergent perspective, as distinct conceptualisation, on the rule-driven organisation of sociotechnical management systems that reference “games.” Of particular importance is the role of rules. Examples such as Frequent Flyer Programmes and Foursquare are analysed according to the player/consumer positions they bestow, which are explored from participatory, co-creational, critical and game philosophical perspectives. Conclusively, a “gameful” perspective of rule-generated goal-oriented behaviour, or “playful” perspective of instinctive and limitless fun, shed two challenging perspectives on the interpretation of gamification in the marketplace.
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| 5. |
- Dymek, Mikolaj
(författare)
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Exporting wars : Literature theory and how it explains the video game industry
- 2007
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Ingår i: 3rd Digital Games Research Association International Conference. ; , s. 664-671
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The video game industry is the combination of two worlds: technology (IT) and show-biz/media/cultural industries. This paper explores this tension by exposing the shortcomings of the culture economics perspective and its lack of understanding for the unique characteristics of the video game medium, thus subsequently proposing a deeper analysis of the medium by turning to literary theoretical perspectives on games, such as ludology and narratology. Due the lack of technological dimensions in its theoretical framework, narratology is deemed less fruitful as an analytical tool and ludology is preferred. Ludology, with Espen Aarseth's cybertext theory elucidates aspects of " interactivity", author-medium-reader power relations and the mechanical organization of textual machines, which provides perspectives on practice in the video game industry.
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| 6. |
- Dymek, Mikolaj, 1978-
(författare)
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Industrial Phantasmagoria : Subcultural Interactive Cinema Meets Mass-Cultural Media of Simulation
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The video game industry has in three decades gone from a garage hobby to a global multi-billion euro media industry that challenges the significantly older and established cultural industries. After decades of explosive growth the industry surprisingly finds itself in a crisis – in terms of sales, future trajectories and creative paradigms. The global gaming culture receives substantial attention from society, media and academia – but the industry itself appears in comparison as an enigmatic terra incognita with astonishingly little dedicated research. This thesis aims to amend this situation by presenting a study at the cross-section of the video game industry, game studies, literary theory, cultural industries and business studies. It deals with the following question: how does the global game industry relate to its own product, in terms of communication and media dimensions, and what are the (business) consequences, in terms of production, strategy and commercial/creative innovation, of this relationship? This study’s departure point is constituted by a comprehensive description of the industry’s structure, dynamics and processes, based on extensive interviews with industry professionals. It is followed by an examination and comparison of the game industry with other media/cultural industries in relation to their economy and business dynamics. With inconclusive answers regarding the medium-industry relation, this study proceeds by exploring literary theories from the field of game studies, in order to gain insights into the dynamics of medium and industry. Literary theories from ludology and narratology provide rewarding perspectives on this inquiry, since it is found that the ontological dichotomy of simulation vs. respresentation present in the interpretational realm of the game medium is also reflected in the industry and its dynamics. This has pivotal consequences for the analysis of the game industry. This study concludes by positing the current critical condition of the industry as an extremely decisive moment in its history: will it become a truly universal mass-medium, or will it continue down its subcultural path? Subcultural “interactive cinema” meets mass-cultural media of simulation – how will the industry evolve?
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| 9. |
- Dymek, Mikolaj, 1978-
(författare)
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Migrations Through Digital Spaces As Cybertextual Explorations of Branding
- 2012
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Ingår i: SCOS 2012 –30:th Standing Conference on Organizational Symbolism.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper explores the issue of movement through different, usually disparate, digital environments and the relation to market communications, specifically branding. This inquiry represents the intersection between digital literary theory, new media studies, marketing communication and finally branding. The use of “digital channels” in marketing communications, and particularly branding, has during the last decade almost fully transformed the so-called “marketing mix” (Boden 1964), i.e. the portfolio of marketing strategies and communication channels used by a particular organisation, of marketing communication departments, but also recast the very organisation of these departments. Practically all consumer-oriented companies/organisation have now digital marketing departments, and many have during the last few years also dedicated staff for the strategic use of social media (D'Angelo 2010) by means of e.g. social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter or Google+. Moreover, social media which is primarily (and has been historically) seen as a business-to-consumer tool has recently also been popularised by business-to-business companies/organisations that are targeting niche audiences of industry professionals predominantly as part of CRM strategies or support services. This development adds yet another layer on top of the already crowded media landscape – a professional/work-related dimension in addition to the usually pre-existing personal/private communication sphere, which is expressed most vividly with services such as LinkedIn (“a professional network service”) focused on a more official and professional networking separated from the private sphere, or in other services such as Facebook or Google+ whose broader social networking focus frequently generates a delicate and blurry mix of private and public/professional life. The migration of users/readers from one digital communication sphere to another is an escalating challenge for market communication managers as communication strategies must adapt to the growing bifurcation of the contemporary media and communication landscape (Smith, Coyle, Lightfoot, & Scott 2007). In essence, marketing communication must now follow every step of the diverse and fickle media uses of the consumer, which are changing at an ever-accelerating pace. According to some sources the number of advertising messages an average consumer in the USA is daily exposed to 500 to 1000 commercial messages (Arens, Weigold, & Arens 2010). A new smartphone “app” (software application for smartphones) can grow explosively, as illustrated by the impressive popularity of the “location-based social network” Foursquare that in two years time has gathered more than 10 million users (Indvik 2011) – which in terms of audience makes it more popular than the third biggest newspaper in the world. The paramount question now becomes: how do companies/organisations, and more specifically brands, communicate in this dynamically expanding communication landscape? Since approximately a decade we are seeing the rise of a new field of “digital branding” that is using elements from the fields of new media, word-of-mouth marketing, online communities, game design, entrepreneurship, user interface design and others, and combines these dimensions with “traditional offline” branding theories to create an integrated approach to the challenges of the modern communication realm – a so-called Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) approach (Pickton & Broderick 2001). Furthermore, the global nature of Internet adds further complexity by introducing a significantly more tangible cross-cultural dimension where centralised communication has to be adapted to local markets while still being accessible from every country in the world (Hermeking 2005). How do we theoretically interpret communication across this cultural, technological and communication-based fragmentation of the marketing communications sphere – and more importantly: how is communication coordinated cohesively across this multitude of channels? A common way, as well based on industry practice (Revis 2012), is the notion of storytelling, which is presented as an eclectic approach to multi-channel communication, where “stories” and “narratives” are told in a distributed way (Alexander 2011 ; Meadows 2003 ; Qiongli 2006 ; Smith et al. 2007). A mosaic of messages communicates aspects of the “overall picture” through various channels and those are later assembled into a cohesive message by the reader/consumer. This stems from the “narrative turn” in the social sciences (Atkinson & Delamont 2006 ; Berger & Quinney 2005) and particularly relevant, within organisation/management studies (Czarniawska-Joerges 2004), where narratives and personal accounts are used as the foundation for perceiving and even defining organisations and their internal and external dynamics. This paper will introduce an alternative and rewarding perspective based on a significantly more formal, literary and material framework: the perspective of digital space exploration. This is a perspective that posits the user/consumer/reader as moving and migrating through fragmented digital spaces. A prominent analysis of exploration of digital spaces has been put forth by Jenkins (Jenkins 2003) who defines the design of digital media/video games as a type of narrative architecture which can be divided into four ways of mapping narrative possibilities onto digital spaces: evocative spaces, enacting stories, embedded narratives and finally emergent narratives. Janet Murray, the most eminent proponent of digital media/cyberspace as interactive narratives, considers cyberspace to be enhanced by the spatial property characterised by its ability to represent navigable space (Murray 1997). Unlike “linear media” such as books and film, Murray claims that only digital environments can present space that users can move through, which is further elaborated by another digital narratologist Marie Laure-Ryan (Ryan 2001) who posits the spatiality of display as one of the major properties of digital media. This paper aims to explore the implications of spatial exploration as analytical framework for market communication through the contemporary fragmented digital media landscape. REFERENCESAlexander, B. (2011). The New Digital Storytelling: Creating Narratives with New Media, Praeger Publishers.Arens, W., Weigold, M. & Arens, C. (2010). Contemporary Advertising, McGraw-Hill.Atkinson, P. & Delamont, S. (2006). "Rescuing narrative from qualitative research", Narrative Inquiry. 16(1), 164-172(169).Berger, R. J. & Quinney, R. (Eds.). (2005). Storytelling sociology : narrative as social inquiry, Lynne Rienner PublishersBoden, N. (1964). "The concept of the marketing mix", Journal of Advertising Research.Czarniawska-Joerges, B. (2004). Narratives in social science research, SAGE.D'Angelo, B. (2010). Social Media Community Management: Implications for Business Communication Curriculum, 75th Annual Convention of the Association for Business Communication.Hermeking, M. (2005). "Culture and Internet Consumption: Contributions from Cross-Cultural Marketing and Advertising Research", Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. 11(1), 192-216.Indvik, L. (2011). Foursquare Surpasses 10 Million Users, Mashable, Available: http://mashable.com/2011/06/20/foursquare-10-million/. Accessed: 2011-06-20.Jenkins, H. (2003). "Game Design as Narrative Architecture". In First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game, N. Wardrip-Fruin & P. Harrigan (Eds.), MIT Press.Meadows, D. (2003). "Digital Storytelling: Research-Based Practice in New Media", Visual Communication. 2(2), 189-193.Murray, J. (1997). Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace, MIT Press.Pickton, D. & Broderick, A. (2001). Integrated Marketing Communications, Financial Times/Prentice Hall.Qiongli, W. (2006). "Commercialization of digital storytelling - An integrated approach for cultural tourism, the Beijing Olympics and wireless VAS", International Journal of Cultural Studies. 9(3), 383-394.Revis, L. (2012). 4 Inspiring Examples of Digital Storytelling, Mashable, Available: http://mashable.com/2012/01/31/digital-storytelling/. Accessed: 2012-02-01.Ryan, M.-L. (2001). Narrative as Virtual Reality: Immersion and Interactivity in Literature and Electronic Media, Johns Hopkins University Press.Smith, T., Coyle, J. R., Lightfoot, E. & Scott, A. (2007). "Reconsidering Models of Influence: The Relationship between Consumer Social Networks and Word-of-Mouth Effectiveness", Journal of Advertising Research. 47(4), 387.
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| 10. |
- Falasca, Kajsa, 1976-, et al.
(författare)
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Exploring Digital Political Labour : political public relations and the exploitation of social media engagement
- 2017
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper posits the notion of digital political labour (DPL) as a rewarding concept for the analysis of political public relations and social media. Numerous studies conclude that the engagement, dialogic and social affordances of social media have not yet been realized. But despite the lack of direct interaction, active audiences are, by their own actions in social media, taking part in DPL since audiences do not only receive political messages but contribute significantly with their own user-generated content. This empirical data in this study is from the official Facebook pages of Swedish political parties during the 2014 national election campaign. The results show that most of the communications work is actually performed by the audiences, and not by the parties themselves. This study highlight two important dimensions of DPL where users constitute targets and carriers of advertising as well as audiences whose free labour generates political campaign content.
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