My talk for the Critical Evaluation of Game Studies Seminar at the University of Tampere, April 28, 2014.

1. the expectable rise,...pyrrhic victory, and designerly future of game
studies as an interdiscipline
Sebastian Deterding
Rochester Institute of Technology
Critical Evaluation of Game Studies Seminar, Tampere, April 28, 2014
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2. “Game studies are an
interdisciplinary field …”
Aarseth 2001, Krzywinska, Mäyrä & Crogan 2005, Mäyrä 2008, Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Heide Smith & Tosca 2012, Waern & Zagal 2013

3. Game studies as interdiscipline
• ID seen as logical consequence of the newness of GS
• ID seen as necessity, given overcomplexity of games
• ID seen as primary strength of GS (relative to …?)
• ID seen as major challenge of GS: What’s “core”,
how to organize & integrate?
Aarseth 2001, Krzywinska, Mäyrä & Crogan 2005, Mäyrä 2008, Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Heide Smith & Tosca 2012, Waern & Zagal 2013

6. 1 What is ID?
2 how ID-y are game studies?
3 what are the challenges?
4 so what do we do?

7. <insert data here>

8. <1>
what is
interdisciplinarity?

9. multidisciplinarity
Juxtaposition of disciplines
transdisciplinarity
Transcendence of disciplines
interdisciplinarity
Interaction & integration of disciplines
partial full
auxiliary supplementary structural
auxiliary supplementary structural
contextualising integrated generalising
theorymethoddata
degree of integration
narrow broad
scope of disciplines
few disciplines,
epistemologically
homogenous
many disciplines,
epistemologically
heterogeneous
increasing dissolution of disciplinary boundaries
Adapted from Klein 2010

10. <2>
How interdisciplinary
are game studies?

11. drivers of interdisciplinary fields
• New epistemic questions give rise to topical IDs:
interactive fiction, ...
• New technology creates new societal issues: video
game violence, game-based learning
• Social groups legitimise and push their interests
through forming life experience IDs: aca/fans
• New vocations create economic demand for
professional preparation IDs: game design
Jacobs & Frickel 2009

12. trajectories of iD fields
• Initial groundswell of young scholars driven by new
ground, little competition, freedom from structure,
big student & public interest
• As field matures, resistance of traditional
disciplines, struggle for institutionalization
• Internal differentiation into sub-communities
• Traditional disciplines develop critical mass of
scholars & bodies of work that pull scholars back
Raasch et al. 2013, Pfirman & Martin 2010, Jacobs & Frickel 2009, Holbrook 2010, van Rijnsoever & Kessels 2011

13. full,broad interdisciplinarity
• Educational: Experiential, collaborative, problem-based
learning; support & practicing of perspective-taking,
contextualization, critical thinking, synthesis, application
across disciplines & theory/practice: ?
• Empirical: Routine & necessary integration of divergent data
forms to answer research questions: ?
• Methodological: Unique new methods from mixing old ones:
gameplay reviews (Williams), TRUE (Kim)?
• Theoretical: Germane new concepts & theories driven by &
valuable for divergent disciplines and social domains; organise
new research across epistemically divergent methods,
disciplines: procedural rhetorics (Bogost)?
Klein 2010, Huutoniemi et al. 2010, DeZure 2010

14. multidisciplinarity
Juxtaposition of disciplines
transdisciplinarity
Transcendence of disciplines
interdisciplinarity
Interaction & integration of disciplines
partial full
auxiliary supplementary structural
auxiliary supplementary structural
contextualising integrated generalising
theorymethoddata
degree of integration
narrow broad
scope of disciplines
few disciplines,
epistemically
homogenous
many disciplines,
epistemically
heterogeneous
increasing dissolution of disciplinary boundaries
Adapted from Klein 2010

15. game
studies
Hermeneutic, formal,
qualitative media
studies
game
studies
Hermeneutic, formal,
qualitative media
studies
the phyrric victory of game studies
relevanceofgames
recognitionofgameresearch
volume of game research(ers), resources
hci
Playability, game UX,
game UR
communication
Presence, MMT, SDT,
Involvement
economics
Virtual economies,
marketing, nudging, IP
psychology
Aggression, addiction,
motivation
...
cf. Jacobs & Frickel 2009,
van Rijnsoever & Kessels 2011
game
studies
Hermeneutic, formal,
qualitative media
studies

16. Boutet, Coavoux & Zabban 2014 (Category “Interdisciplinary” removed from data set)
3%5%
5%
6%
7%
10%
11%
12%
16%
4%
22%
Communication
Computer Science
Social Sciences
Media Studies
Education
Art
Game Studies
Literature
Humanities
Cultural Studies
Design
authors in Game studies journals

17. ludic
paidic
liminalliminoid
cultural form
Aesthetics, media studies
perfect feedback
Neoclassical economics
nudges
Behavioural economics
exploitation
Critical theory
status display
Marketing, social psych.
communal performance
Perf. studies, anthrop.
immersive performance
Perf. studies, art
reinforcement
Behavioural psychology
hedonic wellbeing
Positive psychology
eudaimonic wellbeing
Design, philosophy
pleasure
UX design, advertising
playfulness
Design, philosophy
expressive systems
Computer science, rhetorics
microworlds
Education
Deterding, in print
differentiation of rhetorics
“Player studies”
“Formal”
game studies
“Second wave
Colonizers”
“Indigeneous”

18. <3>
what are the
challenges?

19. hurdles for interdisciplinary fields
• Less recognition, doubts over lacking quality/rigour
• Less resources (journals, jobs, funding bodies,
teaching materials, political representation)
• Friction of epistemic cultures (e.g. in peer review)
• No overarching theories, epistemic objects
• Unclear/traditional hiring & promotion criteria
• Disciplinarily organized job markets
Raasch et al. 2013, Pfirman & Martin 2010, Jacobs & Frickel 2009, Holbrook 2010, van Rijnsoever & Kessels 2011

20. <4>
so what do we do?

21. Answer
#1

22. Boradkar 2010
Answer
#2

23. game *design* studies
• Design is inherently cross-disciplinary problem-
solving, with integrative pedagogies (studio, project)
and methods (design-based research, research-
design, critical making, carpentry, ...)
• Applied focus gives relevance across social
domains, design research gives critical corrective
• Institutionalised through interlocking educational
programs, PhD/MFA degrees, and hiring/promotion
criteria that create a self-sustaining job market
Jacobs & Frickel 2009, Boradkar 2010

24. Enable & bridge
epistemological
pluralism
Answer
#3

25. discourses .
stake-
holder
frames
media
producer
frames
media text
frames
audience
frames
with middle range theories/objects
… that cut across epistemically divergent sites, theories, operationalizations: like news framing
media studies,
comm. research
Close readings,
formalization,
content analysis
media studies,
comm. research
Corpus analysis,
discourse analysis
media psych.
Experiments,
questionnaires
journalism r.
Interviews,
studies of work
public relations
Interviews,
document analysis
cf. Merton 2004, Entman 1993, De Vreese 2005

26. discourses .
stake-
holders
game
creation
games audiences
imagine a procedural rhetorics ...
… that cuts across epistemically divergent sites, theories, operationalizations
cs, digital humanities
Close readings,
formalization,
content analysis
media studies,
comm. research
Corpus analysis,
cultural analytics
media psych.,
qual. sociology
Experiments,
questionnaires,
interviews,
observation
cs, anthropology,
digital humanities
Interviews,
studies of work, ANT,
code analysis
sociology,
media studies
Interviews,
document analysis

27. sebastian@codingconduct.cc
@dingstweets
codingconduct.cc
Thank you.