Futures of Learning

Gaming

Locating Gaming in International Contexts

One of the foci of our literature reviews involves gaming and gaming practices in international contexts. While attention to the quantitative and qualitative dimensions of gaming is emerging in the United States, Europe and Asia (see Larissa Hjorth’s recent edited issue in Games and Culture), it is often difficult to find documented accounts and analyses of gaming practices in other regional and national contexts. There are a number of reasons why this may be the case. In the first instance, gaming (at least mediated forms of gaming) requires basic infrastructure, such as gaming systems, availability of games, sources of power and, in the case of networked gaming, connectivity. Although infrastructure and availability partially account for the lack of information on gaming in contexts (particularly in the “developing” world), academic interests also play a role in the relative dearth of research on everyday gaming around the world. For many of us who conduct ethnographic research, the emphasis on text and narratives (rather than context) that dominated early studies of video games may have contributed to the lack of attention to gaming. For many anthropologists, I also suspect that the relatively lowly status of video games and mediated gaming as a legitimate object of academic inquiry may also contribute to the inattention to gaming (although see Boellsdorf 2008).

Yet, despite the empirical gaps in the research on gaming, I am not convinced that mediated gaming is not an everyday part of life, even in the most economically disenfranchised countries and regions. Indeed, in my own research on ICTs and development in Jamaica, gaming was present, but it always rested in our footnotes, fieldnotes and contributions to the “gray” policy literature. For example, when I was in Jamaica in 2004 carrying out fieldwork I often had to go to one of the local internet cafes to send attachments or lengthier fieldnotes to Danny (Miller) who was in London during portions of our fieldwork. Looking back on one of my notebooks, I recently noted that I managed to scribble on the back of the page a sketch of the inside of an internet café in one of the malls in Portmore, Jamaica. At the time what stood out was the large numbers (over 20) of television screens and monitors that were solely dedicated to gaming; the few computers dedicated to email and the internet were located at the back of the café. Depending upon the time of day, it was almost a fight to make your way through the groups of boys in their khaki uniforms gathering around the gaming computers. The popularity of the games which, in turn, spurred the congregation of boisterous boys was part of the reason that a UNICEF-sponsored internet café in Portmore restricted playing games (as well as downloading pornography and music), and the community internet café, Zinc Link), located in one of the most dangerous areas of Kingston, restricted game playing to “educational games” (see Miller and Horst 2005).

Games were also present outside of the internet cafes, in the homes, schemes and districts of rural and urban Jamaica. Even in 2004, one of the local video stores that sold original and bootlegged copies of videocassettes and DVDs also kept a small collection of desktop games behind the counter. A number of the more middle class families (ones who managed to purchase computers) had copies of games such as “Need for Speed”.  In one of the poorest areas in Portmore where I carried out research, a family received a second-hand Nintendo console in a barrel (literally a barrel drum typically filled with basic staples like rice, food, clothing and other items shipped to Jamaica) from one of their cousins living in New York. Like the footballs, food and other resources in the neighborhood, many of the members of the local “crew” gathered together in the afternoons and evenings to play games. In this particular community video games superseded dominoes, the game that is prevalent throughout the Caribbean among men. Playing games, and gaining access to new games, also was an incentive to trade and borrow other people’s cell phones. Teenagers in rural and urban Jamaica often possessed a wealth of knowledge about the particular games offered on different phone models and tried to borrow their parents’, siblings’, other family members’, neighbors’ and friends’ cell phones while they were bored, or “killing time” (see Ito and Bittanti, Forthcoming) at home. With almost one-third of Jamaica’s population being under the age of 15, and 26% unemployment rate among youth of working age, 15-24, in 2004, games on mobile phones and (in most cases) second-hand devices like gameboys or consoles were a welcome addition to their everyday ecology.

Even a quick review of my notes from our research on mobile phones in Jamaica suggests that gaming is not only present in a place like Jamaica, but that it may be being integrated into Jamaican culture in a number of fascinating ways. For example, and like many contexts in the United States, gender dynamics emerged around gaming. In the relative privacy of their home, many girls talked about how they enjoyed playing the basic games that came on their mobile phones when they were “bored”, but girls were relatively absent when the members of the local “crews” played games on the neighborhood console in more public settings. In addition, the only girls at the internet café were the girlfriends who lingered near their boyfriend while he played a game, and the (quite popular) girl who took payments at the shop. At the time I remember thinking these practices were interesting but, for a variety of reasons (time constraints, funding sources, and other research agendas), I never felt followed it up with further research. Given that so many of us carrying out ethnographic work in contexts outside of the United States may find ourselves making similar choices, I wonder what lies in the margins and footnotes of other researcher’s fieldnotes which we can and should start paying attention to in order to develop a deeper understanding of new media in everyday. Perhaps more importantly, how we can begin to bring these footnotes and partial accounts into the foreground to enable us to map the gaming landscape in a range of countries and regions throughout the world?

References:
Horst, Heather A. and Daniel Miller. 2006. The Cell Phone: An Anthropology of Communication. Oxford: Berg.

Ito, Mizuko and Matteo Bittanti. Forthcoming. Gaming. In Ito, et. al’s Hanging Out, Messing Around and Geeking Out: Living and Learning with New Media. Cambridge: MIT Press

Miller, Daniel and Heather A. Horst. 2005. The Jamaican Internet: Supply, Demand and Education. Information Society Research Group
Working Paper Series No. 5 (June 2005).

Book Review: Internet and Asian Cultural Studies

Cho-Han Hae-Joang et al, Seoul, Korea: Yonsei University Press, 2007

I visited Korea recently. Since it was a short stay, I did not have much chance to update myself with busy observations on ever-changing technosphere in Korea as I would usually do. Yet I managed to meet a young cultural studies researcher, Kim Hee-Won who has been keeping a sharp eye on the Internet world and its young inhabitants, thanks to Larissa Hjorth’s kind introduction. Chatting with/interviewing Hee-Won in the midst of my jet lag stupor was more than refreshing, and we simply could not agree more about the dearth (and urgency) of serious research on new media practices and cultures in Korea in the shadow of the hyped image of wired Korea.

One of interesting points from our conversation that grabbed me was Hee-Won’s view on the generational identity of young Koreans in their 20s with regards to their new media practices. Hee-Won reads their intensive attachment to such new media services as Minihompy, messenger, and SMS and their often obsessive attempt to be constantly connected as a form of performing a reciprocal “check-up of (their) survival for another day.” It is generally true that these new social media intensify the sense of ‘constant on’ for users across generations. Yet as Hee-Won suggests, this practice may reflect the desire for the emotional comfort from assuring one’s presence within the network. In particular, this interpretation makes quite appealing sense when it comes to Korean youth in 20s whose insecure social status, resulted from increasing unemployment rate since 1997 economic crisis, has become a widely acknowledged social issue. In other words, Internet has provided the major playground and outlet for this frustrated generation.

Our speculation on this specific group of youth got me rethinking and reassured about the simple principle of our study on digital media and youth: the importance of considering historical and cultural specificity of diverse groups of young people under the umbrella of the term ‘youth’ as well as recording the transformative and transient nature of media practices. Certainly, Internet would not be the same space for Korean teenager who is born into it with many other available options of digital media and the twenty something whose primal new media experience began with the burgeoning Internet.

Moreover, I am glad to find my question is not wasted yet more profoundly addressed in Internet and Asian Cultural Studies, an anthology Hee-Won kindly gave me. Written in Korean by renowned as well as young cultural studies researchers who are mostly rooted in Yonsei University’s Graduate Program in Culture and Gender Studies, this book provides a great historical standpoint to what they call, “holding back” moment of Internet culture in Korea. Declaring the end of the first stage of Internet fever, it attempts to surmise the legacy of wired Korea in early 2000s and record the transition of the Internet from the wild new space for various voluntary and civil experiments to the striated space for tired/accustomed patterns overrun by the commercial logic, at the threshold of institutionalized “networked era.”

Each article based primarily on ethnographical field research presents so many interesting findings and rich details of what have constructed newly emerging alternative space for Korean and Korean youth. Yet, an anthology format always makes it hard to dwell on each argument. To briefly introduce the gamut of researches, the book includes Cho-Han Hye-Joang’s thought-provoking review of the history of Korean Internet culture with focus on specific ‘agencies’ and ‘sites’; Kim-Cheong Hee-Won’s comprehensive analysis on Cyworld community; Hwang Sang-Min’s, an author of the Dehanminkook Cyber Sinillyu (Korean Cyber New Generation), qualitative study on online community, Gaming(Maple Story), and the role of play for learning and identity formation in cyberspace; Park Geon-Ha on Progamers’ world; Yun Te-Jin on the transnational consumption of popular cultural products, especially reception of foreign television drama content across Asia; Kim Hak-Sil and Lee Chung-Han on active consumption and re-appropriation of Japanese entertainment content by young Korean fans; Kim Hyun-Mi on the lagged establishment of accompanying laws and policies and shifting cultural values in Internet space.

In spite of limited space here, I would like to highlight Cho-Han Hye-Joang’s works as her article presents overarching themes of the book. Cho-Han is a renowned cultural anthropologist who has been delving into the issues of gender and youth culture in modern Korea for the last 30 years. She is one of few anthropologists who not only keep critical eyes but also act out pronouncedly on the emerging cultures and changes of Korean society along with Internet and new media technologies. For example, Seoul Youth Factory for Alternative Culture (Haja Center), where Cho-Han is the founding director, is one of exemplary institutional projects that run alternative and innovative learning programs for young people.

In her article, she raises two questions: how has Korea established the infrastructure of the Internet network so fast and where are the Internet venture companies and online netizens who built and grew out of this environment now? While there have been various academic and journalistic attempts to unearth the secret behind the success of IT-power house Korea, Cho-Hans’s answer to the first question resonates to those views that pinpoint the operating discourse of techno-nationalism underlying rapid technological developments, which I also see as the central drive behind the development of mobile technology in Korea. It is no doubt that the nationalistic and collective (state-leading yet with active engagement of market and citizens) model, which had once worked well for the rapid industrialization of Korea, did the same trick for the informatization during the 1990s. What Cho-Han adds, based on her rich experience as an educator and early adopter of the Internet at every stage, is her reflective examination of the role of the ‘civil’ sector - the vigorous civil and voluntary experiments in online space of early days (1998-2002)- which she characterizes as the process of establishing “condensed modernization,” “cyber democracy,” temporary self-regulated space,” and “alternative public space.”

In spite of many strong points, however, this book bears one noticeable weakness: the limited attention to the ‘Asian’ aspect of given issue. Betraying what the title promises, it mostly focuses on Korean phenomena. When the Asian and transnational perspective comes into play, it only tackles Japan-Korea cultural exchange. Nevertheless, this anthology expresses its commitment to connecting Korea with other Asian contexts by providing the substantial analysis of Korean case that could potentially illuminate similar social changes undergoing in other Asian countries. Yes, it is true that what we learn from early examples could light up the following discussions yet it would only be the beginning step of what we expect from future comparative researches. 

New Media Practices in China, Part 3: Gaming

Gaming in China has become a huge phenomenon in recent years, both in terms of China’s own domestic gaming industry and the number of Chinese gamers. As Cao and Downing (2008) explain, digital gaming in China began in the 1980s with video arcades and home game consoles. Since that time China’s online gaming industry has progressively developed – particularly in the last few years – into a multibillion-dollar business. While PC-based games are still played, massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs or MMOGs) such as World of Warcraft and domestic titles including NetEase’s Fantasy Westward Journey (which is loosely based on the Journey to the West and the legend of the Monkey King, see image above) are extremely popular, especially among youth. According to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), in June 2008 online games were the seventh most used Internet application, with around 58 percent of Internet users, or 147 million people, reporting that they had played some type of online game (although this represented a 1 percent decrease from December 2007). Of these, 53 percent, or 78 million, played role-playing games for an average of 11.9 hours per week. According to CNNIC’s most recent report, by the end of 2008, 187 million people were playing online games, accounting for approximately 63 percent of those online. Such growth was attributed to the enriched content and format of gaming products as well as various social networking sites adding gaming elements to their offerings (http://www.cnnic.cn/uploadfiles/pdf/2009/1/13/92458.pdf). In 2008, online game revenue was over 18 billion yuan (around $2.7 billion), reflecting a growth rate of nearly 77 percent (Wang, 2009).

With the popularity of online games in China has come a focus in both popular and government discourse on the negative effects of gaming. For example, in Guo’s (2007) study of the Internet usage in seven cities in China, 55.5 percent of users and 49.5 percent on non-users of the Internet agreed that online gaming should be managed or controlled. The Chinese government has been a major proponent of controlling online gaming because of what it perceives as a direct connection between game playing and Internet addiction, and because of its desire to promote a “civilized” or “healthy Internet culture.” The state-run media runs fairly regular stories on the perils of Internet addiction – exhaustion, failure in school, and even death – and to deal with the issue the government has taken a number of measures. These have included everything from setting up boot camps to cure Internet-addicted youth, to electronically limiting to three hours a day the number of hours a minor can play an online game (through a program called an “anti-indulgence system,” http://www.china.org.cn/english/entertainment/217375.htm), to forbidding the opening of new Internet cafes throughout most of 2007. However, the government does not want to ban gaming altogether, especially in light of what a huge revenue source it is. For this reason, it exhorts gaming companies to exercise “self discipline” and to make games that are “healthy.” In line with such exhortations, in early 2008 the Ministry of Culture released its “Third Round of Suggestions for Appropriate Network Game Products for Minors,” which endorsed 10 games (all Chinese made) that were ostensibly “healthy and beneficial” for “brain development” and educating through entertainment (http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/20008-02/08/content_7581520.htm). In general these games also align with the government’s view that games should promote traditional Chinese culture and values, and in fact games that draw upon Chinese history, legends, and martial arts are indeed popular. Chan (2006) notes that discourses of Asianness within games produced not only in China but also Korea function as a “common reference point for in-game narratives, characters and imagery” and invoke a form of authenticity while also allowing for hybridity.

Reflecting the tension between the perceived benefits and drawbacks of online gameplay, the academic literature on gaming in China seems to take two general tracks. In one body of research, especially studies that adopt a social-psychological perspective, online gaming is often associated with Internet addiction. For example, Huang et al. (2007) have developed a “Chinese Internet Addiction Inventory” to assess the correlation between long hours online (usually gaming) and “conflicts, mood modification, and dependence.” Similarly, Wu and Li (2005) compared “normal” university students to those that have failed in their coursework and found online game playing to be a factor in the latter’s poor academic performance.

In contrast to fears about gaming and Internet addiction, other research has noted that discourses about the harmful effects of the Internet seem to be a stand-in for more general anxieties associated with the rapid changes going on in Chinese society, which have led to what many regard as a breakdown in traditional values and created a vast generation gap between Chinese youth and their parents. For example, in their analysis of Internet-addiction and video-game related suicide discourses in China, Golub and Lingley (2008) argue that a “medicalization of social relationships” and the rise of “new forms of self-fashioning enabled by new media that are not socially sanctioned” have emerged as constitutive of more general changes in the nation’s moral order (p. 60). While acknowledging that some online games and users’ gaming habits might be problematic, some educators in China have also reacted strongly to what they perceive as discourses that serve to stigmatize and victimize adolescent Internet users (Chen, 2007).

Still another body of research on gaming seeks to find the positive benefits and the informal learning that takes place through game playing. Echoing work done in other cultural contexts, Liu (2006) argues that multiplayer online role-playing games teach Chinese college students about cooperation, teamwork, and the ability to deal with real-world issues. In a similar vein, Lindtner et al. (2008) stress the collaborative learning that takes place among World of Warcraft players in Internet cafes in China and argue that cultural values as well as socio-economic considerations combine to construct a hybrid cultural ecology of online gaming in China. Wu, Fore, Wang, and Ho (2007) looked specifically at in-game marriage among Chinese players in MMORPGs and concluded that such role-playing allows players to deconstruct gender binaries, question the significance of marriage in the real world, and develop intimate friendships. They thus emphasize the potentially transformative role of online gaming.

Perhaps most clearly revealing the intersections of culture, economics, and moral discourses circulating around gaming in China is the phenomenon of “gold farmers” – primarily young males of rural origin who are paid paltry wages to play online games, especially World of Warcraft, 12 hours a day in what can justifiably be called gaming sweatshops. Rather than reaping the rewards of their gameplay, the gold farmers (also dubbed “peons for hire”) instead turn over whatever game coinage they accumulate to their employer, who then relies on a middleman to sell the virtual loot to a distant customer, usually western, who does not have the time and/or inclination to advance in the game by their own efforts and skill (Dibbell, 2007). Though such practices exist in other countries, China is believed to have the largest number and most extensive network of gold farmers. On the Chinese Internet advertisements for such work can easily be found (e.g., http://bbs.jhnews.com.cn/redirect.php?tid=472192&goto=lastpost), as can reports on the hardship faced this by this class of gamers, who are often treated like “indentured servants” by their bosses and as disappointments by their parents (http://news.iresearch.cn/0200/20080324/78191.shtml). Like their counterparts laboring in factories, restaurants, and data input companies, their long hours and meager pay are still considered by most to be a better option than actual farming in the countryside.

In various realms the gold farming phenomenon has generated debates about everything from gaming ethics to labor in the virtual, global economy, and it has even inspired a documentary (http://chinesegoldfarmers.com/; for an interview with the filmmaker and clips of the film, see http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2008/05/homo-ludens-ludens-desire.php). Outside of China, especially in countries such as the U.S., the Chinese gold farmers have been the target of much hostility because they are perceived as violating the spirit, if on not the rules, of the game. Many have argued that gamers who legitimately compete in World of Warcraft are justified in their anger at the gold farmers. However, others have noted troubling discourses in the game realm in which frustration with the gold farmers (and similarly with Chinese adena farmers in Lineage II) becomes justification for hostility toward China and Chinese people more generally (Steinkuehler, 2006; Yee, 2006). It appears that as gameplay competition becomes divided along racial and ethnic lines, the resentment generated in the game becomes mapped upon and aligned with deeper anxieties and suspicion of China as a “threat” and as a country that doesn’t “play fair” (e.g. intellectual property, copyright).

Finally, just as the practice of gold farming raises issues of race, ethnicity, and nationality, like many new media practices in China, online gaming has also been a space for overt expressions of nationalism. As mentioned above, strains of nationalism run through government discourses related to both the promotion of China’s domestic gaming industry as well as game content. Some Chinese gamers as well have used cyberspace to voice overtly nationalistic sentiments and to mobilize against perceived threats to their (virtual) national sovereignty. The most famous incident occurred in 2006 within Fantasy Westward Journey when a virtual mob of thousands gathered to protest a Jianyi city (a fictional city) government office that was alleged to have an image remarkably similar to a Japanese “rising sun” flag on its wall. The protestors scrawled anti-Japanese insults into the virtual space and demanded the image be removed. This incident was apparently linked to a player of the game who had had his name and guild (both anti-Japanese) revoked. The story was first covered by the Beijing Evening News (Beijing Wangbao)
(http://epaper.bjd.com.cn/wb/20060707/200607/t20060707_45533.htm) and then by major Chinese news sites such as Sina and Xinhua (http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2006-07/07/content_4806343.htm). Of course it also spread rapidly across the Chinese blogosphere (http://www.zonaeuropa.com/20060709_1.htm). Writing about the event, Henry Jenkins notes that it reflects the gamers’ internalization of government policies that seek to promote Chinese national culture and pride within games, yet most likely in a way never anticipated (http://www.henryjenkins.org/2006/08/national_politics_within_virtu_1.html). It certainly reveals the Internet as a virtual public sphere, an issue that will be picked up in my next blog post.

References

Cao, Y., & Downing, J. D. H. (2008). The Realities of Virtual Play: Video Games and their Industries in China. Media, Culture & Society, 30(4), 515-529.

Chan, D. (2006). Negotiating intra-Asian games networks: On cultural proximity, East Asian game design, and Chinese farmers. Fibreculture, 8. Retrieved March, 3, 2007, from http://journal.fibreculture.org/issue8/issue8_chan.html

Chen, W. (2007, August 19). Chenmi de weiji neng fou zhuanhua wei shangshang dongli? (Can a sinking crisis be transformed into an upward force?). China Youth Daily. Retrieved November 22, 2007, from http://zqb.cyol.com/content/2007-08/19/content_1864591.htm

Dibbell, J. (2007, June 17). The life of a Chinese gold farmer. New York Times. Retrieved June 17, 2007, from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/magazine/17lootfarmers-t.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

Golub, A., & Lingley, K. (2008). ‘Just like the Qing empire:’ Internet addiction, MMOGs, and moral crisis in contemporary China. Games and Culture, 3(1), 59-75.

Guo, L. (2007, November). Surveying Internet usage and its impact in seven Chinese cities (The CASS China Internet project survey report 2007): Center for Social Development, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Huang, Z., Wang, M., Qian, M., Zhong, J., & Tao, R. (2007). Chinese Internet addiction inventory: Developing a measure of problematic Internet use for Chinese college students. Cyberpsychollgy & Behavior, 10(805-811).

Lindtner, S., Nardi, B., Wang, Y., Mainwaring, S., Jing, H., & Liang, W. (November 8-12, 2008). A hybrid cultural ecology: World of Warcraft in China. CSCW ‘08.

Liu, X. (2006). Qianyi wangluo youxi dui daxuesheng xiaoyuan shenghuo de yinxiang (The influence of online games on college students’ campus life). Journal of Nanchang Institute of Aeronautical Technology, 8(3), 83-85.

Steinkuehler, C. (2006). The mangle of play. Games and Culture, 1(3), 199-213.

Wang, X. (2009, January 14). China’s online game market grows 76.6% in 2008. China Daily. Retrieved January 20, 2009, from http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-01/14/content_7397315.htm

Wu, W., Fore, S., Wang, X., & Ho, P. S. Y. (2007). Beyond virtual carnival and masquerade: In-game marriage on the Chinese Internet. Games and Culture, 2(1), 59-89.

Wu, Y.-W., & Li, X.-L. (2005). Xueye shoucuo daxuesheng yu yiban daxuesheng shangwang zhuangkuang bijiao (A comparative study of Internet usage status between normal and study-failed college students). Chinese Mental Health Journal, 19(2), 116-118.

Yee, N. (2006, January). Yi-Shan-Guan. The Daedalus Project. Retrieved October 10, 2007, from http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/001493.php

New Media Practices in Korea: Part 2. Gaming

Online game and PC bang (Internet café) are two key words that represent Korean game culture. In early 2000s, online gaming emerged as the primary mode of gaming due to the rapid penetration of broadband Internet network. In fact, scholars argue that online games were a “catalyst for creating an increasing demand for broadband connection” since the huge success of StarCraft, the first phenomenally popular online game title introduced in 1999 (Huhh, 2008). In a short time, Korean game industry has risen to top and online game services have become representative cultural exports of Korea, particularly in the global MMORPG market. For example, since first launched in 1998, Lineage, the most successful domestic MMORGP, has built one of the prominent MMORPG worlds that boasts the largest share of global market (combining Lineage I (21.9 %) and Lineage II (23.1 %).

Before online game arrived, Korea also had arcade games and video game culture since the early 1980s, but their influences were circumscribed due to Korea’s complex historical context. As a repercussion of the colonial experience, Korea government regulated and imposed restrictions on the import of Japanese arcade games, early portable games, and console games (both hardware and software) until 2004. Arcade game parlors, which operated with pirated or copied game softwares, flourished as popular local hangouts among young people. But console games have not taken up its momentum for Korean gamer as much as in other countries. This social context paradoxically facilitated the growth of domestic online games, which took advantage of the absence of strong competitors as well as the latest technology of broadband Internet.

The context of 1997 economic crisis is particularly important in the development of online game, as for other ICT uptakes. Huhh (2008) elaborates this unique contextual aspect of Korea online game, wherein with the collapse of conventional industries, human/financial resources flooded into the game industry. Massive population of youth in teens and twenties transformed themselves into gamers, often unwillingly with more free time to devote to gaming due to the exacerbated job markets. This migration of cultural resources led to the boom of PC bang as a new profitable business. Subsequent development and the success of adjacent institutions such as game TV channels and professional game leagues promoted gaming as a serious leisure activity: appropriated as e-sports. Like all other ICT uptakes in Korea during this period, online gaming industry also benefited from the government’s strategic support, whose favorable policies for the industry have become a benchmarking model for other countries such as China and Singapore (Chung, 2008). For this reason, issues of policy/regulations, technological innovation, and the business strategies of game culture have attracted the most attention from both domestic and overseas scholars who either aim to promote domestic game industry or unearth the secret of its success (Dai & Chee, 2008).

From the beginning, young people were major players in the gaming scene as well as main residents in the thousands of PC bangs located in every corner of the street. Initially, the public discourse surrounding gaming had a rather positive, at least not condemning, tone as Korean youth’s mastery of new media technology was generally considered productive for the future of the nation. However, the emergence of new forms of social problems that were linked to intensive gaming culture stirred up social anxiety about the ‘incomprehensible youth culture’ spiraling out of control. Such notorious incidents as death by excessive gaming, game item stealing/selling, and murder in the revenge for PK (player killing within game) has easily led to the dismissive public debate on the hazards of game addiction and youth delinquency (Sung & Lee , 2003).

Heaven of Gamers: PC bang

PC bang is perhaps the most discussed topic both in and outside Korea as it represents culturally specific gaming practices in Korea. In 2007, Seoul alone hosted 22,000 PC bangs, which are ubiquitous in most second-levels of buildings on the street (Huhh, 2008). Like Internet cafes in other countries, PC bang provides the physical place where general public can have easy access to the Internet service: It is mainly for gaming in Korea. However, PC bang in Korea is a social and economic institution central to the formulation of Korean business models such as “IP pricing,” “no-subscription fee system/micro-transaction,” and “GongSungJun” (in-game Guild Warfare often collectively conducted at PC bangs) (Yoon, 2003; Huhh, 2008). It is also the cultural space where ‘collective’ gaming formed as the predominant practice of Korean gamers. In addition, PC bang serves as a local community for gamers. Consequently, it nourishes the future career of young gamers to step up into the professional game leagues, bridging between online and offline game world and amateur and professional game sphere. In particular, PC bang is the center of gaming-related youth leisure culture outside of official education institutions and after schools, what Florence Chee defines “the third place”(Chee, 2005; 2006). Motivations and individual needs vary but teens mostly go to PC bang to socialize with peers, whether it is for gaming and/or for dating (Yoon, 2001). Also it provides the pseudo/alternative private space for solitary gamers outside of the parents’ surveillance (Sung & Lee, 2003a). As high-speed broadband has become more easily accessible at home, however, solitary gaming in the private gaming environment is increasing. In 2005, 76.5 percent of gamers reported that they play mostly at home (Ahn, 2005).

Playing Together: MMORPG

It is this ‘social play’ of gaming that represents Korean game culture. Most attempts to recuperate the positive effect of online gaming focus on the gamers’ extended ‘sociality.’ In general, young Korean gamers engage with online game out of such motivations as “drive for power” (Lee, 2002), “easy access”(Nam & Lee, 2005), “stress relief and escapism”(Lee, 2003), “fun”(Jeong & Lee, 2001), and “sociality, entertainment, and escapism.”(Lee, 2003). Among diverse online game genres, MMORPG is the most popular genre and the favored subject of academic studies although online game market has greatly diversified since the sensational success of the casual online game Kart Rider in 2004. Research findings show that social interaction is the central characteristics of the MMORPG genre and the attraction of ‘networking’ is the major factor of the success of online game genre (Yoon Sunny, 2001). In this regard, numerous studies analyze the formation of game community, guild activities, and pro-gamers centered on specific game titles.

Reflecting its cultural hegemony, Lineage world is also the most studied from various perspectives, in terms of its formal structure, aesthetics, social effects, and gamers’ practices. In particular, the issue of ‘sociality of Lineage players’ has generated vigorous discussion (Han, 2000; Hwang et al, 2004; Jang, 2005; Steinkuehler, 2006; Whang, 2003, 2004; Park & Yu, 2008). 50 percent of Korean gamers consider friends who they meet within the Lineage world to be as equally important as their real-life friends, acknowledging Lineage functions as a pseudo real world (Hwang et al, 2004). Experiences in Lineage world have also proven to nourish gamers’ offline leadership (Lim & Park, 2007) and embedded game activities such as micro-transaction, item trading, and internet item buying, encourage young people to engage in diverse economic activities (Kang, 2007; Lee et al, 2007). Scholars argue that these diverse social activities that are manifested in gaming present possible learning opportunities for Korean youth to extend their social interaction and reaffirm their sense of presence (Um et al, 2005).

Mobile Gaming

Overshadowed by the dominance of online games, other modes and forms of games have been marginalized in the academic discussion. Recently, the increasing popularity of mobile gaming for a wide range of generations, especially among women, is particularly noteworthy. In Korea, mobile phone is the common platform to play mobile games, which are mostly mobile version of online games provided through mobile content service. Portable game devices such as Sony DSP and Nintendo DS are slowly taking up the attention of casual gamers, regardless of gender. Since Nintendo DS went on sale in 2006, it has sold 2 mil consoles as of 2008 (http://kotaku.com). The appeal of mobile games based on their female friendly genres and aesthetics raises an interesting question regarding the gendered aspect of gaming culture (Jeon, 2007a, 2007b; Hjorth, 2006, 2007).

Indeed, female gamers have increased from 29.9 percent in 2005 to 31.5 percent in 2006 and they show more preference for mobile games (Korean Game Industry Promotion Agency, 2006). Many women see online and offline game worlds as constructions of masculine space and feel social restraints or societal pressure in navigating these worlds. Jeon (2007b) argues that mobile game provides spatial freedom for female gamers from male dominant social orders in conventional game space. However, there exist continuing (cultural) restrictions of mobility for female gamers, as most female mobile gamers prefer to play at home in contrast to male players who enjoy unrestricted playing at school or work place. Therefore, it is not surprising that ‘solitary gaming’ is the prominent mode among female mobile gamers. The popularity of ‘board game’ genre, especially on mobile phone, seems to reiterate this tendency. For example, Gostop, a traditional Korean card game, was the most popular board game among adult mobile gamer in 2004 and Gostop and poker games have continuously dominate the mobile game market (Han et al, 2005).

Young female mobile gamers play with their peers in a more relaxed environment since the games do not require engagement with collective guild and clan activities as seen in serious PC-based online gaming. They often exchange text messages or chats with their friends while playing the same mobile games. In this sense, mobile gaming forms the part of ‘casual intimacy-oriented’ youth peer culture (Hjorth, 2007; Jeon, 2007a). Significantly, cute aesthetics of mobile games played a key role in attracting these marginalized groups of gamers, who were already accustomed to it through other new media services such as Cyworld. At the same time, simple and easy application of these cute casual games invited female gamers who initially had resistance to serious online gaming due to their lack of technical or social skills. The sensational success of Kart Rider is a good example. When it was first launched in 2004, it was hard to expect this cute racing online game would topple the famous StarCraft. Unlike heavy and complicated MMORPG game, Kart Rider was also easily adapted to the mobile platform. More than 2 million individuals played it everyday and up to 220,000 users are connected simultaneously during peak hours (Cho, 2005). Considering that convergent mobile devices are at the center of the changing new media environment in Korea, there is no question that gaming will expand its charm to a wider population, probably outside of PC bang.

References

English Sources

Chang, B., Lee, S., & Kim, B. (2006). Exploring Factors Affecting the Adoption and Continuance of Online Games among College Students in South Korea: Integrating Uses and Gratification and Diffusion of Innovation Approaches. New Media Society, 8(2), 295-319.

Chee, F. (2005). Understanding Korean Experiences of Online Game Hype, Identity, and the Menace of the “Wang-tta”. Vancouver, Canada. Retrieved July 30, 2008, from http://ir.lib.sfu.ca/handle/1892/1620.
------, (2006). The Games We Play Online and Offline: Making Wang-Tta in Korea. Popular Communication, 4(3), 225.

Chung, P. (2008). New Media for Social Change: Globalization and the Online Gaming Industries of South Korea and Singapore. Science Technology and Society, 13(2), 303-323.

Dal Yong Jin, & Chee, F. (2008). Age of New Media Empires: A Critical Interpretation of the Korean Online Game Industry. Games and Culture, 3(1), 38-58.

Hjorth, L. (2006). Playing at Being Mobile: Gaming and Cute Culture in South Korea . Fibreculture Journal, (8). Retrieved August 29, 2008, from http://journal.fibreculture.org/issue8/issue8_hjorth.html.
------. (2007). The Game of Being Mobile: One Media History of Gaming and Mobile Technologies in Asia-Pacific. Convergence, 13(4), 369-381.

Huhh, J. (2008). Culture and Business of PC Bangs in Korea. Games and Culture, 3(1), 26-37.

Steinkuehler, C. (2006). The Mangle of Play. Games and Culture, 1(3), 199-213.

Whang, L. S. (2003). Online Game Dynamics in Korean Society: Experiences and Lifestyles in the Online Game World. Korea Journal, 43(3), 7-34.

Whang, L. S, & Chang, G. (2004). Lifestyles of Virtual World Residents: Living in the On-Line Game “Lineage”. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 7(5), 592-600.

Korean Sources

Ahn, D. (2005). Cheongsonyeonui Internet Yiyong Hengtega Samuigile Michineun Yeonghyang: Online Gameeul Jungsimuiro (An Influence of Adolescents` Online Game Playing on Quality of Life). Korean Association for Policy Sciences Report, 9(4), 259-287.

Han, C. (2000). Online Gameeu Sahyeujeok Gineung Yeongu: Lineagereul Jungsimeuro (A Study of Social Function of Online Games: Focus on Lineage). Electronic Engineering Studies, 27(9).

Han, K. H., Kim, T. U., & Kim, Y. K. (2005).  Yiyongkwa Manjok Kwanjeomeseo bon Mobilegame Yiyonheh Kwanhan Yeongu (A Study on Mobile Game Usage of Adolescent from Use and Gratifications Perspective). Computer Education Studies, , 8(2), 61-73.

Hwang, S., Kim, J., & Im, J. (2004). Sangpumuiroseoui Online Game Segyewa Yeokhalnolyijaroseoui Online game Sobijaui Hengdong Teukseong (The Online Game World as a Product and the Behavioral Characteristics of Online Game Consumers as Role Player). Journal of the Science of Emotion & Sensibility, 7(3), 37-50.

Jang, K. (2005). MMORPGeui Sahweoijeok Hameui: Gameeui Jinhwa, Siljegam, Gondongche, Munhwa (Social Implication of MMORPG: The Evolution of Game, Sense of Presence, Community, and Culture). Information Science Studies, 23(6).

Jeon, G. (2007a).  Yeoseong Gamerui Gamehagiwa Geo Munhwajeok Euimie dehan Yeongu: Golevel Yeoseong Gamerui Gamehagireul Jungsimuiro (A study of Women in Digital Games and Their Gaming). Cyber Communication Studies, 22(0), 83-117.
------, (2007b).  Mobile Gamekwa Yidongseongui Seongbeulhwa: Yeoseongui Yidongjeunhwa gamehagiui Tamsekjeok Gochal (Mobility and Playability: A Study on the Female Mobile Phone Gamers). Korean Broadcasting Studies, 21, 536-573.

Jeong, Y., & Lee, S. (n.d.). Namjacheongsonyeunui Computer Gameyiyonggwa Game jungdokseong mit Gonggeokseong (Computer Gaming and Addiction/Aggressive Behaviors among Male Adolescents). Dehan Family Studies, 39, 67-80.

Kang, J. (2007). Online Game Item Sijangyi Gamemunhwae michineun Yeonghyange gwanhan Gochal (The Effect of Online Game Item Market on Game Culture). In Proceedings of the Korean Sociology Conference (pp. 19-33). Korea.

Lee, E., & Park, H. (2007). Cheongsonyeunui Internet Item Gumemanjok Yuhyeonghwawa Gyeoljeongyoin (Adolescent Consumers’ Internet-Item Shopping Satisfaction: Satisfaction Types and Its Determinants). Consumer Culture Studies, 10(4), 173-196.

Lee, H. (2002). Cheongsonyeondeului Eumranmul, Eumranchatting, Pokryeokgame Jungdokgyeonghyeome dehan Bigyobunseok (A Comparative Study of Adolescents’ Addictive Experience of Adults content and Violent Game). Youth Studies, 9(1), 91-114.

Lee, H. (2003). Cheongsonyeunui Game Yiyonggwa GeinSahyuijeok Yoinyi Gamemolyipgwa Gamejungdoke michineun Yeonghyang (A Study of Adolescents’ Motivations of Gaming and the Effect of Personal and Social factors on Game Addiction). Youth Studies, 10(4), 355-380.
Lim , S., & Park, N. (2007). Dasayongja online Roleplaying Game Yiyong Donggiwa Offline Leadership Yeonghwang Yeongu (MMORPG Users’ Motivations and the Spill-over Effect on their off-line Leadership Development). Korean Journalism & Communication Studies, 51(5), 332-485.

Nam, Y., & Lee, S. (2005). Cheongsonyeunui Internet Jungdol Yuhyeonge Ddareun Wihyeumyoin mit Bohoyoingwa Jeongsingeungang Bigyoyeongu (A Comparative Study of Dangerous Aspects and Protective Aspects of Adolescents’ Game Addiction). Korean Social Welfare Studies, 57, 195-222.

Park, S., & Yu, B. (2008). Online Communityui Hyoyulseongyi Online Community Molyipe Michineun Yeonghwang (The Effect of Online Community Effectiveness on Online Community Commitment: Focus on Online Game Community). In Proceedings of the 2008 International Economics Joint Conference (pp. 1-12). Seoul, Korea.

Sung, Y., & Lee, S. (2003a). Gameban Cheongsonyeonui Siberiltal Kwajeonge Kwanhan Munhwagisuljeok Yeongu (An Ethnographic Study on Cyber-Delinquency among Adolescents). Association of Child Studies Report, 24(3), 109-134.
------, (2003b). Cheongsonyeuneu Onlinegame Molipgwajeonge Gwanhan Munhwagisulseok Yeongu (An Ethnographic Study of Online game Commitment among Adolescents). Adolescents Counseling Study, 11(1), 96-115.

Um, M., Kim, T., & Kim, C. (2005). Online gameeui Ehodoeh Gwanhan Siljeungjeolk Yeongu: Sanghojakyongseonggwa Hyeunjongameul Jungsimeuro (Exploratory Study of Loyalty to Online Games: Focus on Interactivity and the Sense of Presence). Management Science, 22(1).

Yoon, S. (2003). Networkgamegwa Yeongsangmunhwa, Geu Gujowa Jucheeui Dynamism (Network Game and Visual Culture : Dynamics between the structure and Subject). Sasang, Summer, 214-243.
------, (2001). When the Starcraft Launches on the other side of Planet: An Ethnographic Study of the Network Game in Korea. Korea Journalism Studies, 45(2), 316-437.

New Media Practices in India, Part 3: Gaming

Although India’s gaming market and associated activities have grown dramatically over the last few years, the research literature on the topic is still sparse. According to Nasscom, the Indian IT industry’s main association, the country’s gaming segment — comprising mobile, computer and console games and development — was estimated to grow from Rs 192 crore (US $3.8 million) in 2006 to Rs 1,700 crore (US $ 34 million) by 2010, equaling an annual growth rate of 72 percent. In spite of this increase, which is sustained by young men gaming in internet cafes and increasingly on mobile phones, the industry has yet to make significant in-roads into the everyday practices of Indians. There is therefore noticeably little in the public discourse about gaming addiction, violence and other concerns, which are so pervasive in other countries.

According to market research companies, the gaming expansion in India is pushed by increasing broadband use, growth of Internet cafes, an increasingly - and increasingly affluent - middle-class, the emerging youth market and inexpensive mobile prepaid game cards http://www.ibef.org/artdisplay.aspx?cat_id=60&art_id=17259&refer=n47. The Indian gaming expansion can also be ascertained from the fact that important gaming events and competitions are starting to be organized from this country. On February 12, 2009, the first-ever ‘World Gaming Day,’ which was marketed as “the largest-ever youth connect initiative to celebrate gaming” by its organizers Sony Ericsson, Zapak.com and Microsoft XBOX 36, was celebrated in Mumbai http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Infotech/Software/Sony_XBOX_announce_World_Gaming_Day_on_Feb_12/articleshow/4090144.cms. The World Gaming Day culminated four weeks of intense activities, with an estimated 19 million games played predominantly in India, US, UK, Australia, Singapore, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia. Later this year, the FIFA Interactive World Cup 2009, sponsored by Electronic Arts and Sony Ericsson and played entirely on Playstation 3 consoles, will take place in India. The flipside to this growth is the gaming industry’s concern about the increasing pirating practices.

Another element in the growth of Indian gaming is its connection to the world of Bollywood, materializing in mobile phone games based on popular Bollywood films. For example, at the World Gaming Day mentioned above, two Bollywood actors were at hand to congratulate the winners and to extoll the fun of playing games. Earlier this month, the Bollywood classic “Devdas” gave rise to “Dev D,” a new mobile phone game that enables gamers to take on the persona of the main protagonist of the film. The hope is that the mass appeal of such classics will translate into mass markets for the games (http://in.news.yahoo.com/137/20090203/740/tnl-second-bollywood-hero-goes-virtual-i.html). Similarly, the country’s first 3D video game is inspired by the Bollywood hit thriller “Ghajini.”

Most games are played in internet cafes, mainly by boys and young men. While networked gaming is one of the most popular activities in urban internet cafes (Rangaswamy 2007a), in rural internet kiosks boys have also been observed to play video games
(Kentaro et al 2007). Most specifically, zapak.com, a leading game provider that is part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, is building ‘gameplexes,’ which are dedicated cyber cafes that promote online gaming. Zapak is also aiming to expand gaming beyond young males, with a service called zapakgirls.com, branded as “the world’s largest/India’s first ever/ gaming destination for women” that makes available strategy, puzzle and arcade games. The site also has forums with titles such as ‘Career’, ‘Health & Fitness’, ‘Love’, ‘Fashion’, ‘Family’ and ‘Let Loose,’ where the women can exchange their views on these topics (http://girls.zapak.com ). Similarly, Zapak Tiny provides games for 4 to 7 year olds, in order to grow the next generation of gamers (http://www.tiny.zapak.com ).

Educational Games

One important area arising from the development focus of ICTs in India is the development of games for use in mobile phones that help children, and adults, to learn outside the formal educational setting. The Mobile and Immersive Learning for Literacy in Emerging Economies (MILLEE) project at UC Berkeley uses such games to teach rural Indian children English; the project is supported by the MacArthur Foundation (http://hub.dmlcompetition.net/profiles/blog/show?id=2044804%3ABlogPost%3A3511).
The same team has also developed and field-tested various other games to help children who may not be able to go to school (Kam et al 2007). Another example is the work of Netika Raval around mobile phone games for water use, developed in part to connect children’s learning to real life experience (http://rdvp.org/fellows/2006-2007/netika-raval/). In virtually all of these design studies and their applications, at least one of the team members is of Indian descent and thus can act as a cultural broker for the design team, as it develops and tests its prototypes. Aside from examining the rural and urban of schools and communities, there is little attention paid to contextualizing these interactions in participants’ everyday experiences. In the formal educational setting, two young Indian bankers from Chennai, in partnership with the Millennium Mathematics Project at Cambridge University, developed the HeyMath game, which provides mathematics textbooks, teaching and assessment tools as well as lesson plans over the internet, with the use of animation tools.

Gaming Discourses

In contrast to countries like Korea, discourses of game addiction do not (yet) seem to have emerged; I could only find one article on general internet addiction (Kanwal and Anand 2003). It might be however that as gaming is taken up by the Indian population in a more substantial way, new dimensions of the moral panic discourse (Ravindran 2007) come to focus on issues of addiction and illness.

In addition, in January 2008, a measure was introduced in the Indian parliament to ban violent video games. Rather than garnering large-scale support, the bill has been controversial because it was introduced by a Bollywood star whose son purchased the game for his son, who wanted a popular game that his friends in the UK were playing. The reaction has been one of outrage against attempts of censorship at the state level, rather than in the video game industry. As one of the contributors to the debate noted, on the blog desicritics.org:

“As with Internet usage, parents need to make their own informed decisions as to which games their kids get to play. In fact, video games can be great bonding activities between parents and their children and I have frequently seen fathers come with their kids to the local pirates and buy games for their children after much entertaining discussions. The Big Brother approach rarely works with Indian citizens, yet people revel in the same nevertheless. When children find creative ways of breaking family rules, how does the state with lax legal institutions and enforcement agencies curb adults from indulging in activities they don’t consider to be illegal in the first place? Does censorship really work in India or is it just a paper tiger? Since when have we let these Bollywood actors and socialites dictate what the citizens of India can or cannot do? Maybe it’s time Mrs Tagore sorted out her own house, paid more attention to the kind of games her grandkids played especially when the games have big letters saying MA printed on them instead of urging the government to babysit the nation’s children at the expense of the tax payers hard earned money. Why should others pay for her blatant ignorance and negligence?” http://desicritics.org/2008/01/09/071938.php

I am quoting this post at length because it provides a good summary of my examination of gaming in India, as it touches upon its connection to Bollywood, the perceived entertainment value of gaming, as well as pirating activities. Most importantly, the post also speaks to a number of larger issues around the use of gaming, and new media technologies in general, and how Indian society is negotiating the issues that arise with their use. Just as for Indians themselves, much remains to be learned for academics wanting to study everyday gaming practices in India.

References Cited:

Friedman, T. (2005). Still Eating Our Lunch. New York Times, September 16, 2005.

Kam, M. et al. (2007). Mobile Gaming with Children in Rural India: Contextual Factors in the Use of Game Design Patterns. Paper presented at Digital Games Research Association Conference (DiGRA), Tokyo September 2007.

Kanwal, N. and A. Anand. (2003). Internet Addiction in Students: A Cause of Concern . CyberPsychology & Behavior, 6(6), 653-656.

Kentaro, T. et al. (2007). Rural kiosks in India. Unpublished paper from Microsoft Research India.

Rangaswamy, Nimmi (2007a) ICT for Development and Commerce: A Case Study of Internet Cafes in India. Paper presented at the 9th international conference on social implications of computers in developing countries. Sao Paolo, Brazil, May 2007.

Ravindran. G. (2007). Moral Panics and Mobile Phones: The Cultural Politics of New Media Modernity in India,’ Paper presented at the Living the Information Society Conference, Makati City, Manila, April 2007.

New Media Practices in Brazil, Part IV: Gaming

Piratão, Boit Tatá, Carnaval 2009, Rio, Published under a Creative Commons License by URBefotos

According to Lugo, et. al (2002), at the turn of the century Latin America represented “a marginal segment of world sales: only 2 percent of the world consumption of software and hardware” related to video games. Despite the relatively low numbers associated with official video game consumption, popular discussions of gaming and video games suggest that there continues to be a widespread adoption of, and passion for, video games. For instance, when Video Games Live came to Brasilia for a performance to celebrate video game culture and art in September of 2007, the show was sold out (see a video promo of Video Games Live in Brazil in Brasilia on September 30, 2007. Between 2005 and 2006, media giant Globo integrated kids playing a virtual reality game Conquista de Titã (Titan’s Conquest) into their daily ‘TV Xuxa’ program. Brazil’s gaming culture is also noted throughout the gaming blogosphere for the proliferation of different games and gaming consoles (e.g. Spanner 2005), particularly NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) games (http://www.nesplayer.com/pirates/index.htm). Abragames, (Associação Brasileira das Desenvolvedoras de Jogos Eletrônicos), Brazil’s primary gaming association, consistently works with the Ministry of Culture to promote and enhance the local gaming industry, a reflection of an ongoing debate concerning the extent to which the industry should expand and even nationalize the production of software (Lugo, et.al. 2002 note that Brazil has been fairly conservative in this respect). This dichotomy between the official gaming industry discourse about of games and the presence of gaming culture in Brazil stems, at least in part, from the high cost of video game consoles and software in Brazil due to high importation taxes as well as the pervasiveness of video game piracy in Brazil (Rapoza 2005). According to TexPine (2008), the situation can be described as follows:

“Game piracy is endemic: 94% of PC retail games and nearly 100% of console games are pirated. Not even the richest youth of the country bothers to buy original console games, which cost US$ 98. Like everyone else they can easily spot illegal street vendors selling pirated games for US$ 8 or less. On online-distributed games, even low-cost Brazilian titles in Portuguese like Brasfoot (US$ 7) and CaveDays (US$ 14,5) are hacked by piracy-dedicated blogs, foruns and Torrent sites.”

In the first half of today’s blog post I explore the relationship between video games, piracy and the development of the gaming industry. In the second half, I draw upon popular and academic research on video games to examine the discourses and practices surrounding video games and gaming in Brazil, and consider the implications of these practices for future research on the theories and practices of gaming.

A Brief History

Brazil’s entrée into gaming coincided with the release of the Odyssey in 1981 and the Atari system in the late 1980s. As noted previously, high importation fees enforced by the Brazilian government made the systems difficult to acquire and ardent gamers began looking for alternative ways to expand their game play. Starting with Atari consoles, a full scale industry around cloned console systems emerged (lstr 2000, Spanner 2005). Around 1990, the Brazilian company Gradiente released the Phantom System, an NES clone which effectively transformed the NES into the dominant platform in Brazil, despite the fact that Nintendo did not formally release its console in South America (TSR 2000.). By the mid- 1990s, Brazilians had customized various consoles so that they could accept Nintendo games that came from Japan and the United States (Nintendo’s two largest markets). This continued with the release of the Playstation. According to Spanner (2005),

“This completely turned the tables on the way Brazilians perceived their game playing experience as compared with the rest of the world. The software was already there, available in vast and diverse quantities, and would play in almost any console bought, so the buyer’s quandary came in the form of deciding exactly which NES or Atari compatible clone offered the features they wanted. Software wasn’t a concern; it was the hardware that mattered.”

While gamers may view Brazil as a gamer’s paradise, the persistence of piracy has discouraged companies such as Sony to sell games in Brazil. As Rapoza (2005) notes, Brazilian game developers cannot create games for the PlayStation2, and consoles such as the Xbox and Nintendo systems are not sold. Because the pirated video game market is so rich and varied, “A game that might sell a million original copies in Wal-Mart in the United States will sell fewer than 10,000 in the Wal-Marts of Brazil” (Rapoza 2005). One of the more interesting responses to this climate of piracy is the increasing support of online games by software companies who charge subscriptions for use on a monthly basis. This enables companies to check the licensing of software and establishes online distribution channels which are often free. Games that follow this model are Ernia and FutSim. (Wharton School of Business 2004). Although a recent, and somewhat public, confiscation of a piracy operation might suggest a shifting attitude by the Brazilian officials who want to encourage the development of the local gaming industry, the large scale production of video game hardware and software seems destined to continue.

The State of Play

Inclusão digital, SAO PAULO -SP - 11.01.2008 - INFORMATICA - Nitro Lan House, localizada no Grajaú. Nas palavras do dono, “aqui abre mais lan house que boteco”. Folha de S. Paulo. Published under a Creative Commons License by Paulo Fehlauer

The debates about a shift in focus to the local video games market also reflect broader debates within Brazilian society about the ‘effects’ of media and their social value, most prominently the association between video games and obesity as well as violence. As early as 1999, Quake was also banned (along with 133 other games). In 2008, Everquest and Counterstrike were banned by a judge in Brazil deeming them “dangerous to consumers health” (LA Times 2008). Counterstrike, whose content was localized to mimic the favelas in Rio de Janiero and involved characters such as police offers and drug traffickers vying for control of the area, was considered particularly disturbing given players ability to fight the police. Two months later, a judge consulted with psychiatrists and others before announcing his decision that the video game Bully should be banned due to the association of violence in schools (Delahunty 2008). While there has in general been outrage and protests by the gaming community, more cynical commentators note that these bans only help the publicity for a particular game that the industry itself will not make money from in Brazil one can count on the wide availability of bootleg copies.

Much like we see in school and afterschool programs in the United States, these attitudes towards video games also impact the accessibility to gaming. Bar (personal communication) notes that telecenters and POS make it a point to ban gaming and other activities, such as accessing Orkut, downloading music, that are viewed as “unproductive” or “a waste of time”. While the field of game studies, new media and learning reveal the importance of gaming for entertainment, collaboration, organizing and mobilizing and civic engagement (see Gee 2004, Ito and Bittanti Forthcoming, Ito, et. al. Forthcoming, Kahne 2008, Squire and Steinkhuehler 2005), it is clear that video games continue to be perceived as antithetical to the educational and civic missions of the telecenter effort. This attitude has two implications. In the first instance, and coupled with efforts to offer low-cost loans to individuals and families to purchase computers for use at home, many youth and others who enjoy playing video games simply do not use the telecenter. The second, more common practice is the use of LAN houses.

In his blog post to Overmundo, ronaldoweread (2008) notes that roughly one-third of Brazilians use the internet at cybercafe’s and LAN houses which offer relatively cheap access (prices vary between R$0,50 the R$1,50 per use to play games or access the internet with a broadband connection). Unlike telecenters which restrict activities, LAN houses have become a central site for playing games, updating and checking Orkut pages and socializing more generally and have transformed these spaces into a hotbed of activity for youth and others. Bar (personal communication) suggests that the use of LAN houses is not just a low-income phenomenon, isolated to individuals who cannot afford a home computer or reliable internet access. Rather, he found that many people are co-opting (and paying for) private and for-fee internet cafes precisely for the social purposes, such as hanging out as well as more formal practices such as LAN parties. In other words, even as the lowered cost of computers and the internet reduces the need to share computers and thus creates the possibility for more networked forms of social interaction surrounding games, Bar suggests that face-to-face socialization surrounding games – what Ito and Bittanti (forthcoming) have termed “recreational gaming” – continues to be important, if not preferable for many Brazilian youth.

In addition to LAN houses and parties, Adriana De Souza de Silva carried out research on the emergence of mobile gaming. Brazil’s first Location Based Mobile Game (LBMG), Alien Revolt was released by the MInd Corporation in 2005 and was operated by Oi in Rio de Janeiro. The game narrative involves a battle between alien forces who invade earth and the humans who resist them. Players then choose their team and the type of character they will be and begin the battle, or duel, in the physical site of the city. As she notes, “Players up to three kilometers apart can see each other on their cell phone screen radar. The closer the opponent, the larger the character appears on the screen. Like in Botfighters, shots are more accurate at a close range” (21). This feature is enabled by the use of java-enabled Nokia phones. Collaboration between plays is structured into the game and a sense of community emerged for players of the game, evidenced by the creation of a group in Orkut. While De Souza de Silva (2008) notes that games are generally quite popular in Brazil, her research also highlights the current limitations which impact the widespread adoption LBMG in countries like Brazil where, even in the second most populous city of Rio de Janeiro, participation remained limited to around 300 people (in a city of 13 billion people). De Souza de Silva attributes to the high financial costs of participation, including the purchase of an expensive handset and the high cost of internet enabled services, a topic I will discuss in more detail in next week’s post on mobile phones.

Conclusion

Between pirated consoles and other hardware, the presence of gaming in LAN houses and the emergence of location-based mobile gaming, popular and academic accounts of gaming suggest that gaming is an important dimension of everyday life in Brazil. In addition, gaming is prevalent across the socioeconomic spectrum. Indeed in Tobias Hecht’s (1998) study of Brazilian street children, he notes that “street children often stick together—stealing together, using drugs together, playing video games together - often without apparent interest in doing these things with other children” (158). Yet, despite the pervasiveness of gaming throughout the country and its status as an important site for game innovation (whatever the legalities of these innovations may be), we still know very little about the dynamics of everyday gaming. There may be a number of reasons – the prevalence of piracy and practices that occur outside of the legal framework may be a difficult site to access and ultimately may jeopardize some of the communities researchers may study. The stigma of study gaming may also not sit well with funding agencies, other researchers as well as institutions that undervalue the importance of popular culture and/or do not want to legitimize activities widely perceived as unproductive, particularly for youth. What is clear is that Brazil offers a rich arena for understanding and theorizing connections between new media and learning.

References:

De Souza e Silva, Adriana. 2008. Alien Revolt (2005-2007): A Case Study of the First Location-Based Mobile Game in Brazil. IEEE Technology and Society Magazine Spring 2008: 18-28. http://repository.lib.ncsu.edu/publications/bitstream/1840.2/1953/1/IEEE_AlienRevolt.pdf, Accessed November 10, 2008.

de Souza e Silva, Adriana. 2007. Cell phones and places: The use of mobile technologies in Brazil. In Harvey J. Miller’s Societies and Cities in the Age of Instant Access. Springerlink.

Delahunty, James “Dela”. 2008. Video game ‘Bully’ banned in Brazil. AfterDawn April 13, 2008 http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/13640.cfm, Accessed December 1, 2008.

Fragoso, Suely, et. al. 2008. Learning to Research in Second Life: 3D MUVEs as meta-research fields. International Journal of Education and Development Using ICT 4(2)

Gee, James Paul. 2004. Situated language and learning: A critique of traditional schooling. London: Roultedge.

Góes, Paula. 2009. Brazil: Introducing the Web, a “Digital Baptism” Global Voices Sunday, March 8th, 2009. http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/03/08/brazil-introducing-the-web-a-digital-baptism/, Accessed March 9, 2009.

Hecht, Tobias. 1998. At Home in the Street: Street Children of Northeast Brazil. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Ito, Mizuko and Matteo Bittanti. Forthcoming. Gaming. In Ito, et. al’s Hanging Out, Messing Around and Geeking Out: Living and Learning with New Media. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Kahne, Joe, Ellen Middaugh and Chris Evans. 2008. The Civic Potential of Video Games MacArthur Foundation Occassional Papers September 2008. http://www.civicsurvey.org/White_paper_link_text.pdf, Accessed October 20, 2008.

LA Times. 2008. Blogs: Brazilian video game ban angers fans. February 5, 2008. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laplaza/2008/02/brazilian-video.html, Accessed December 2, 2008.

Lugo, Jairo, Tony Sampson and Merlyn Lossada. 2002. Latin America’s New Cultural Industries still Play Old Games: From the Banana Republic to Donkey Kong. Game Studies 2(2), http://www.gamestudies.org/0202/lugo/, Accessed November 5, 2008.

TSR. 2000. Aqui se faz aqui se paga: The NES in Brazil. Lstr’s NES Archive: Brazil. January 20, 2000. Champaign, IL. http://www.atarihq.com/tsr/nes/brazil/brazil.html, Accessed March 2, 2009.

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