Lecture willson situating social games in the everyday 2014
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Lecture willson situating social games in the everyday 2014
- 1. Situating social network games in the everyday (with a focus on Australian players) Assoc. Prof Michele Willson Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J m.willson@curtin.edu.au
- 2. ARC Linkage (LP11200026 ): The New Entrepreneurial Communities: an applied ethnographic study into social gaming on the Internet Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J
- 3. Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J Outline Background to research Social games described Exploratory survey – Australian players Gender differences/patterns of play Social games and the everyday
- 4. 2013 Australian game study 1220 Australian households: 3398 individuals of all ages. 93% households have a device for playing games 98% households with children have games 87% game households have 3 or more screens 63% of game households use a console for games, 53% use a pc for games 47% of game households use mobile phones, tablet computers have shown significant increases to 26% of game household use 24% gamers play social games Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J (Brand, Lorentz, & Mathew, 2013 )
- 5. Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J
- 6. Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J What are social games?
- 7. Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J
- 8. Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J
- 9. Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J
- 10. Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J
- 11. Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J
- 12. Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J
- 13. Existing research on games, technology, sociality and spaces/places (and the magic circle) eg. …my ability to play was also formed by the larger cultural and technological context in which my play was situated because I was living at home with people far less interested in Final Fantasy than I, and we only had one television. Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J (Paul (2012) emphasis added, .2) However video games brought us [his father and himself] together. (Paul (2012) emphasis added, 1)
- 14. Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J
- 15. …and why social game playing might be different (or in need of supplementation?) •Multiple platforms and multiple locations •Short time engagement/episodic play: can dip in and out •Different demographics •Enmeshed within social networks and social network sites: linked to ‘authentic’ identity •Portability melds corporeal with technological? Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J
- 16. Research methods(to date): Auto ethnographic and participant observation (3 months) Online survey of Australian player and non-player practices in relation to social games and the everyday Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J
- 17. Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J
- 18. The survey: Social games and the Everyday Survey monkey, snowball distribution: Australian discussion lists; researcher’s network (twitter, FB); students and staff (academic and professional) at Curtin University. Responses: 154 total (82 players, 65 non-players, 3 unsure…68 Australian players) (10 identified as not players but they did play casual games also offered as social games, eg candy crush, angry birds) Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J
- 19. First observations Age ranged from 17 yrs or younger to over 60. Most fell in the 30-49 age range (62%) Players - this percentage increased to 86% High proportion of female respondents (94 to 58 males, 2 other/did not want to say) Australian players: (49 f,18 m, 1 other) Disproportionate number highly educated (post/graduate degree) Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J
- 20. Q1: Your age? Female Male Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J
- 21. Technology and social games Females privilege mobile/portable devices for game play Desktop/laptop use: 25 out of 39 spent no time Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J 7 out of 39 spent less than 1 hr 7 out of 39 spent more than 1 hr Mobile/ tablet use: 3 out of 45 spent no time 18 out of 45 spent less than 1 hr 12 out of 45 spent more than 1 hr
- 22. Male play more evenly spread across devices Desktop/laptop use: 6 out of 16 spent no time Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J 5 out of 16 spent less than 1 hr 5 out of 16 spent more than 1 hr Mobile/ tablet use: 3 out of 16 spent no time 5 out of 16 spent less than 1 hr 8 out of 16 spent more than 1 hr
- 23. Where do you most commonly play? Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J Male Female in my study 40.0% 26.1% in the kitchen 13.3% 17.4% in my room 40.0% 47.8% on the couch 33.3% 84.8% at work 26.7% 17.4% at lunch 13.3% 15.2% location out and about 33.3% 26.1% commuting 26.7% 45.7%
- 24. Playing frequency: how often typically play Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J female male Once a day 29.8% 43.75% Several times a day 42.6% 37.5% 2-3 times a week 14.9% 12.5% Once a week or less 12.8% 6.25%
- 25. When play Play happens most commonly in the evening While watching TV ranks highly (f 57%, m 46.7%) Highest males – in-between tasks 66.7% (waiting 26.7%, travelling 40%) women – waiting 62.2% (in-between tasks 44%, travelling 35%) Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J
- 26. What aspects of the games do you enjoy most? (female) Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J First Second Quests 2 1 Designing, maintaining and building activities 3 2 Interaction with others 4 1 Competition 3 4 Passing Time 12 9 Relieving stress 11 14 Mental stimulation 9 10 Sense of achievement 2 5
- 27. What aspects of the games do you enjoy most? (male) Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J First Second Quests 3 2 Designing, maintaining and building activities 4 3 Interaction with others 0 0 Competition 2 1 Passing Time 2 3 Relieving stress 0 0 Mental stimulation 2 3 Sense of achievement 1 2 Other 1 1
- 28. Winding down/passing time It's like the equivalent of a smoking break for a non-smoker like me I find it useful to get my mind off work. Otherwise I would only use my devices to answer emails, look up research etc. Playing Candy Crush diverts my interest and forces me to switch off it's just something i do during "me" time Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J
- 29. Sociality of social games …. participants perceive three outcomes of their social game use on their social relationships: maintaining, initiating, and enhancing relationships. (Wohn, et al. 2011, p.1. emphasis in the original) Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J
- 30. How do you most commonly find out about new social games? Female Male Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J
- 31. Female (play with?) Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J 1st 2nd Family live with 15.22% 15.22% Family elsewhere 17.39% 13.04% Friends live with 0 0 Friends elsewhere 26.09% 34.78% colleagues 0 0 myself 34.78% 17.39% Players not meaningful 6.52% 15.22%
- 32. Males (play with?) Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J 1st 2nd Family live with 26.67% 6.67% Family elsewhere 0 26.67% Friends live with 0 6.67% Friends elsewhere 40% 0 colleagues 0 6.67% myself 26.67% 20% Players not meaningful 6.67% 33.33% Digital Interventions 3 December 2013
- 33. Staying in touch/family bonding It's a way of maintaining links with people without being really intense - especially international work colleagues. I value that it keeps me 'in touch' with people I wouldn't normally spend time connecting with constantly. I play with my younger son (10yrs) and we enjoy it together - keeps up a connection with him It takes too much time but the "family" aspect and the way we all have to work together to achieve tasks keeps me online. …. People in our group discuss all sorts of global events from the perspective of "family" members in many different countries. It can be interesting and enlightening Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J
- 34. Q26: Where do you discuss game play? Female Male Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J
- 35. ….with whom do you discuss your play? Female Male Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J
- 36. Other You've caught me in the middle of an addiction to candy crush. I just restarted playing it a week or so ago after a few months of cold turkey (deleting it off my phone) and I will go cold turkey on it again soon, so in a different week the answers would be different It help me to understand what is meaningful to young people that like to spend time with games The social aspect of the game is usually the last reason I'll play something. I'll generally only link my social media account if its the only way to save across devices. Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J
- 37. Social games and everyday life More than just a game or game content: embedded within everyday life, routines and practices Social relation maintenance, routines and habits/self management, identity construction and presentation of self While individual play differences evident, broader social, cultural, political, economic contexts also relevant (eg. gender play patterns) Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J
- 38. Beyond simply phatic communication or decompression, FarmVille and Facebook [social games] through digital ritual participation are increasingly the manifestation of our networked interests, communities, and lives. Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J (Burroughs, 2014,163)
- 39. References Ang, Ien (1991) Desperately Seeking the Audience, Routledge, New York & London. Apperley, Tom (2010) Gaming Rhythms: Play and Counterplay from the Situated to the Global, Theory on Demand #6, Institute of Network Cultures: Amsterdam. Boudreau, K., & Consalvo, M. (2014) Families and social network games, Information, Communication & Society, 17 (9), 1118-1130. Burroughs, B. (2014) Facebook and Farmville: A Digital Ritual Analysis of Social Gaming, Games and Culture, 9 (3), 151-166. Paul, Christopher A. (2012) Wordplay and the Discourse of Video Games. Routledge: NY and Oxon Van Dijck, J. (2013) The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media, Oxford University Press, New York. Wohn, D. Y., Lampe, C., Wash, R., Ellison, N., & Vitak J. (2011). The ‘S’ in Social Network Games: Initiating, Maintaining, and Enhancing Relationships. Proceedings of the 44th Hawaii International Conference in System Sciences. (HICSS ’11) Kauai, HI Jan, IEEE. Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J
Editor's Notes
- Over the last couple of years, in various ways, I have been considering the value or place of social games in people’s lives and what this might tell us more generally about the everyday. Project is still unfolding. However what I want to do today is give a little background to the project and then explore some of the initial findings of an exploratory survey of Australian social game players I conducted recently this year (using gender as one way of considering how social game play may be integrated into everyday life). Largely describe as exploratory research with the aim to consider the various ways in which social games are embedded within people’s lives, what this might tell us about social games but also more broadly what it might also reveal about the everyday and the role social games might play.
- A recent Digital Australia commissioned study detailed the increasing uptake of a range of games, changing gamer demographics and the increasing integration of devices in our lives – demonstrated for example in the proliferation and use of a range of devices, screens etc., Clearly playing games are an extremely common past-time in Australian households and social games make a reasonable portion of game play aka worth looking at further
- As is obvious here – both games and social networking are important in terms of interest and engagement for a lot of people.
- Brief intro to social games The term ‘social game’ is contested; the two main uses being either a game involving multiple players interacting socially or, more recently, games specifically played within online social networking platforms (Jacobs & Sihvonen, 2011). Many Millions of players> Candy Crush, height of popularity FV: Low cost entry: little skill or knowledge, no subscription, no purchase costs Episodic play
- Rely on social graph or social network/connections Mostly Accessed through and embedded in SNS– draws on social network sites – though zynga expanded to include adding people not known – demarcated from social network and profiles Varying ability/degree of drawing in/involving the SNS – wall posts
- Increasing possibilities for accessing the social elements or not – candy crush can be linked to sns or it can be played as a standalone, it can be played with friends or by self
- Build, complete tasks, visit/help out neighbours etc Encoded acts of sociality in programmatic form: Build/cook/furnish Help out neighbours/friends Quest/goals …that are rewarded with in game currency or social capital
- Mostly free to play, economic model – microtransactions, social capital and economic capital for progression
- Another example Cross platforms and applications: note various broadcasting of play options, broadcasting of other game options also eg ‘like’ button telling me that one of my friends plus many others like this game Twitter follow button
- Critiqued – not games (mundane, little skill, no end point) but data gathering and financial gain through build in of compulsive elements - not social (asynchronous, little communicative options within, friends as resources) According FB developer blog post (March 2014) “an average of 375 million people play Facebook-connected games each month”; internal study in sept – cross-platform players spend more time and money
- long history of game studies exploration of sociality, of navigation of game and external spaces, of the affordances of technologies and cultural representation etc. Christopher Paul, in his book Wordplay discusses how he played video games with his father as a means of developing/maintaining a bond as there were in his words, “ a substantial chunk of my life without much to talk about and [we] lacked a close personal relationship.
- Relationships with the games are not just contained within the game. So external sites - community of players, fan sites – cheats, tracks, sharing of art etc – similar to other games
- So while existing games research on navigation of different spaces – in game and out, player dynamics, and technical affordances, identity practices and so forth are extensive, social games present some different and mundane but complicating factors to this analysis/render this research as at the very least in need of supplementation. These differences include the above….
- Some background to the study and different approaches taken: most immediate was the use or otherwise of an authentic/real profile and by default of an exiting personal social network. Most immediate observations/ realisation when embarking on social gameplay – potential impact on presentation of self Because in an SNS – visible to others in personal social graph; also through granting permission of access and collection of personal information and social network practices What might others think, how to manage who to ‘tell’, what degree of visibility is decided upon (to post to friends/wall or not?)… Researchers different farming practices…practical/efficiency or aesthetics… Online survey - snowball
- Isolation of Perth may also play a role??
- Ran from 28 July- 22 Sept (roughly 2 months) Noted as a social games and everyday questionaire, between 5-10 mins to complete, structured so I could isolate out Australian players The survey consisted of 27 questions with the possibility to add additional comments after some of the questions and also a final open ended text box to add any comments about the participants observations or uses of social games in their everyday. At the outset, the survey defined social games as online games played through social network sites such as Facebook or GooglePlus where players interact in the game with family or friends. Respondents were advised that games such as Farmville 2, Sims Social, Candy Crush or Words with Friends are all social games, but that there are many others also. Demographic Technology ownership Social game play practices: Location Social Device Preferences Patterns
- Many commentators note the large number of women playing…early research suggested older women majority ….seems to now be thought of broader spread but clear indicators unsure (also differ according to games and game practices)..however this survey similarly indicated a larger number (though may have to do with a range of factors external to this) Remaining details focus on Australian players with a focus on gender play differences that became evident
- Asked about tech ownership as well as use of devices for gaming Tech ownership: male higher console ownership Male slightly higher desktop PC Female higher tablet & laptop ownership
- Could choose as many as were applicable
- Lifestyle: Juul discussion of casual games and the importance of interruptability to fit lifestyle…also see later may reflect some of the type of game play and reasons played
- A considerable amount of research has been devoted to the sociality of social games. Critiques not social – friends as resource, others more recently note the way social games act as mechanism to allow people to stay in contact/phatic communication easily. Others have noted that while there is minimal capacity in most social games for in-game social communication – apart from acts of exchange, gifting etc. that the game itself and the ways in which it is embedded within sns and is important even if only as providing a means of common ground/reference point for conversations. Kelly Bourdreau and Mia Consalvo note the way social games appear to act as a way for families to stay connected but without the time and intensity
- Similar patterns – overwhelming social sources
- Cross platform sociality
- Suggests that social games are more than just games, they perform important interactive and integrative functions within people’s lives which is also enmeshed in identity creation practices. While the game environment or ecology is constrained in some ways, the user/player is also involved in negotiations and employing tactics that enable their customisation in a sense, and are enfolded in various ways into the routines and networks of their lives. Michel de Certeau notes In the practice of every day life how strategies and tactics initiated by readers, audiences, pedestrians etc enable these participants to fashion or appropriate these environments and practices in personalised customised ways despite in some ways the constraints of a number of factors, economic, social technical. He uses an analogy of a rented apartment. Studying social game practices it is clear that social games are adopted and modified, used differently according to different individual but also broader life patterns and practices.
- More to be done: further analysis through range of variables, interviews with players…however as Burrough notes, and the fv cake further demonstrates social games are both a manifestation and a reflection of our everyday.