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Toward Economic Platform Studies
The document discusses the interplay between economic conditions and game aesthetics, arguing for the importance of studying these relationships within economic platform studies. It highlights how different revenue models and market strategies affect game design and player experience, with an emphasis on sustainability in the indie game space. The author calls for empirical analysis to better understand the normalization of economic impacts and their effects on aesthetic forms in the gaming industry.
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Toward Economic Platform Studies
- 1. toward economic platform studies SebastianDeterding (@dingstweets) Digital Creativity Labs, University of York April 18, 2016 c b
- 2. how do economic conditions game aesthetics afford ? economicplatform studies constrain
- 3. why should we studythis?
- 4. »I’ve come tosee sustainability as the most pressing issue for keeping the margins of indie games from fraying ... Support for games as an artform ... means recognizing the importance of creating an infrastructure to support the medium and not just the commerce.« - john sharp on why he left indiecade
- 5. what do imean?
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- 8. »There’s no otherword for it except evil.« - jonathan blow on social games
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- 13. social game designersopenly “talk shop”
- 14. social games economic conditionsaesthetic forms • Freemium revenue model • Game-as-a-service • Rich user analytics • High economies of scale • Vast reach • Free-to-play • Hyper-casual difficulty, positive themes • “Dark patterns” that drive acquisition, retention, monetisation • Maximise user acquisition and lifetime monetisation
- 15. nothing new underthe sun
- 16. nothing new underthe sun
- 17. nothing new underthe sun microtransaction
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- 20. coin-op arcade games economicconditions aesthetic forms • Luck-based gambling outlawed • Extracting money from public space passer-byes • Flashy exterior • Skill-based gameplay, no monetary payout • Limited attempts of short duration • Easy to pick up • Steep difficulty curve • High replay value • Pay-per-play revenue model • Maximise desire to start and continue • Minimise play per pay
- 21. aaa games 137 mio.US$ development 128 mio. US$ marketing 60 mio. copies shipped since 2013 1 bn. US$ revenue in first 3 days
- 22. aaa games economic conditionsaesthetic forms • One-time, upfront purchase • high economies of scale • high purchase risk for consumers • saturated market Heavily marketed blockbusters to reduce risk • Few titles • Established genres, stories, mechanics • Sequeling established IP • High production values • Marketable, “flashy” features • high risk/reward for producers
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- 24. how do we theorisethis?
- 25. context text a contextualisingquestion
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- 30. how do we studythis?
- 31. initial suggestions • Comparingacross cases, times, cultures, places, media surfaces the taken-for-granted. • We need to identify in what wholes economic conditions and aesthetic forms occur “in the wild” and then taxonomise those. • We need to trace in empirical detail how one affects the other.
- 32. 1. All gameaesthetics are affected by economic conditions. 2. At any given point, certain forms and degrees of economic impact is normalised; deviations are met with moral outrage. 3. “how?” is the question of economic platform studies. 4. Answering it can help nurture the aesthetic forms we find desirable. 5. Economic conditions can be traced as functional wholes within functional wholes: business models in ecosystems. 6. Aesthetic forms can be traced as wholes of conventions: styles, genres. 7. Next steps are taxonomising the two and tracing their linkage. in summary
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