Walkthrough: videogames and technocultural form - Seth Giddings

thesis is to apply STS approaches, in particular Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to new media and new media
culture.
key concepts
videogames
There is no longer a clear distinction between the terms ‘computer game’ and ‘videogame’. Until the early
1990s (with the dissemination of the personal computer as a consumer product) ‘videogames’ were produced
for a videogame console or dedicated device whilst ‘computer games’ were produced for home computers.
The latter were often less sophisticated graphically but afforded the player the opportunity to intervene in
the game software and make changes to the appearance or structure of the game. Over the past decade or so
the popularity of personal computers in the home has led to the rise of ‘PC gaming’ and a marked overlap in
the games available for consoles and PCs. Today videogames could be regarded as the largest subset of a
broader category of computer games. My focus then is on videogames as popular, commercially produced
and distributed media objects, designed to be played on consoles (as well as their play and their players). I
will however also be referring to other forms of computer games such as chess or simulation games designed
primarily for play on PCs.
videogame play and players
The terms ‘text’ and ‘consumption’ are used in this introduction as they are key terms in Cultural and Media
Studies. They are useful in introducing the issues under consideration, but are problematic in addressing the
specific implications of the study of videogame hardware, software and gameplay as media technologies and
cultural experience. Other terms and approaches for these objects and practices or processes through which
they are engaged with will be suggested throughout the thesis, as will the conceptual implications of these
other terms and approaches.
A corollary of this is the separation, conventional within Cultural and Media Studies, of media text
and spectator or viewer. Thus, though so far I have listed my objects of study as being ‘videogames,
videogame play and videogame players’, a key argument of this thesis is that these objects are analytically
inseparable and (in the last section) the term ‘videogame/play/ers’ will be used. The awkwardness of this
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