[-empyre-] Gaming Subcultures, Vol 72, Issue 25

[Mathias Fuchs]

Dear Julian and all,

I am interested in the notion of “gaming subcultures”. This is not to be 
confused with “subversive gaming” is it?

A Gaming subculture would be a subgrouping within the wider gaming 
culture that shares some of the values of the cultural whole and opposes 
others. Let me start with an anecdote:
“In the university where I work, I run a Games programme and had to face 
a group of burocrats who monitor the financial viability of the 
programme. After the meeting one of the seemingly dry critical assessors 
came to me and said with a twinkle in the eye: I like your programme. I 
am a Grand Theft Auto player myself. When I go home after work in the 
office I cruise the streets and shoot a few bankers.”

Do bankers who shoot bankers, or accountants who shoot accountants in 
their gaming experience belong to a gaming subculture? Is Grand Theft 
Auto a subcultural game in itself? Do you qualify as “non-mainstream” if 
you play a mainstream game and follow a set of rules that is implemented 
in the software of the mainstream game? I would suggest that the 
possibility of cheating that is built into the game makes cheating part 
of the game.

To quote gta4.net/cheats “We prefer to think of them as ‘arbitrary 
gameplay enhancers’, really. All cheats should be entered during normal 
gameplay. To do this, bring up Niko's cellphone, use the table to find 
the cheat you want, and enter it using the directional keypad. Once the 
cheat is entered, a 'Cheat Activated' message will appear.”
If we follow the logic and terminology of gta4.net the gaming subculture 
could be understood to be an “arbitrarily enhanced” part of the culture.

Mathias Fuchs
-- 
Mathias Fuchs
European Masters in Ludic Interfaces
http://ludicinterfaces.com
Programme Leader MA Creative Technology and MSc Creative Games
Salford University, School of Art& Design, Manchester M3 6EQ
http://creativegames.org.uk/
mobile: +44 7949 60 9893

On 30/11/2010 02:00, empyre-request at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au wrote:
> 6. Re: December Discussion - Gaming Subcultures
> ( Julian Raul K?cklich )