- 43-42 45th St.
Apt. 2N
Sunnyside, NY 11104
Maxwell Foxman
University of Oregon, School of Journalism & Communication, Faculty Member
- Columbia University, Communications PhD Program, Graduate StudentNew York University, Media, culture & communication, Graduate StudentNew York University, Media, Culture, and Communication, Graduate Studentadd
- Communication, Media Studies, Digital Media, Cultural Studies, Anthropology, Sociology, and 27 moreCritical Theory, New Media, Ethnography, Marxism, Creativity, Intellectual Property, Case Study Research, Reflexivity, Ethnography of Virtual Worlds, Social Media, Phenomenology, Video Games, Memory Studies, Game studies, Game Design, Gamification, Social Networking & Social Media, Internet Culture, Ludology, Media Anthropology, Mobile and Location-Based Media, Foursquare, Virtual Worlds, Game Spaces, Virtual Reality (Computer Graphics), Philosophy of Virtual Reality, and Autoethnographyedit
- Maxwell Foxman studies the playful experience of early adopters of digital communications technology with a focus on ... moreMaxwell Foxman studies the playful experience of early adopters of digital communications technology with a focus on virtual reality developers. Foxman’s previous work has primarily surrounded the use of games and play in non-game environments, including politics, social media and most recently the news. Before beginning his Ph.D., Foxman spent five years in secondary school education, where he founded an independent study program.edit
- Todd Gitlinedit
Few online communities exhibit the tensions between independence and interdependence better than collegiate esports. Twitch, the primary platform for live streaming esports, is central in such strife. The platform is a vital tool for... more
Few online communities exhibit the tensions between independence and interdependence better than collegiate esports. Twitch, the primary platform for live streaming esports, is central in such strife. The platform is a vital tool for colleges and athletes to forward brand, community, and entrepreneurship, while simultaneously its unbridled use indicates the need for administration and institutional interventions by universities. As such the proposed study aims to illuminate how collegiate esports clubs, including players, administrators, and program directors, use Twitch to promote independence and interdependence with esports publishers, players, fans, and college culture. Preliminary findings from 19 interviews with athletes and directors suggest some commonalities, particularly in optimism about the platform as a tool for entree into the industry. However, beyond this, directors and athletes diverged when it came to how Twitch should be employed, the labor required to successfull...
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Collegiate esports programs are rapidly expanding across the United States, offering a meaningful location in which to study diversity, equity, and inclusion. Because educational institutions must legally provide equal opportunities for... more
Collegiate esports programs are rapidly expanding across the United States, offering a meaningful location in which to study diversity, equity, and inclusion. Because educational institutions must legally provide equal opportunities for all students, collegiate esports programs may need to avoid gaming culture’s longstanding tendency toward toxic behavior and language. At the same time, it is unclear whether or how effectively collegiate programs currently promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, necessitating further exploration. Drawing on 31 in-depth interviews with collegiate esports players, program directors, tournament organizers, and members of related student support organizations, this research identifies four challenges that collegiate esports programs currently face when trying to prevent toxicity and encourage broader cultures of care and inclusion: (a) ambiguous definitions of “toxicity,” (b) its normalization, (c) unclear reporting/response mechanisms for those facin...
Despite Twitch’s dominant position in Western livestreaming markets, institutional journalists rarely produce content on the platform. This paper investigates how journalistic practices, cultures, business models, and institutions... more
Despite Twitch’s dominant position in Western livestreaming markets, institutional journalists rarely produce content on the platform. This paper investigates how journalistic practices, cultures, business models, and institutions approach Twitch through three empirical sites: The Washington Post’s experimentation with the app, left-leaning political influencer Hasan Piker, and the pro-QAnon 24/7 “news” channel, Patriots’ Soapbox. The cases demonstrate how newsmaking on Twitch flouts traditional journalists’ ideological and occupational boundaries, exploiting the platform’s features and affordances to enroll the audience in a live
broadcasting experience.
broadcasting experience.
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Ratioing describes when a reply earns more likes than an original post on social media. They also offer influencers opportunities to convert audience attention into political actions capable of temporarily shaping online discourse. Ratios... more
Ratioing describes when a reply earns more likes than an original post on social media. They also offer influencers opportunities to convert audience attention into political actions capable of temporarily shaping online discourse. Ratios are then one of many influencer-driven strategies that leverage platform features and affordances to direct audiences to specific actions that amplify the influencer’s content in the crowded social media entertainment market. Hasan Piker is one of the most popular political influencers on Twitch, which he uses as a base to organize and direct his audience into coordinated actions across multiple platforms. Piker reigns on Twitch, but has significantly less Twitter followers than all of his targets, meaning the ratio strategy prompts targeted actions that simultaneously increase his visibility. This article uses three case studies to highlight ratioing as a strategy for eliciting political participation, such as when Piker ratioed rivaling political influencers, a US Senator, and a famous rapper.
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Mainstreaming and Game Journalism addresses both the history and current practice of game journalism, along with the roles writers and industry play in conveying that the medium is a “mainstream” form of entertainment. Through interviews... more
Mainstreaming and Game Journalism addresses both the history and current practice of game journalism, along with the roles writers and industry play in conveying that the medium is a “mainstream” form of entertainment. Through interviews with reporters, David B. Nieborg and Maxwell Foxman retrace how the game industry and journalists started a subcultural spiral in the 1980s that continues to this day. Digital play became increasingly exclusionary by appealing to niche audiences, relying on hardcore fans and favoring the male gamer stereotype. At the same time, this culture pushed journalists to the margins, leaving them toiling to find freelance gigs and deeply ambivalent about their profession. Mainstreaming and Game Journalism also examines the bumpy process of what we think of as “mainstreaming.” The authors argue that it encompasses three overlapping factors. First, for games to become mainstream, they need to become more ubiquitous through broader media coverage. Second, an increase in ludic literacy, or how-to play games, determines whether that greater visibility translates into accessibility. Third, the mainstreaming of games must gain cultural legitimacy. The fact that games are more visible does little if only a few people take them seriously or deem them worthy of attention. Ultimately, Mainstreaming and Game Journalism provocatively questions whether games ever will—or even should—gain widespread cultural acceptance.
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In 2012, MTV explored a new approach to voter engagement through “Fantasy Election.” The game had players draft candidates in the congressional and presidential elections onto personal teams in order to compete for points and prizes,... more
In 2012, MTV explored a new approach to voter engagement through “Fantasy Election.” The game had players draft candidates in the congressional and presidential elections onto personal teams in order to compete for points and prizes, which were distributed based not only on the candidates’ actions but also when players themselves took action to become better informed and involved during the campaign. In the end, Fantasy Election drew over 10,000 active participants. This article scrutinizes the design and effect of the game by using data from MTV’s exit survey of Fantasy Election users to explore whether and how games can be used to encourage voter engagement. By considering the self-reported motivations of players, and a broader discussion of the role of play, competition and reward in fostering political and civic participation, we consider how gamification strategies have ambivalent effects on developing a more informed and cooperative civil society.
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Even at the apex of its hype cycle in the 2010s, game studies scholars and designers derided gamification. This article first explores why gamification inspired such vitriol. It finds the incursion of non-game corporations and entities... more
Even at the apex of its hype cycle in the 2010s, game studies scholars and designers derided gamification. This article first explores why gamification inspired such vitriol. It finds the incursion of non-game corporations and entities into the field was a threat to those who fought so ardently to legitimize the profession and promote a more playful or ludic 21st century. The article then delves deeper into the literature of play to redefine what occurs when a player engages with a gamified app, such as the social media application Foursquare. It rescripts their activity as ‘punctuated play’, or when the competition, conflict, glory, and other aspects of traditional play pierce a moment but do not necessarily define it.
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While a consumer revolution in virtual reality (VR) has piqued the interest of many fields, industries, and professions, it is unclear when, how, and to what degree the technology can elicit empathy. To better understand how the... more
While a consumer revolution in virtual reality (VR) has piqued the interest of many fields, industries, and professions, it is unclear when, how, and to what degree the technology can elicit empathy. To better understand how the relationship between VR and empathy is communicated and defined, we performed qualitative and quantitative thematic analyses on popular ( N = 640) and academic articles ( N = 53) that included both terms. Findings revealed empathy is an aspirational term for journalists and researchers to showcase the potential of immersive media for prosocial change. Writers in both corpora suggested that empathetic experiences could lead to prosocial action through VR, but do not consistently define or measure empathy, given the inherent complexities surrounding the term. Drawing on seminal research in the field, we conclude with a definition of empathy related to immersive media.
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Collegiate esports programs are rapidly expanding across the United States, offering a meaningful location in which to study diversity, equity, and inclusion. Because educational institutions must legally provide equal opportunities for... more
Collegiate esports programs are rapidly expanding across the United States, offering a meaningful location in which to study diversity, equity, and inclusion. Because educational institutions must legally provide equal opportunities for all students, collegiate esports programs may need to avoid gaming culture’s longstanding tendency toward toxic behavior and language. At the same time, it is unclear whether or how effectively collegiate programs currently promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, necessitating further exploration. Drawing on 31 in-depth interviews with collegiate esports players, program directors, tournament organizers, and members of related student support organizations, this research identifies four challenges that collegiate esports programs currently face when trying to prevent toxicity and encourage broader cultures of care and inclusion: (a) ambiguous definitions of “toxicity,” (b) its normalization, (c) unclear reporting/response mechanisms for those facin...
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As much as tech giants like Microsoft and Meta promote the metaverse as a new haven for social connection and enterprise, popular and academic presses credit the development of persistent virtual worlds that underlie the emerging space to... more
As much as tech giants like Microsoft and Meta promote the metaverse as a new haven for social connection and enterprise, popular and academic presses credit the development of persistent virtual worlds that underlie the emerging space to digital gamemakers. This paper argues gaming’s centrality to the metaverse, upon which its hardware, controls, distribution platforms, economic models, and even socio-cultural attributes rely. Building on research into early adopters of virtual reality, it examines a “playbor production system” that solidifies hardware and software providers in both immersive media and the metaverse’s ecosystems by capitalizing on gamers’ and enthusiasts’ labor. The paper concludes that such models epitomize endemic concerns in the evolution of virtual worlds, economics, and technologies contingent upon imbalanced power structures between producers, providers, and consumers.
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As much as tech giants like Microsoft and Meta pro-mote the metaverse as a new haven for social connection and enterprise, popular and academic presses credit the development of persistent virtual worlds that underlie the emerging space... more
As much as tech giants like Microsoft and Meta pro-mote the metaverse as a new haven for social connection and enterprise, popular and academic presses credit the development of persistent virtual worlds that underlie the emerging space to digital gamemakers. This paper argues gaming’s centrality to the metaverse, upon which its hardware, controls, distribution platforms, economic models, and even socio-cultural attributes rely. Building on research into early adopters of virtual reality, it exam-ines a “playbor production system” that solidifies hardware and software providers in both immersive media and the metaverse’s ecosystems by capitalizing on gamers’ and enthusiasts’ labor. The paper concludes that such models epitomize endemic concerns in the evolution of virtual worlds, economics, and technologies contingent upon imbalanced power structures between producers, providers, and consumers.
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Quality of life is bound to psychological well-being, which in turn is affected by the frequency and magnitude of negative mood states. To regulate mood states, humans often consume media such as music and movies, with varied degrees of... more
Quality of life is bound to psychological well-being, which in turn is affected by the frequency and magnitude of negative mood states. To regulate mood states, humans often consume media such as music and movies, with varied degrees of effectiveness. The current investigation examined the effectiveness of virtual reality (VR) vs. two-dimensional (2D) online interventions with various stimuli (audiovisual vs. visual only vs. audio only) to assess which interventions were most effective for improved well-being. Additionally, this study examined which groups displayed the highest amount of perceived presence to understand what components are essential when maximizing a person's subjective feeling of being “in” a new place and if this translated toward therapeutic results. Our data suggests that even though VR participants generally experienced more presence and had similar benefits as 2D groups for increasing positive mood, only participants in the 2D groups had a reduction in neg...
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In the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, as many people figured out how to work and live in isolation, they turned to various virtual worlds and spaces for comfort. From games like Animal Crossing to Zoom, the popularity of communing... more
In the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, as many people figured out how to work and live in isolation, they turned to various virtual worlds and spaces for comfort. From games like Animal Crossing to Zoom, the popularity of communing and communicating both virtually and synchronously skyrocketed and persists in “post-pandemic” life. Everything from conferences to the rising concept of the “metaverse” connects to virtual worlds.
At the same time, the pandemic was merely tinder for a fire that has been flickering in digital gaming for decades. Almost twenty years earlier, news outlets like CNN and Reuters set up bureaus in Second Life and experimented with Virtual Reality (VR) content. While concepts like the metaverse are positioned as future technology, virtual worlds are already widely available. Given this reality, how should journalists write about them, or even use them, in the present?
This report takes a first step in answering this question. After providing a brief history, it defines virtual worlds as online and digital spaces of implied vast size in which users congregate, mostly synchronously. Approximations of virtual worlds can be found in online gaming, VR, and livestreaming platforms like Twitch, all of which cater to hundreds of thousands of concurrent users if not more at any given time.
Using the pandemic as the launching point for research, the report then analyzes 379 articles that reflect journalists’ current and shifting views about virtual worlds. Animal Crossing, Twitch, and VR technology represent three archetypical cases. An inductive analysis of key themes is followed by semistructured interviews with 21 journalists who wrote about the subject. These interviews support specific lessons writers can take in how to approach virtual worlds from a journalistic viewpoint, as well as the opportunities and drawbacks of using them as tools.
At the same time, the pandemic was merely tinder for a fire that has been flickering in digital gaming for decades. Almost twenty years earlier, news outlets like CNN and Reuters set up bureaus in Second Life and experimented with Virtual Reality (VR) content. While concepts like the metaverse are positioned as future technology, virtual worlds are already widely available. Given this reality, how should journalists write about them, or even use them, in the present?
This report takes a first step in answering this question. After providing a brief history, it defines virtual worlds as online and digital spaces of implied vast size in which users congregate, mostly synchronously. Approximations of virtual worlds can be found in online gaming, VR, and livestreaming platforms like Twitch, all of which cater to hundreds of thousands of concurrent users if not more at any given time.
Using the pandemic as the launching point for research, the report then analyzes 379 articles that reflect journalists’ current and shifting views about virtual worlds. Animal Crossing, Twitch, and VR technology represent three archetypical cases. An inductive analysis of key themes is followed by semistructured interviews with 21 journalists who wrote about the subject. These interviews support specific lessons writers can take in how to approach virtual worlds from a journalistic viewpoint, as well as the opportunities and drawbacks of using them as tools.
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During the COVID-19 pandemic, universities were among the first institutions to shift to an online model. As they did so, nascent collegiate esports program lost access to campus spaces and in-person connections, potentially destabilizing... more
During the COVID-19 pandemic, universities were among the first institutions to shift to an online model. As they did so, nascent collegiate esports program lost access to campus spaces and in-person connections, potentially destabilizing this rising industry. Conversely, universities also worked to provide students remote access to resources, and many components of esports already occur online. Therefore, collegiate esports may have adjusted to distancing measures, potentially strengthening their footholds on US campuses. This paper draws on in-depth interviews with collegiate esports players, student employees, program directors, and administrators to address different programs’ reactions to the pandemic, specifically the challenges and opportunities they faced. Overall, interviews reveal how COVID-19 shifted the understandings of and practices around gaming and esports, highlighted the intermittent relationship of online and offline spheres, and presented various possibilities an...
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Even at the apex of its hype cycle in the 2010s, game studies scholars and designers derided gamification. This article first explores why gamification inspired such vitriol. It finds the incursion of non-game corporations and entities... more
Even at the apex of its hype cycle in the 2010s, game studies scholars and designers derided gamification. This article first explores why gamification inspired such vitriol. It finds the incursion of non-game corporations and entities into the field was a threat to those who fought so ardently to legitimize the profession and promote a more playful or ludic 21st century. The article then delves deeper into the literature of play to redefine what occurs when a player engages with a gamified app, such as the social media application Foursquare. It rescripts their activity as ‘punctuated play’, or when the competition, conflict, glory, and other aspects of traditional play pierce a moment but do not necessarily define it.
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Supplemental material, sj-doc-1-nms-10.1177_1461444821993120 for Defining empathy: Interconnected discourses of virtual reality's prosocial impact by Maxwell Foxman, David M Markowitz and Donna Z Davis in New Media & Society
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While a consumer revolution in virtual reality (VR) has piqued the interest of many fields, industries, and professions, it is unclear when, how, and to what degree the technology can elicit empathy. To better understand how the... more
While a consumer revolution in virtual reality (VR) has piqued the interest of many fields, industries, and professions, it is unclear when, how, and to what degree the technology can elicit empathy. To better understand how the relationship between VR and empathy is communicated and defined, we performed qualitative and quantitative thematic analyses on popular ( N = 640) and academic articles ( N = 53) that included both terms. Findings revealed empathy is an aspirational term for journalists and researchers to showcase the potential of immersive media for prosocial change. Writers in both corpora suggested that empathetic experiences could lead to prosocial action through VR, but do not consistently define or measure empathy, given the inherent complexities surrounding the term. Drawing on seminal research in the field, we conclude with a definition of empathy related to immersive media.
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Playing with Virtual Reality: Early Adopters of Commercial Immersive Technology
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Strategies to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, namely quarantine and social distancing protocols, have exposed a troubling paradox: mandated isolation meant to preserve well-being has inadvertently contributed to its decline. Prolonged... more
Strategies to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, namely quarantine and social distancing protocols, have exposed a troubling paradox: mandated isolation meant to preserve well-being has inadvertently contributed to its decline. Prolonged isolation has been associated with widespread loneliness and diminished mental health, with effects compounded by limited face-to-face access to clinical and social support systems. While remote communication technologies (e.g., video chat) can connect individuals with healthcare providers and social networks, remote technologies might have limited effectiveness in clinical and social contexts. In this review, we articulate the promise of Virtual Reality as a conduit to clinical resources and social connection. Furthermore, we outline various social and economic factors limiting the virtual reality industry’s ability to maximize its potential to address mental health issues brought upon by the pandemic. These barriers are delineated across five dimens...
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The skirmish between game engines Unity and Unreal presents a new front in the platformization of cultural production. This article argues that such programs are “platform tools.” They enable amateurs and professionals to not only build... more
The skirmish between game engines Unity and Unreal presents a new front in the platformization of cultural production. This article argues that such programs are “platform tools.” They enable amateurs and professionals to not only build content for platforms but also “lock-in” industry ideologies in the ideation, production, implementation, and distribution of digital creative work, resulting in a homogeneity of developers, practices, and products. The Unity engine’s history, features, and place in the game production pipeline makes it a paradigmatic “platform tool.” Findings from 90 interviews with VR enthusiasts show that Unity set the boundaries or “rules” for developers’ everyday activities and, despite enthusiasm about the medium’s potential, compelled them to create content which conformed to popular gaming genres and standards.
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The crisis in the journalism industry, intensified with the popularization of the World Wide Web, warrants radical rethinking of the professional identity of journalists and their role in society. This paper first suggests replacing the... more
The crisis in the journalism industry, intensified with the popularization of the World Wide Web, warrants radical rethinking of the professional identity of journalists and their role in society. This paper first suggests replacing the Habermasian public sphere with Dutch historian Johan Huizinga’s magic circle of play to describe the relationship between the press and its audience. Within this new model, the writer configures the rules and boundaries in which the reader is free to respond and subvert, an interplay that increasingly shapes both current news production and expectations of the public. This paper then explores play and playful attitudes in newsroom practices and output through semi-structured interviews with journalists, game designers and educators. The “Game Team” at the news and entertainment Web site BuzzFeed acts as a primary case study of a group of journalists who make a variety of playful products — from full-fledged games to interactives — which they iterate ...
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It’s as tough a time as ever for game critics, who seem to be stuck between a rock and a hard place—an industry that acts as gatekeepers to most of the information they cover and an increasingly combative readership. Because of these... more
It’s as tough a time as ever for game critics, who seem to be stuck between a rock and a hard place—an industry that acts as gatekeepers to most of the information they cover and an increasingly combative readership. Because of these tensions, an exploratory study was conducted first of the emergence of game criticism and the historical role of critics in creating the conception of gamer identity and, second, the effect of that identity on critics’ self-perception of their profession. We find that throughout the late 1980s and the end of the 20th century the game press was complicit in reinforcing the notion of the hardcore, primarily male “gamer,” while at the same time wrestling with their role as mediators between the industry and audience to which they were beholden. Through a subsequent study of articles and public meta-criticism by prominent figures in the field, we describe a network of ambivalences over the basic elements of their practice—particularly style, content, and fo...
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In 2012, MTV explored a new approach to voter engagement through ‘‘Fantasy Election.’ ’ The game had players draft candidates in the congressional and presi-dential elections onto personal teams in order to compete for points and prizes,... more
In 2012, MTV explored a new approach to voter engagement through ‘‘Fantasy Election.’ ’ The game had players draft candidates in the congressional and presi-dential elections onto personal teams in order to compete for points and prizes, which were distributed based not only on the candidates ’ actions but also when players themselves took action to become better informed and involved during the campaign. In the end, Fantasy Election drew over 10,000 active participants. This article scrutinizes the design and effect of the game by using data from MTV’s exit survey of Fantasy Election users to explore whether and how games can be used to encourage voter engagement. By considering the self-reported motivations of players, and a broader discussion of the role of play, competition and reward in fos-tering political and civic participation, we consider how gamification strategies have ambivalent effects on developing a more informed and cooperative civil society.
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This dissertation examines early adopters of mass-marketed Virtual Reality (VR), as well as other immersive technologies, and the playful processes by which they incorporate the devices into their lives within New York City. Starting in... more
This dissertation examines early adopters of mass-marketed Virtual Reality (VR), as well as other immersive technologies, and the playful processes by which they incorporate the devices into their lives within New York City. Starting in 2016, relatively inexpensive head-mounted displays (HMDs) were manufactured and distributed by leaders in the game and information technology industries. However, even before these releases, developers and content creators were testing the devices through “development kits.” These de facto early adopters, who are distinctly commercially-oriented, acted as a launching point for the dissertation to scrutinize how, why and in what ways digital technologies spread to the wider public.
Taking a multimethod approach that combines semi-structured interviews, two years of participant observation, media discourse analysis and autoethnography, the dissertation details a moment in the diffusion of an innovation and how publicity, social forces and industry influence adoption. This includes studying the media ecosystem which promotes and sustains VR, the role of New York City in framing opportunities and barriers for new users, and a description of meetups as important communities where devotees congregate.
With Game Studies as a backdrop for analysis, the dissertation posits that the blurry relationship between labor and play held by most enthusiasts sustains the process of VR adoption. Their “playbor” colors not only the rhetoric and the focus of meetups, but also the activities, designs, and, most importantly, the financial and personal expenditures they put forth.
Ultimately, play shapes the system of production by which adopters of commercial VR are introduced to the technology and, eventually, weave it into their lives. Situating play at the center of this system highlights that the assimilation of digital media is in part an embodied and irrational experience. It also suggests new models by which future innovations will spread to the public.
Taking a multimethod approach that combines semi-structured interviews, two years of participant observation, media discourse analysis and autoethnography, the dissertation details a moment in the diffusion of an innovation and how publicity, social forces and industry influence adoption. This includes studying the media ecosystem which promotes and sustains VR, the role of New York City in framing opportunities and barriers for new users, and a description of meetups as important communities where devotees congregate.
With Game Studies as a backdrop for analysis, the dissertation posits that the blurry relationship between labor and play held by most enthusiasts sustains the process of VR adoption. Their “playbor” colors not only the rhetoric and the focus of meetups, but also the activities, designs, and, most importantly, the financial and personal expenditures they put forth.
Ultimately, play shapes the system of production by which adopters of commercial VR are introduced to the technology and, eventually, weave it into their lives. Situating play at the center of this system highlights that the assimilation of digital media is in part an embodied and irrational experience. It also suggests new models by which future innovations will spread to the public.
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Book Review of Ramon Lobato's book "Netflix Nations: The Geography of Digital Distribution"
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Book Review of Colin Milburn's book "Mondo Nano: Fun and Games in the World of Digital Matter"
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Virtual reality (VR) is pushing the technological and cultural limits of digital games. For instance, engineers are working with high-end controllers, hand-tracking, and display technology to augment the VR experience. VR has targeted... more
Virtual reality (VR) is pushing the technological and cultural limits of digital games. For instance, engineers are working with high-end controllers, hand-tracking, and display technology to augment the VR experience. VR has targeted remote work and the metaverse. VR has many skeptics. Cix Liv (2021), a VR pioneer, stated, “Sorry to my VR friends. I declare PC VR, dead. Prove me wrong.” Still, little research has examined how users feel and express the limits of VR and play. Our research analyzes tweets for the public perception of the affordances and limitations of VR through its emotional impact on users.
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Collegiate esports has expanded rapidly in the United States, with over 200 programs founded countrywide since 2014 (Bauer-Wolf 2019). Students increasingly participate in collegiate esports as players, broadcasters, and support staff,... more
Collegiate esports has expanded rapidly in the United States, with over 200 programs founded countrywide since 2014 (Bauer-Wolf 2019). Students increasingly participate in collegiate esports as players, broadcasters, and support staff, while university faculty and staff take on administrative and organizational roles. With this seemingly limitless expansion, research focused on collegiate esports has grown accordingly (e.g., Hoffman, Pauketat, and Varzeas 2022), addressing an array of questions regarding student esports athletes’ campus role (Schaeperkoetter et al. 2017), whether esports qualify as intercollegiate sport (Jenny et al. 2017; Walton, Lower-Hoppe, and Horger 2020), and how programs engage student labor (Harris et al. 2022). Research has even discussed how to build programs effectively (Pizzo, Jones, and Funk 2019), and how to address concerns about diversity, inclusion, and Title IX, the U.S. law mandating gender equity in educational institutions (N. Taylor and Stout 2020; AnyKey 2019). Still understudied, however, is fans’ role in the collegiate esports environment. This cohort is key to understanding the limits of competitive gameplay on campuses, as they can legitimize programs to university administrations. Studies of professional esports recognize fans’ role in tournament attendance and spectatorship, and in supporting esports players, teams, and brands (Pizzo et al. 2018; T. L. Taylor 2012), but less research focuses on their collegiate-level counterparts.
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The global phenomenon of esports (or competitive gaming) unquestionably continues to grow. However, spaces, facilities and infrastructure remain understudied. Using U.S. collegiate esports as a microcosm of the broader industry, our work... more
The global phenomenon of esports (or competitive gaming) unquestionably continues to grow. However, spaces, facilities and infrastructure remain understudied. Using U.S. collegiate esports as a microcosm of the broader industry, our work addresses perceptions of facilities, equipment, and infrastructure through in-depth interviews with teams, administrators and game makers in order to demonstrate how material conditions meaningfully limit expectations of what constitutes competitive play. We find that while administrators and players legitimize gameplay through their official facilities, the ad-hoc historical foundations of collegiate and professional esports push against institutional desires. This research therefore begins to reveal a picture of collegiate esports facilities that are still highly reliant on gaming norms and social capital, rather than trying to challenge the limits of competitive digital play.
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From the Virtual Boy (Boyer 2009) to the original Kickstarter campaign for the Oculus Rift (Wingfield 2013), Virtual Reality (VR) has a long association with games. However, while games are still VR’s dominant genre (Foxman et al. 2022)... more
From the Virtual Boy (Boyer 2009) to the original Kickstarter campaign for the Oculus Rift (Wingfield 2013), Virtual Reality (VR) has a long association with games. However, while games are still VR’s dominant genre (Foxman et al. 2022) and integral to content creation (Evans 2018), much of VR’s marketing and public discourse has downplayed games in favor of more social, educational and business experiences, motivated in part by investment from tech behemoths like Meta (Egliston and Carter 2021). Thus, VR both practically and discursively challenges the limits of games and play, but there is a dearth of literature about the limits of VR in game production. Results of our interview research suggest that although developers perceive play as detached from the conception of VR content, it is instrumental in the actual production process. Furthermore, such informal and social play does not resemble traditional published “gaming” products.
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This study explores game companies’ power and hegemony within the playing field of US collegiate esports. Built on interviews with players, university administrators, tournament organizers and game companies, our work highlights how... more
This study explores game companies’ power and hegemony within the playing field of US collegiate esports. Built on interviews with players, university administrators, tournament organizers and game companies, our work highlights how collegiate esports provide a vital lens for seeing how game companies, institutions and players set game culture. As the field is trying to find its footing on campuses, fundamental questions of political (regarding policies of tournaments), structural and cultural control remain unclear, particularly when game publishers own intellectual property rights and organize tournaments within which colleges compete. In this field of unequal power relationships, hegemony of game companies emerges at different moments of policy, structure, and culture.
Research Interests: Game studies and Esports
EXTENDED ABSTRACT Brain-training games are digital games intended to exercise and improve specific aspects of cognitive function and behavior. The prospect of cognitive enhancement has a long history with the young seeking to boost... more
EXTENDED ABSTRACT Brain-training games are digital games intended to exercise and improve specific aspects of cognitive function and behavior. The prospect of cognitive enhancement has a long history with the young seeking to boost performance and the old to stave off mental decline through pharmacological products. However, using digital games for cognitive intervention is a fairly recent cultural phenomenon. Mobile brain-training games like Lumosity and Peak claim to help improve thinking through gamified tasks, challenges that exercise various cognitive skills (e.g. working memory, attention) and rewards to increase engagement and learning. Such assertions are so irresistible that consumer purchases of this genre increased over 400% since 2012 (Sharp Brains, 2019). Interest in brain-training games may be growing; but scientists have expressed, at best, moderate optimism about their efficacy (Stanford Center on Longevity, 2014). Although users significantly improve at cognitive skills directly relevant to in-game tasks, there is lack of evidence on how transferable these abilities are to real-life performances (Simons et al., 2016). Also, there is scant knowledge about how users evaluate the usefulness of digital games for brain-training. While evidence of gains from brain-training games is lacking, studies suggest that people continue to play because of a digital placebo effect (Torous et al., 2016; Foroughi et al., 2016); optimism about brain-training games' potential efficacy (Rabipour, & Davidson, 2015; Torous et al., 2016); and preference of games over other strategies for cognitive enhancement (Rabipour et al., 2017). The discrepancy between established and perceived benefits could be attributed to producers' aggressive marketing strategies. For instance, one study showed the knowledge that playing the experiment's games can potentially boost performance on a cognitive task made an actual difference in participants' performance (Tiraboschi et al., 2019).While gamification elements have been associated with user engagement strategies (Hamari et al., 2014), the role of play in cognitive training, however, remains unclear.
Research Interests:
Mainstreaming and Game Journalism addresses both the history and current practice of game journalism, along with the roles writers and industry play in conveying that the medium is a “mainstream” form of entertainment. Through interviews... more
Mainstreaming and Game Journalism addresses both the history and current practice of game journalism, along with the roles writers and industry play in conveying that the medium is a “mainstream” form of entertainment. Through interviews with reporters, David B. Nieborg and Maxwell Foxman retrace how the game industry and journalists started a subcultural spiral in the 1980s that continues to this day. Digital play became increasingly exclusionary by appealing to niche audiences, relying on hardcore fans and favoring the male gamer stereotype. At the same time, this culture pushed journalists to the margins, leaving them toiling to find freelance gigs and deeply ambivalent about their profession.
Mainstreaming and Game Journalism also examines the bumpy process of what we think of as “mainstreaming.” The authors argue that it encompasses three overlapping factors. First, for games to become mainstream, they need to become more ubiquitous through broader media coverage. Second, an increase in ludic literacy, or how-to play games, determines whether that greater visibility translates into accessibility. Third, the mainstreaming of games must gain cultural legitimacy. The fact that games are more visible does little if only a few people take them seriously or deem them worthy of attention. Ultimately, Mainstreaming and Game Journalism provocatively questions whether games ever will—or even should—gain widespread cultural acceptance.
Mainstreaming and Game Journalism also examines the bumpy process of what we think of as “mainstreaming.” The authors argue that it encompasses three overlapping factors. First, for games to become mainstream, they need to become more ubiquitous through broader media coverage. Second, an increase in ludic literacy, or how-to play games, determines whether that greater visibility translates into accessibility. Third, the mainstreaming of games must gain cultural legitimacy. The fact that games are more visible does little if only a few people take them seriously or deem them worthy of attention. Ultimately, Mainstreaming and Game Journalism provocatively questions whether games ever will—or even should—gain widespread cultural acceptance.