Alex Gekker is a Assistant Professor of New Media and Digital Culture at the University of Amsterdam. He completed his PhD at Utrecht University, working on the relations between mapping, digital interfaces and power. He is interested in ways socio-technical systems are designed to influence users, and his researched touched upon quantification and datafication of society, the experience economy and interface critique. He publishes on maps, UI/ UX, privacy and platforms.
This paper critically interrogates the claims of game-like elements in online brokerages through ... more This paper critically interrogates the claims of game-like elements in online brokerages through an interface analysis of three platforms, eToro, Plus500 and DeGiro. The 2021 GameStop Short Squeeze, where coordinated Redditors influenced financial markets through the mass purchase by individuals of ‘meme stock’, was made possible through the availability of retail trading platforms. One popular reading of the events saw it as ‘gamification’ of trading, without necessarily defining how the term is applicable. While we do not find evidence of direct gamification, we offer an explanation of why the gamification discourse persists. The platforms subtly deploying affective grammars linked to playfulness, thus creating a feeling of play without explicit game-like elements. In so doing, they are not just encouraging users to trade extensively, but are calling into question the epistemic distinction between investment and play, which has underpinned the development of finance since the eigh...
The paper explores Google Maps’ COVID-19 layer, a special feature launched by the cartographic pl... more The paper explores Google Maps’ COVID-19 layer, a special feature launched by the cartographic platform in September 2020, and shut down two years later. Through the reading of promotional corporate blogposts and interfacial analysis of the layer, it critiques the layers' mediation of the pandemic, caught between public health needs and Google's overarching ethos. The analysis underscores three central claims: that interfacial choices endemic to the layer impose certainty and reduce necessary user hesitancy; promote data commodification regardless of its pandemic need; and stake unnecessary exceptionalism to the pandemic-spcecific information rather than integrating it into the maps’ existing hybridity. The paper ends with design recommendation for a better COVID layer, centered around bottom-up community practices, higher degree of personalisation, and increased friction.
This thesis is concerned with the production and deployment of the digital maps in contemporary c... more This thesis is concerned with the production and deployment of the digital maps in contemporary computational culture. By bringing together theories from Media Studies, Critical Cartography and Science and Technology Studies (STS) I look at digital maps as interfaces, designed to be implemented on various screens and modes. Building on production-studies informed ethnographies within a major public mapping organization and a smaller private commercial developer, I point out the tendency for such digital maps to be simultaneously ubiquitous in their desire to be available to all users, on all devices while being personalised by implementing various ways of tracking the user. Thus, I suggest the term ‘uniquitous’ to describe such configuration, and tie it to the changing nature of digital media and cartographic practices. Consequently, I offer a new conceptual framework to understand the emerging relations between mapmakers and map-users, which I name ‘casual power’. The framework ide...
Following the infrastructural turn in media studies with its focus on the material and social pra... more Following the infrastructural turn in media studies with its focus on the material and social practices, this paper offers to reexamine contemporary data colonialism by empirically exploring some of its most crucial infrastructural artifacts – data centers. Particularly, this paper explores six data centers currently built in Israel as part of "Project Nimbus" – a $1.2 billion tender offered by the Israeli government to move its computational infrastructure "to the cloud". The tender was won by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud, and has drawn considerable attention, both due to its high-cost and technical complexity; and due to attempts by these companies' workers to curtail the tech giants' involvement in Israel/Palestine on moral grounds. Power differentials are also present within the Israeli society, as intimate governmental data will be processed and stored by foreign US companies. Based on thematic analysis of local journalistic sources, pu...
The article examines a ‘trinity’ of interconnected components by Mobileye, a company moving into ... more The article examines a ‘trinity’ of interconnected components by Mobileye, a company moving into autonomous driving. However, Mobileye is neither an automotive manufacturer, nor a nominal ‘big tech’ company, but an established maker of ‘bolt-on’ advanced driver assist systems (ADAS), able to draw on over 65 million vehicles. Through these devices, Mobileye is undertaking a ‘platformisation’, transforming from an automotive supplier into a provider of autonomous vehicle (AV) platforms. We characterise this as a ‘car-agnostic’ approach to autonomous driving. Mobileye represents the advancement, and modulation, of a platform logic into a different type of hardware: the car. To understand the implications of this, we argue that Mobileye acts parasitically in three ways: by inserting itself between driver and vehicle, vehicle manufacturer and vehicle data, and specific vehicles and the emerging AV industry.
This article examines contemporary practices of ‘idling’ (playing ‘idle games’) and ‘let’s playin... more This article examines contemporary practices of ‘idling’ (playing ‘idle games’) and ‘let’s playing’ (watching ‘Let’s Play’ [LP] videos of performed gameplay) as forms of power and resistance in the attention economy. Through the prism of interpassivity, a theory developed by Robert Pfaller and Slavoj Žižek, it establishes idling as relegating certain enjoyment from gameplay to the machine, while reproducing the anxieties associated with digital work as a whole. LPs, on the other hand, position the viewer as a critical analyst rather than a hands-on player. This vicarious experience of delegating play to others can allow avoidance and disengagement, which in turn may allow for a critical examination of the system as whole. As I will argue in this article, such interpassive practices can thus be seen as forms of resistance enabling users to step outside the controlling mechanism of digital media and the associated cybernetic feedback loops.
The paper draws parallels between quantification as found in the user interfaces of video games, ... more The paper draws parallels between quantification as found in the user interfaces of video games, to similar elements of more “serious” devices, in particular mapping and navigational platforms. I present an autoethnographic study of a mundane experience that would be familiar to many Google Maps users: locating a nearby place of interest and figuring out how to reach it. The navigational case is used as a canvas for a further analysis of the role of quantified elements in user interfaces. My autoethnography shows how the mundane actions performed on the screen are informed by the necessary reductions that mapped media perform on the physical world. Such reductions are imitated and enabled by user interfaces designed to control and guide user attention. Designers aim to simplify and streamline user interactions with the system and such practices are built on tracking the user and habituating the actions she performs through the screen. Golden rule for young warriors: when in doubt raise DEX! To-hit chance is THE most important stat for a warrior (no matter what your damage is, it’s exactly zero if you miss...), BLOCKING with a shield can actually be a substitute for armor and, early on, 1 AC from a level up is nothing to be looked down on. armin’s Diablo level Up poinT DisTribUTion gUiDe1 Both Armor Class (AC) and To Hit are based on your Dexterity. Below is a summary on how they are calculated. For more information about AC and To Hit, see chapter 5.6.5.
This paper presents an exploratory research of health games in EU, focusing on the role of multip... more This paper presents an exploratory research of health games in EU, focusing on the role of multiplayer in the health-games experience, utilizing the health-game taxonomy suggested by Sawyer and Smith [1], combined with a preliminary survey of fity existing European health games in order to point out existing trends and suggest currently untapped venues of exploration. First, a theoretical review is presented, utilizing framework from the humanities and cultural studies in order to address what seen as a design issue with contemporary serious health games. Then, the results of a quantitative study of existing health games are presented, and analyzed through an existing taxonomy. Last, based on the lacunas found in the taxonomy, a thorough theoretical analysis is undertaken on their possible reasons, and suggestions on design methodologies are introduced through a comparison with existing commercial multiplayer games.
This book opens opens with a discussion of race and racism in a new genomic era and concludes wit... more This book opens opens with a discussion of race and racism in a new genomic era and concludes with a debate about method in the study of ethnicity and race. In between these two poles, the chapters in this volume have examined ethnicity, race, post-race and racism across a range of national contexts, chiefly the USA but also France and the United Kingdom. The coverage in this volume - such as mixed-race identities, critical race feminism and intersectionality, sexualities, psychoanalytical and performativity perspectives, critical rationalism and critical whiteness studies - offers an insight into the extent and variety of lively debates and investigations in contemporary race theorising and research. This summary reflects the organisation of this book around a range of contemporary debates and perspectives. Although no book can provide a comprehensive global outlook on the wide and expanding scope of debates and perspectives in which ethnicity, race and racism are key issues, the array of views in this book is intended to highlight a number of key questions in their study. Collectively, the chapters underscore one of these: the extent to which there is recurring and continuing debate about what race is and whether it can, or should, be transcended. This is a theme reflected across both parts of this book. Looked at as a whole, the chapters specify the multiple, sequential and contradictory processes at play in contemporary social science approaches to race.
Improved antimicrobial prescribing is a key effort to reduce the impact of increasing antimicrobi... more Improved antimicrobial prescribing is a key effort to reduce the impact of increasing antimicrobial resistance. Quality improvement programmes in antimicrobial prescribing have to ensure the continued engagement of prescribers with optimal prescribing behaviours. Serious games have been proposed to improve clinical practice and may serve to resolve some of the behavioural and social barriers influencing prescribing. We describe here the ongoing development and future evaluation of a mobile device-based serious antimicrobial prescribing game for hospital clinicians.
Exchanges: The Interdisciplinary Research Journal, 2014
The automotive world is evolving. Ten years ago Nigel Thrift (2004: 41) made the claim that the e... more The automotive world is evolving. Ten years ago Nigel Thrift (2004: 41) made the claim that the experience of driving was slipping into our 'technological unconscious'. Only recently the New York Times suggested that with the rise of automated driving, standalone navigation tools as we know them would cease to exist, instead being 'fully absorbed into the machine' (Fisher, 2013). But in order to bridge the gap between past and future driving worlds, another technological evolution is emerging. This short, critical piece charts the rise of what has been called 'social navigation' in the industry; the development of digital mapping platforms designed to foster automotive sociality. It makes two provisional points. Firstly, that 'ludic' conceptualisations can shed light on the ongoing reconfiguration of drivers, vehicles, roads and technological aids such as touch-screen satellite navigation platforms. And secondly, that as a result of this, there is a c...
This paper explores Disco Elysium’s first major expansion, “Working Class Update” as emblematic o... more This paper explores Disco Elysium’s first major expansion, “Working Class Update” as emblematic of the potential fracture between the game’s themes and its politics of production and distribution. Our central claim is that in this update, the studio has reacted to the audience’s appreciation for the game’s labor themes within broader dissatisfaction with the industry’s otherwise exploitative practices, yet was constrained by the contemporary dynamics of said industry. First, we examine Disco Elysium’s radical political orientation and the platformized political economy of digital game distribution through ZA/UM’s origins within the Estonia-specific ICT scene. Second, we describe the current state of videogames distribution, in critical dialog with Dyer-Witheford and De Peuter’s concept of a “game of multitude.” We show the limits and contradictions of Disco Elysium to enact radical political stance in a grow-ingly consolidated and platform-dependent video games market. Finally, thro...
The article explores the limitations of the current scholarly game studies (GS) field. Its centra... more The article explores the limitations of the current scholarly game studies (GS) field. Its central presuppositions are (1) that there are certain attributes broadly understood as “GS” by those writing in or adjacent to the field; (2) that those attributes are historically rooted in an attempt to disassociate videogames from other types of electronic (and later—digital) media; and that (3) the preconditions that have led to this split are currently moot. In the first section of this article, I elaborate on these presuppositions through reading GS as a historically rooted field, centred around the videogame artefact. Following, by examining the notion of being ‘against’ something in academic work, I move to my central claim for the article: that maintaining this conception of GS is counterproductive to the state of contemporary videogames scholarship and that adopting a post-dualistic and post-humanities stance will greatly contribute to the broadening of the field. I break down this ...
The monetization of the modern Triple-A game has undergone severe changes, as free-to-play revenu... more The monetization of the modern Triple-A game has undergone severe changes, as free-to-play revenue models and game as a service distribution strategy have become standard for game developers. To date, the established tradition of the industry’s political–economic analysis focused on the value extraction and user exploitation of video game as a cultural commodity, centered on the video game as generating value through the selling of boxed or digital units. In this article, we present a new analytical framework grounded in understanding the modern video game as an asset that continuously generates revenue for its owners. This theoretical lens encapsulates the changes in contemporary game development, distribution, and value generation. To demonstrate, we apply it to the analysis of the monetization strategies of three recent free-to-play Triple-A titles: Fortnite (2017), Apex Legends (2019), and Call of Duty: Warzone (2020).
This paper critically interrogates the claims of game-like elements in online brokerages through ... more This paper critically interrogates the claims of game-like elements in online brokerages through an interface analysis of three platforms, eToro, Plus500 and DeGiro. The 2021 GameStop Short Squeeze, where coordinated Redditors influenced financial markets through the mass purchase by individuals of ‘meme stock’, was made possible through the availability of retail trading platforms. One popular reading of the events saw it as ‘gamification’ of trading, without necessarily defining how the term is applicable. While we do not find evidence of direct gamification, we offer an explanation of why the gamification discourse persists. The platforms subtly deploying affective grammars linked to playfulness, thus creating a feeling of play without explicit game-like elements. In so doing, they are not just encouraging users to trade extensively, but are calling into question the epistemic distinction between investment and play, which has underpinned the development of finance since the eigh...
The paper explores Google Maps’ COVID-19 layer, a special feature launched by the cartographic pl... more The paper explores Google Maps’ COVID-19 layer, a special feature launched by the cartographic platform in September 2020, and shut down two years later. Through the reading of promotional corporate blogposts and interfacial analysis of the layer, it critiques the layers' mediation of the pandemic, caught between public health needs and Google's overarching ethos. The analysis underscores three central claims: that interfacial choices endemic to the layer impose certainty and reduce necessary user hesitancy; promote data commodification regardless of its pandemic need; and stake unnecessary exceptionalism to the pandemic-spcecific information rather than integrating it into the maps’ existing hybridity. The paper ends with design recommendation for a better COVID layer, centered around bottom-up community practices, higher degree of personalisation, and increased friction.
This thesis is concerned with the production and deployment of the digital maps in contemporary c... more This thesis is concerned with the production and deployment of the digital maps in contemporary computational culture. By bringing together theories from Media Studies, Critical Cartography and Science and Technology Studies (STS) I look at digital maps as interfaces, designed to be implemented on various screens and modes. Building on production-studies informed ethnographies within a major public mapping organization and a smaller private commercial developer, I point out the tendency for such digital maps to be simultaneously ubiquitous in their desire to be available to all users, on all devices while being personalised by implementing various ways of tracking the user. Thus, I suggest the term ‘uniquitous’ to describe such configuration, and tie it to the changing nature of digital media and cartographic practices. Consequently, I offer a new conceptual framework to understand the emerging relations between mapmakers and map-users, which I name ‘casual power’. The framework ide...
Following the infrastructural turn in media studies with its focus on the material and social pra... more Following the infrastructural turn in media studies with its focus on the material and social practices, this paper offers to reexamine contemporary data colonialism by empirically exploring some of its most crucial infrastructural artifacts – data centers. Particularly, this paper explores six data centers currently built in Israel as part of "Project Nimbus" – a $1.2 billion tender offered by the Israeli government to move its computational infrastructure "to the cloud". The tender was won by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud, and has drawn considerable attention, both due to its high-cost and technical complexity; and due to attempts by these companies' workers to curtail the tech giants' involvement in Israel/Palestine on moral grounds. Power differentials are also present within the Israeli society, as intimate governmental data will be processed and stored by foreign US companies. Based on thematic analysis of local journalistic sources, pu...
The article examines a ‘trinity’ of interconnected components by Mobileye, a company moving into ... more The article examines a ‘trinity’ of interconnected components by Mobileye, a company moving into autonomous driving. However, Mobileye is neither an automotive manufacturer, nor a nominal ‘big tech’ company, but an established maker of ‘bolt-on’ advanced driver assist systems (ADAS), able to draw on over 65 million vehicles. Through these devices, Mobileye is undertaking a ‘platformisation’, transforming from an automotive supplier into a provider of autonomous vehicle (AV) platforms. We characterise this as a ‘car-agnostic’ approach to autonomous driving. Mobileye represents the advancement, and modulation, of a platform logic into a different type of hardware: the car. To understand the implications of this, we argue that Mobileye acts parasitically in three ways: by inserting itself between driver and vehicle, vehicle manufacturer and vehicle data, and specific vehicles and the emerging AV industry.
This article examines contemporary practices of ‘idling’ (playing ‘idle games’) and ‘let’s playin... more This article examines contemporary practices of ‘idling’ (playing ‘idle games’) and ‘let’s playing’ (watching ‘Let’s Play’ [LP] videos of performed gameplay) as forms of power and resistance in the attention economy. Through the prism of interpassivity, a theory developed by Robert Pfaller and Slavoj Žižek, it establishes idling as relegating certain enjoyment from gameplay to the machine, while reproducing the anxieties associated with digital work as a whole. LPs, on the other hand, position the viewer as a critical analyst rather than a hands-on player. This vicarious experience of delegating play to others can allow avoidance and disengagement, which in turn may allow for a critical examination of the system as whole. As I will argue in this article, such interpassive practices can thus be seen as forms of resistance enabling users to step outside the controlling mechanism of digital media and the associated cybernetic feedback loops.
The paper draws parallels between quantification as found in the user interfaces of video games, ... more The paper draws parallels between quantification as found in the user interfaces of video games, to similar elements of more “serious” devices, in particular mapping and navigational platforms. I present an autoethnographic study of a mundane experience that would be familiar to many Google Maps users: locating a nearby place of interest and figuring out how to reach it. The navigational case is used as a canvas for a further analysis of the role of quantified elements in user interfaces. My autoethnography shows how the mundane actions performed on the screen are informed by the necessary reductions that mapped media perform on the physical world. Such reductions are imitated and enabled by user interfaces designed to control and guide user attention. Designers aim to simplify and streamline user interactions with the system and such practices are built on tracking the user and habituating the actions she performs through the screen. Golden rule for young warriors: when in doubt raise DEX! To-hit chance is THE most important stat for a warrior (no matter what your damage is, it’s exactly zero if you miss...), BLOCKING with a shield can actually be a substitute for armor and, early on, 1 AC from a level up is nothing to be looked down on. armin’s Diablo level Up poinT DisTribUTion gUiDe1 Both Armor Class (AC) and To Hit are based on your Dexterity. Below is a summary on how they are calculated. For more information about AC and To Hit, see chapter 5.6.5.
This paper presents an exploratory research of health games in EU, focusing on the role of multip... more This paper presents an exploratory research of health games in EU, focusing on the role of multiplayer in the health-games experience, utilizing the health-game taxonomy suggested by Sawyer and Smith [1], combined with a preliminary survey of fity existing European health games in order to point out existing trends and suggest currently untapped venues of exploration. First, a theoretical review is presented, utilizing framework from the humanities and cultural studies in order to address what seen as a design issue with contemporary serious health games. Then, the results of a quantitative study of existing health games are presented, and analyzed through an existing taxonomy. Last, based on the lacunas found in the taxonomy, a thorough theoretical analysis is undertaken on their possible reasons, and suggestions on design methodologies are introduced through a comparison with existing commercial multiplayer games.
This book opens opens with a discussion of race and racism in a new genomic era and concludes wit... more This book opens opens with a discussion of race and racism in a new genomic era and concludes with a debate about method in the study of ethnicity and race. In between these two poles, the chapters in this volume have examined ethnicity, race, post-race and racism across a range of national contexts, chiefly the USA but also France and the United Kingdom. The coverage in this volume - such as mixed-race identities, critical race feminism and intersectionality, sexualities, psychoanalytical and performativity perspectives, critical rationalism and critical whiteness studies - offers an insight into the extent and variety of lively debates and investigations in contemporary race theorising and research. This summary reflects the organisation of this book around a range of contemporary debates and perspectives. Although no book can provide a comprehensive global outlook on the wide and expanding scope of debates and perspectives in which ethnicity, race and racism are key issues, the array of views in this book is intended to highlight a number of key questions in their study. Collectively, the chapters underscore one of these: the extent to which there is recurring and continuing debate about what race is and whether it can, or should, be transcended. This is a theme reflected across both parts of this book. Looked at as a whole, the chapters specify the multiple, sequential and contradictory processes at play in contemporary social science approaches to race.
Improved antimicrobial prescribing is a key effort to reduce the impact of increasing antimicrobi... more Improved antimicrobial prescribing is a key effort to reduce the impact of increasing antimicrobial resistance. Quality improvement programmes in antimicrobial prescribing have to ensure the continued engagement of prescribers with optimal prescribing behaviours. Serious games have been proposed to improve clinical practice and may serve to resolve some of the behavioural and social barriers influencing prescribing. We describe here the ongoing development and future evaluation of a mobile device-based serious antimicrobial prescribing game for hospital clinicians.
Exchanges: The Interdisciplinary Research Journal, 2014
The automotive world is evolving. Ten years ago Nigel Thrift (2004: 41) made the claim that the e... more The automotive world is evolving. Ten years ago Nigel Thrift (2004: 41) made the claim that the experience of driving was slipping into our 'technological unconscious'. Only recently the New York Times suggested that with the rise of automated driving, standalone navigation tools as we know them would cease to exist, instead being 'fully absorbed into the machine' (Fisher, 2013). But in order to bridge the gap between past and future driving worlds, another technological evolution is emerging. This short, critical piece charts the rise of what has been called 'social navigation' in the industry; the development of digital mapping platforms designed to foster automotive sociality. It makes two provisional points. Firstly, that 'ludic' conceptualisations can shed light on the ongoing reconfiguration of drivers, vehicles, roads and technological aids such as touch-screen satellite navigation platforms. And secondly, that as a result of this, there is a c...
This paper explores Disco Elysium’s first major expansion, “Working Class Update” as emblematic o... more This paper explores Disco Elysium’s first major expansion, “Working Class Update” as emblematic of the potential fracture between the game’s themes and its politics of production and distribution. Our central claim is that in this update, the studio has reacted to the audience’s appreciation for the game’s labor themes within broader dissatisfaction with the industry’s otherwise exploitative practices, yet was constrained by the contemporary dynamics of said industry. First, we examine Disco Elysium’s radical political orientation and the platformized political economy of digital game distribution through ZA/UM’s origins within the Estonia-specific ICT scene. Second, we describe the current state of videogames distribution, in critical dialog with Dyer-Witheford and De Peuter’s concept of a “game of multitude.” We show the limits and contradictions of Disco Elysium to enact radical political stance in a grow-ingly consolidated and platform-dependent video games market. Finally, thro...
The article explores the limitations of the current scholarly game studies (GS) field. Its centra... more The article explores the limitations of the current scholarly game studies (GS) field. Its central presuppositions are (1) that there are certain attributes broadly understood as “GS” by those writing in or adjacent to the field; (2) that those attributes are historically rooted in an attempt to disassociate videogames from other types of electronic (and later—digital) media; and that (3) the preconditions that have led to this split are currently moot. In the first section of this article, I elaborate on these presuppositions through reading GS as a historically rooted field, centred around the videogame artefact. Following, by examining the notion of being ‘against’ something in academic work, I move to my central claim for the article: that maintaining this conception of GS is counterproductive to the state of contemporary videogames scholarship and that adopting a post-dualistic and post-humanities stance will greatly contribute to the broadening of the field. I break down this ...
The monetization of the modern Triple-A game has undergone severe changes, as free-to-play revenu... more The monetization of the modern Triple-A game has undergone severe changes, as free-to-play revenue models and game as a service distribution strategy have become standard for game developers. To date, the established tradition of the industry’s political–economic analysis focused on the value extraction and user exploitation of video game as a cultural commodity, centered on the video game as generating value through the selling of boxed or digital units. In this article, we present a new analytical framework grounded in understanding the modern video game as an asset that continuously generates revenue for its owners. This theoretical lens encapsulates the changes in contemporary game development, distribution, and value generation. To demonstrate, we apply it to the analysis of the monetization strategies of three recent free-to-play Triple-A titles: Fortnite (2017), Apex Legends (2019), and Call of Duty: Warzone (2020).
The Playful Citizen Civic Engagement in a Mediatized Culture, 2018
The chapter examines the entanglement of play and politics through digital media. By analysing th... more The chapter examines the entanglement of play and politics through digital media. By analysing the Obama 2008 and Trump 2016 presidential campaigns, it proposes a new term to examine political engagement, that of “casual politicking”. Building on mediatization theories, the chapter takes the affordances of the casual videogame as a template to analyse the actions performed by citizens, politicians and organisations attempting to persuade and alter behaviours. The resulting characteristics of the political process are presented through four key aspects: the role of ICT platforms with intuitive interfaces, the prevalence of issue-centred rather than ideological action, a perpetual political engagement undeterred by failure and socially-focused networks orientated for fun. When applied to both campaigns, surprising similarities can be seen despite the different messages and personalities of the candidates.
This is a pre-publication version of a chapter from our upcoming 'Playful Mapping in the Digital ... more This is a pre-publication version of a chapter from our upcoming 'Playful Mapping in the Digital Age' Book. It aims to discuss the different roles envisioned by video games designers for maps that they choose to include as visual elements in their games. Cartographic maps that portray physical and social environments have become one of the chief ways of understanding and planning actions in the world. Maps have been instrumental for navigation, trade and conquest since the early renaissance era. 1 The 20th century brought enormous technological advances in both production and consumption of maps, culminating with their popular adoption through digital screens and GPS-enabled devices. The complete, and culturally implicit, proliferation of the map as a 'representation' of physical space has, unsurprisingly, ensured its adoption by video game designers for similar purposes in their fictional worlds. If all mapping is playful to some extent (Lammes and Perkins, Chapter 2 this volume), then nowhere is this link more substantial than in the daily encounters of millions of users with imagined spaces on the screens of personal computer and video game consoles. However, maps have never been mere depictions of an existing place, as map-making inherently entails processes of selection and generalization that renders certain aspects of its subject more prominent or hidden. 2 Maps are better understood as guides for action, which dissect, order, colonize and produce 'existing' space, making it available for use and consumption 3. The introduction of precise measuring and ordering technologies have further changed maps' role in allowing them to become user interfaces for habitual uses and arrangement of space. Such systems 'transformed spatial location into a commodity available in much the same way as electricity or water — on demand, at the place of consumption'. 4 Therefore, we must be wary of treating game maps merely as facilitators or as parts of user interfaces. Beyond notions of usability or player fun, maps need to be understood critically as socio-technical assemblages 5 that encapsulate codified relations between the player, the game-space and the envisioned possible interactions promoted by the designer. Just like the medieval cartographer's choice to highlight a certain aspect of the land over another illuminates various politics of visibility and access, so the game designer's choice in relation to mapping can be read
The chapter examines the entanglement of play and politics through digital media. By analysing th... more The chapter examines the entanglement of play and politics through digital media. By analysing the Obama 2008 and Trump 2016 presidential campaigns, it proposes a new term to examine political engagement, that of “casual politicking”. Building on mediatization theories, the chapter takes the affordances of the casual videogame as a template to analyse the actions performed by citizens, politicians and organisations attempting to persuade and alter behaviours. The resulting characteristics of the political process are presented through four key aspects: the role of ICT platforms with intuitive interfaces, the prevalence of issue-centred rather than ideological action, a perpetual political engagement undeterred by failure and socially-focused networks orientated for fun. When applied to both campaigns, surprising similarities can be seen despite the different messages and personalities of the candidates.
(An upcoming chapter for the " Playful Citizen" book by Amsterdam University Press, expected December 2018)
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(An upcoming chapter for the " Playful Citizen" book by Amsterdam University Press, expected December 2018)