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Chapter 3
Digital Gaming and the Media Playground
In this chapter, we will take a look at the evolving mass medium of digital gaming and:
• Examine the early history of electronic gaming, including its roots in penny arcades
• Trace the evolution of electronic gaming, from arcades and bars into living rooms and our
hands
• Discuss gaming as a social medium that forms communities of play
• Analyze the economics of gaming, including the industry’s major players and various
revenue streams
• Raise questions about the role of digital gaming in our democratic society
Preview Story: Scholarship college athletes, competitions to make the team, long hours in
grueling practice sessions, matches in arenas drawing 30,000 people or more and hopes to one
day be at the Olympics.
This is not swimming, track and field, soccer, hockey, or skiing. These are eSports
athletes – i.e., athletes who competitively play video games at the highest levels. In the past two
decades, eSports have followed the trajectory of traditional sports, with an increasing number of
colleges and universities recruiting scholarship athletes, professional sports teams underwritten
by major sponsors, big media contracts, and Olympic participation—perhaps in the near future.
I. The Development of Digital Gaming
A. Mechanical Gaming
B. The First Video Games
C. Arcades and Classic Games
D. Consoles and Advancing Graphics
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1. Nintendo
2. Sony
3. Microsoft
E. Gaming on PCs
F. Portable Players
II. The Internet Transforms Gaming
A. MMORPGs, MOBAs, Virtual Worlds, and Social Gaming
B. Gaming Apps
III. The Media Playground
A. Video Game Genres
B. Communities of Play: Inside the Game
C. Communities of Play: Outside the Game
1. Collective Intelligence
2. Game Sites
3. Conventions
IV. Trends and Issues in Digital Gaming
A. Electronic Gaming and Media Culture
B. Electronic Gaming and Advertising
C. Addiction and Other Concerns
1. Addiction
2. Violence and Misogyny
D. Regulating Gaming
E. The Future of Gaming and Interactive Environments
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V. The Business of Digital Gaming
A. The Ownership and Organization of Digital Gaming
1. Game Publishers.
B. The Structure of Digital Game Publishing
1. Development
2. Licensing
3. Marketing
C. Selling Digital Games
1. Pay Models
2. Digital Distribution
D. Alternative Voices
VI. Digital Gaming, Free Speech, and Democracy
Case Study: Finding Positive Effects in Digital Games
Examining Ethics: The Gender Problem in Digital Games
Media Literacy and the Critical Process: First-Person Shooter Games: Misogyny as
Entertainment?
Global Village: Phones in Hand, the World Finds Pokémon (and Wizards)
LECTURE IDEAS
I. The Development of Digital Gaming
• Describe the development of electronic games in comparison to other mass media.
II. The Internet Transforms Gaming
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• Explain how electronic gaming converges with other mass media, and discuss how these
convergences can potentially transform businesses, institutions such as schools or
government, neighborhoods and cities, and, finally, our own homes.
• Explore the evolution of video games from simple, single-player games to more complex,
multiplayer social activities. Discuss how the Internet contributed to making video games
part of mass media. What are some future possibilities for video games and video game
consoles?
• Discuss how mobile devices have changed electronic gaming. Ask students what kinds of
mobile game devices they have, and if they have multiple devices, ask them how they use
each device. Has their use of such devices changed in recent years? If so, discuss how.
III. The Media Playground
• Some of your students might have played The Oregon Trail, an educational simulation game
that aims at reproducing the circumstances and drastic choices faced by white settlers
traveling the two-thousand-mile journey from Independence, Kansas, to the Willamette
Valley in Oregon. Throughout the game, players make choices to help their ox-driven wagon
parties survive numerous potential horrors, including measles, dysentery, typhoid, cholera,
snakebites, drowning, physical injuries, floods, mountains, heat, and cold, all the while
maintaining provisions and predicting weather conditions. First developed by educators in
1971, The Oregon Trail has been played by millions of students.
IV. Trends and Issues in Digital Gaming
• The kinetic and tactile experience of motion-sensing gaming consoles (like the Nintendo Wii
and the Xbox Kinect) is popular with consumers and represents a revolution in video games.
From the old Atari joysticks to the two-handed modern video game controllers with close to
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a dozen buttons, playing video games has been considered a mostly sedentary activity. But
with a system that can sense and track the movement of the players themselves, the Wii and
Kinect require much more movement to play the games. An example on the Wii is a version
of a game of tennis in which a figure on the screen (an avatar) swings its racket as the human
player moves the Wii controller as if it were the racket. Another game designed for the
Kinect system allows players to imitate the dance moves shown onscreen, and a motion-
sensing device records and assesses the accuracy of the players’ moves. The active nature of
this style of gaming has made it popular in a number of atypical settings for playing video
games. Numerous assisted living and nursing home facilities now use such games to help
keep seniors active. With systems like the Wii and the Kinect, gaming continues to become
more and more integrated into the mainstream.
• Twitch, a website where you can watch other people play video games, gained more than 100
million viewers in its first four years and has become one of the most visited Internet sites
during peak traffic periods. In 2014, Twitch was purchased by Amazon for $1 billion. The
New York Times Magazine’s fascinating, and scary, article on Twitch (Jason Fagone, “The
Serial Swatter,” November 24, 2015) is available at
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/magazine/the-serial-swatter.html?_r=0.
V. The Business of Digital Gaming
• Video games, despite their emphasis on play, are actually big business. The gaming industry
is astoundingly huge with annual revenues expected to top $100 billion by 2017.
• A 2015 study by the Pew Research Center found that about half of adults in the United States
play video games on a computer, TV, game console, or portable device like a cell phone.
Fifty percent of men and 48 percent of women play games. Among Americans between the
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ages of eighteen and twenty-nine, more than three-fourths of men say they play video games,
compared with 57 percent of women. The full report is available at
http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2015/12/PI_2015-12-15_gaming-
and-gamers_FINAL.pdf.
• In 2015, Activision Blizzard (publisher of Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Destiny,
Skylanders, and Guitar Hero) bought King Digital Entertainment, maker of Candy Crush, for
$5.9 billion. Activision Blizzard has more than half a billion active monthly users.
• The market research company NPD Group has been tracking the business of video games
since 1995. Here is an excerpt of its findings from its “Gamer Segmentation 2016” report
about different types of gamers
(https://www.npd.com/wps/portal/npd/us/news/infographics/2016/gamer-segmentation-
2016):
• Avid Omni Gamers spend 19 hours per week gaming
• Core Console Gamers spend an average of $4 on physical games
• Free & Mobile Gamers are the segment most likely to prefer digital games over physical,
at 64%
• Social Gamers outpace all other segments when it comes to gaming on social networks,
spending an average of 9 hours per week on these sites
• Casual Gamers are the segment most likely to prefer playing free games and paying for
additional content as needed
• 85% of Family Gamers prefer physical games over digital
• Not only can a video game generate huge sales on several different brands of game consoles,
but the success of the release of a popular video game title can rival, or even surpass, the
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release of popular films, DVDs, and albums. For example, Grand Theft Auto V sales totaled
$800 million (12 million units) on the first day it was available in September 2013, whereas
Star Wars: The Force Awakens broke the record for biggest opening ever, taking in just over
$119 million on its first day, and the fastest selling album of all time, Adele’s 25, sold less
than 2.5 million copies in the first three days after its release.
• The website VGChartz tracks video game sales. The sales chart below gives an idea of the
kinds of numbers a popular video game can sell worldwide (in millions of units sold):
Game
Platform
Year
Genre
Publisher
North
America
Global
1
Wii Sports
Wii
2006
Sports
Nintendo
41.49
82.74
2
Super Mario Bros
NES
1985
Platform
Nintendo
29.08
40.24
3
Mario Kart Wii
Wii
2008
Racing
Nintendo
15.85
35.82
4
Wii Sports Resort
Wii
2009
Sports
Nintendo
15.75
33.00
5
Pokemon Red/
Pokemon Blue
GB
1996
Role
Playing
Nintendo
11.27
31.37
6
Tetris
GB
1989
Puzzle
Nintendo
23.20
30.26
7
New Super Mario
Bros.
DS
2006
Platform
Nintendo
11.38
30.00
8
Wii Play
Wii
2006
Misc
Nintendo
14.03
29.02
9
New Super Mario
Bros. Wii
Wii
2009
Platform
Nintendo
14.59
28.62
10
Duck Hunt
NES
1984
Shooter
Nintendo
26.93
28.31
Source: http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb
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• The controversy around #GamerGate highlights gender-related issues in gaming culture. The
cancellation of some of Anita Sarkeesian’s public appearances (because of threats of
violence) has also sparked debates about freedom of speech issues.
• A 2017 study by the Pew Research Center (http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-
tank/2017/07/11/key-takeaways-online-harassment/) found that harassment is a common
feature of online life for many adults: “Around four-in-ten U.S. adults (41%) have
experienced some form of online harassment, and an even larger share—66%—have seen
this happen to others.” Key findings included the fact that young adults were the most likely
to face online abuse with 67 percent of adults 18- to 20-years-old reporting some form of
online harassment. Social media was the most most common venue for online harassment.
MEDIA LITERACY DISCUSSIONS AND EXERCISES
INAPPROPRIATE GAME CONTENT
This “think-pair-share” exercise focuses on gaming and its content.
1. Think. On your own, spend two to three minutes writing down what kind of content—if
any—you think should not be in electronic games. Be sure to consider misogyny and
violence as well as ad content within games.
2. Pair. Turn to your neighbor and compare notes. Are you concerned about certain kinds of
gaming content that children might see? Did either of you list excessive commercialism as a
problem?
What are some valuable uses of electronic games?
3. Share. As a class, consider electronic gaming content. Should game content be legally
censored?
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Does it seem to be developing in a positive direction? If you could rethink the direction and
uses of electronic games, what would they be?
ELECTRONIC GAMING AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES
It should be easy to get students talking about games, considering their availability and
popularity.
General Questions
• Have students discuss the ways new technologies have changed electronic gaming. Consider
the rapid advances in technology since the first gaming consoles were developed in the
1970s. Discuss where new technology might lead next.
• Ask students if they use motion-sensing game consoles such as Xbox Kinect and Nintendo
Wii. If so, are they likely to use these games with friends or on their own?
• What are some of the possible uses of new gaming technologies outside the realm of games?
How could motion-sensing controllers and motion-detecting technology be used in education
or in the military, for example?
• If the option for gaming on mobile devices were suddenly eliminated from smartphones and
tablets, would students miss them? How much time do students spend with games in a given
day? Do they use smartphones and tablets, gaming systems, computers, or some combination
of these devices?
Possible activity: Ask students how they obtain games. Do they visit brick-and-mortar stores
such as GameStop, or are they more likely to download games directly to their device? How
does this direct availability of games influence their purchasing habits?
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Phones and portable electronic devices: Ask students if they play games on smartphones and
touchscreen tablets. What do they like and dislike about gaming on smartphones and tablets?
How have these devices changed their use of games?
TRACKING RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE DIGITAL GAMING INDUSTRY: A
SEMESTER-LONG CRITICAL PROCESS EXERCISE AND PAPER
In this exercise students discover the most recent developments in the industry, and they become
familiar with industry trade sources. The paper they produce is due in sections, which
correspond with the steps in the Critical Process.
1. Description. Read industry trade sources to get a sense of the main issues affecting the
electronic gaming industry. Look at the websites of industry trade associations and
professional societies. (Links to websites of some industry trade sources are given in the
Classroom Media Sources below.) Take notes on topics that have multiple stories or
mentions in the current year. What issues or developments in the industry have received a lot
of recent attention, discussion, or commentary in industry sources? (Focus only on
information from the current year—and only from trade sources.) Write a one-page synopsis
of the information you found about current topics in the industry. Cite your sources properly.
2. Analysis. Look for one development or pattern that has received significant attention on trade
sites and from trade journalists in the current year. Choose one specific trend, and write one
or two pages with details about the information you found about that trend. Continue to track
news about your topic as the semester progresses. Cite sources properly.
3. Interpretation. What does the trend mean for the state of the industry? Is it evolving? How?
What does it tell you about media in general at the current time? What might it say about our
culture or our society? Can your information help us interpret the role of the industry in our
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lives? Write up your interpretation in a five-page paper. (The first page should be a synopsis
of the trend, with proper citations.) You might not have to provide information from your
sources for the next four pages because this section is your interpretation of the trend. (Save
any ideas you have about whether the trend is “good” or “bad” for the Evaluation step of the
Critical Process.) Cite any sources properly.
4. Evaluation. Is the trend “good” or “bad?” For the industry? society? culture? democracy? us?
What do you think might happen in the future?
5. Engagement. Are there any actions you can take (related to your trend and the industry)?
Possibilities include posting your views on social media, creating a petition, contacting
people in the industry to see what they think of your interpretation and evaluation, or going
to an industry event if any are held nearby. (This step need not be required if students are not
motivated to take action.)
Note: This exercise works well if each step of the Critical Process is due two weeks after the
prior step is due. Limiting students to only trade sources and only information from the current
year helps keep them on track. Your institution’s librarians should be able to provide students
with information on how to access industry trade sources.
CLASSROOM MEDIA RESOURCES
LAUNCHPAD FOR MEDIA & CULTURE:
launchpadworks.com
Anita Sarkeesian and GamerGate (2014, 31:44 minutes). Tropes vs. Women is a web series from
Anita Sarkeesian about sexism in video games, which became a target of angry fans.
New Games Journalism On Screen (2014, 14:38 minutes). In this video from Gamasutra, Alex
Wawro interviews a creator about the indie game he’s Kickstarting.
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Tablets, Technology, and the Classroom (2010, 3:07 minutes). Featuring Glenn Simpson, an
English teacher at Chico Green School, and his students, this video examines the benefits and
drawbacks of using the iPad and other handheld (and sometimes game-like) technology in the
classroom.
Video Games at the Movies (2012, 0:58 minutes). In this clip from a film in the Resident Evil
series, heroine Alice fights off a horde of zombie attackers.
VIDEOS/DVDS/CDS
Angry German Kid (2006, 4:19 minutes). A German boy named Leopold wants to play Unreal
Tournament but can’t (the computer is too slow), and he has a violent fit. This video, which
became an Internet meme, was believed to be true, but it was staged. It is still a good discussion
starter about violence and video games (and there are other similar examples online as well).
Available for download at http://www.complex.com/tech/2012/06/the-100-greatest-internet-
memes-of-all-time/angry-german-kid.
The Drug-Like Effect of Screen Time on the Teenage Brain (May 1, 2016, 7:31 minutes). This
PBS NewsHour segment features an interview with Dr. Delaney Ruston, producer of a new
documentary called “Screenagers.” Dr. Ruston discusses the reasons young people are drawn to
social media and video games, and explores what screen time does to young brains. Available for
download at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCT5JcCXMP.
Game Over: Gender, Race, and Violence in Video Games (2000, 41 minutes). This video offers a
dialogue about the complex and controversial topic of video game violence, and it is designed to
encourage students to think critically about the video games they play. Distributed by the Media
Education Foundation, 800-897-0089; http://www.mediaed.org.
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Leroy Jenkins (2006, 2:51 minutes). This famous YouTube clip illustrates World of Warcraft
gameplay in action: A guild is working to overthrow enemy forces, and Leroy Jenkins (one of
the gamers) decides to go in on his own. It’s funny (almost 34 million views) and a perfect
introduction to this game. Available for download at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkCNJRfSZBU.
South Park Episode: Make Love, Not Warcraft (2008, 22 minutes). A hilarious critique of World
of Warcraft addiction. Available at http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s10e08-
make-love-not-warcraft.
What Research Says About Video Games and Violence in Children (March 18, 2018, 4:22
minutes). NPR interviews an Iowa State University psychology professor about research on the
effects of violence in video games on kids. Available for download at
https://www.npr.org/2018/03/08/592046294/what-research-says-about-video-games-and-
violence-in-children.
WEB SITES
Altered Gamer: http://www.alteredgamer.com
Common Sense Media: http://www.commonsensemedia.org
Digital Games Research Association: http://www.digra.org
Entertainment Software Association: http://theesa.com
Entertainment Software Rating Board: http://www.esrb.org
Fantasy Sports Trade Association: http://fsta.org
Feminist Frequency: https://feministfrequency.com
Foundations of Digital Games conference: http://www.foundationsofdigitalgames.org
Gamasutra: http://www.gamasutra.com
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GameInformer: http://www.gameinformer.com
Games for Change: http://www.gamesforchange.org
Interactive Fiction Database: http://ifdb.tads.org
International Game Developers Association: https://www.igda.org
Leading websites for gaming mentioned in the text of Chapter 3 (with their corporate owners):
GameSpot (CBS): http://gamespot.com
GameTrailers (MTV Networks/Viacom): http://gametrailers.com
IGN (Ziff Davis, a publishing and digital media company): http://ign.com
Kotaku (Univision; previously Gawker): http://kotaku.com
FURTHER READING
Burnham, Van. Supercade: A Visual History of the Videogame Age 1971–1984. Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press, 2001.
Hudson, Laura. “Promise of Virtual Reality Remains Potent for Developers.” New York Times,
September 29, 2016, B5.
Jenkins, Henry. “Transmedia Storytelling 101.” Confessions of an Aca-Fan. March 22, 2007.
Available at http://www.henryjenkins.org/2007/03/transmedia_storytelling_101.html.
Kent, Stephen L. The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokemon—The Story
Behind the Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World. New York: Three Rivers,
2001.
McGonigal, Jane. Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change
the World. New York: Penguin, 2011.
Melissinos, Chris, Patrick O’Rourke, and Mike Mika. The Art of Video Games: From Pac-Man
to Mass Effect. New York: Welcome, 2012.
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Phillips, Andrea. A Creator’s Guide to Transmedia Storytelling: How to Captivate and Engage
Audiences across Multiple Platforms. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012.
Quandt, Thorsten, and Sonja Kröger. Multiplayer: The Social Aspects of Digital Gaming.
London: Routledge, 2014.
PART 2
Sounds and Images
The dominant media of the twentieth century were all about sounds and images: music, radio,
television, and film. Each of these media industries was built around a handful of powerful
groups—record labels, radio networks, television networks, and film studios—that set the terms
for creating and distributing popular media content. Each of these media industries adapted to
changing technologies and converging media as well as shifts in audience consumption of their
media content.
