Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Johnson, Helen Louise

Titel

Exploring Cultural Occupational Communality Through a Study of UK Video Game Developers and Their Mediated Community Spaces

Ort / Verlag

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses

Erscheinungsjahr

2021

Quelle

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Video game development is one of the most interesting cultural occupations to study as it is neither fully art nor technology. The people behind these developments, the video game developers, experience a work environment which often blurs work and leisure and online and offline social relations, against a backdrop of precarious employment and high changeability, leading to an implied preferred association to an occupation and fellow developers rather than a singular firm.The aim of this research is to understand communality between video game developers and the space(s) of this communality. With an interdisciplinary foundation in culturaleconomic geography and organisational studies, this study iteratively works between the literatures of occupational community and cluster theory to follow members of a cultural occupation and document their communal experience where the occupation, rather than firm, is the primary analytical focus. Digital relations are centred through using a concept of mediated spatiality which sees lived reality as multiple coming togethers of space, sociality, and technology. To investigate this aim, this study uses a digital method design of synchronous Skype interviews and participant-led netnography with 25 UK video game developers.Results of this study indicate that developers are successful in building occupational relations, primarily through a concept of friendship and the development of occupational norms, to overcome a perceived lack of support and reliability from any connected firms. Through these intermingling social relations, spaces emerge where video game developers can potentially find belonging and develop their social identity. Twitter is an important element of this space creation, as it assists in providing a locale for social interaction to pass through and be documented – connecting developers with an array of working styles and experience to share knowledge as a member of an occupation rather than as an employee.The primary contribution of this study is a developing theory of ‘occupational space’ whereby a researcher follows the flow of an occupation and related members rather than focusing on a specific milieu, firm, or network. Occupational space emphasises the communal experience instead of product production, with advancements and knowledge generated by the community fed back to nourish the occupation and its members instead of firm and organisational goals. It also assists with a more nuanced understanding of digital associations by providing a method to explain how people remain part of ‘something’ when they may be unemployed, between projects, working from home or working as a contractor for example. They may leave the spaces where work occurs, yet they are continuously part of an occupational space that is nurtured via digital platforms such as Twitter. This study also recommends that future occupational community studies should consider how internal ‘othering’ and interrelations with associated communities – such as fans and consumers - may further broaden a discussion about occupational boundaries and boundary maintenance.