On the Relevance of Video Gaming in Human & Social Sciences – Interview with Sébastien Genvo, game design expert

Gaming enables us to delve deeper into and query various contemporary media logic. Thanks to it, Internet-based social issues are addressed, challenges surrounding author and digital artist rights in the interactive media industry are brought to the table, and work is defined. In addition, its simulation media nature acts as a springboard in raising the questions likely to shed light on emerging media. For all these reasons, video games make for an interesting research topic, and I’ve been pro-actively fighting to make the greater public aware of their significance in the fields of Human and Social Sciences where they’ve long gone ignored and highly criticized. If some video games are conduits for very strong ideologies, it’s because their background is closely tied to the military making them easy targets for criticism. Hence, our goal is to put an end to the stigmatization and change our lens so that they may be viewed as a means of expression and tool for inquiry.

“Making the most of player-generated content”

Thierry Lehmann: Could you tell us more about the “consumption as creation” concept that has appeared on the Internet? Players take part in producing a kind of culture, or at the very least, content. Do players merely personalize the games to which they contribute, or does their input have deeper consequences?

Is this type of input to be seen as the birth of co-participation or as a new kind of self-affirmation? Can these trends reshape our lifestyle, and impact real social issues?

Sébastien Genvo: Gaming does involve a type of self-assertiveness and creativity. Some psychoanalysts, such as Winnicott, have explored this train of thought. Players have a natural tendency to assert their identity, and to stir up something new from it. Since the birth of this market, manufacturers have been striving to obtain feedback on improving their games, either through the creation of sequels (i.e. series games such as Mario Bros., Zelda or Doom) or compliance with dynamic logic. Dynamic logic is applied to World of Warcraft through a number of patches that modify the game and make it into something different from what it was upon first release. Designers continually keep an eye on user behavior: They take note of the rules devised by gamers, and then enhance the game with those which work well. There is a retroactive loop between manufacturers and consumers.

Page 3 of 7 | Previous page | Next page