This is not just a game: videogames and meaning making

Author(s)

Luiz Henrique Magnani

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD)
• Defense date: 2014-09-11

Examining board members

Lynn Mario Trindade Menezes de Souza; Denise Bértoli Braga; Marcelo El Khouri Buzato; Walkyria Maria Monte Mór; Vanderlei José Zacchi

• Advisor: Lynn Mario Trindade Menezes de Souza

Abstract

The aim of this research is to analyze potential connections between videogames and meaningmaking through the discussion of different approaches and theoretical perspectives that might contribute to the understanding of the videogame as an object of academic study. Rather than considering a perspective that restricts the videogame as a contemporary sample of a more abstract notion of a game, I approach it as an epistemic object (KNORR CETINA 2001) participant of constellations of knowledge (SANTOS ET AL 2005) that may conflict with each other; especially in a society where the primacy of scientific practices and knowledge is remarkable. Therefore, I emphasize two dimensions of the videogame: its materiality as contemporary media and its potentiality as a cultural artifact that generates specific social and discursive effects. Within this framework, I point out elements that help to problematize how the specificity of technical, cultural, and linguistic issues regarding the current understanding of videogames can frame knowledges and meanings constructed in the contingency of interaction among players. Exploratory studies were carried out on two forms of analysis: the observation of written records in a forum of football fans mainly regarding a simulator called Football Manager; and interviews with four participants of this forum who used the simulator in a common practice. This research focused mainly on the following points: i) how the situated and specific experience with the videogame can be transformed and presented as a public or manifest knowledge in other contexts; ii) what kind of links a player may recognize, stand up for, or establish among knowledges and meanings when interacting with the videogame, and on the other hand, with those knowledges understood as canonical or expected in this second context; iii) what role (or effect) these experiences play when they are shared in socially embedded concrete situations by people who are not videogame players. The research results showed that: although players and non-players participants of this community share a common sense of separation between experiences from the professional football world and the interaction with Football Manager, and also the practice with the simulator is not consensual, regarding it as a valid source of knowledge, it does not exclude this experience as a form of knowledge held and used by different group members, which influenced opinions and perspectives under discussion in the forum. As a result, it must be considered that videogames play a significant role in the construction of realities that surround players. However, this construction does not represent confusion to the players\' perception between the practice of interacting with videogames and the different social practices in other contexts (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 10/07050-5 - Identities at play: video games, conflicts and meanings
• Grantee: Luiz Henrique Magnani Xavier de Lima
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate