{"id":271,"date":"2019-10-02T22:55:34","date_gmt":"2019-10-02T22:55:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rutheggel.mur.at\/?page_id=271"},"modified":"2023-10-18T22:03:35","modified_gmt":"2023-10-18T22:03:35","slug":"embodying-gaming","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/rutheggel.mur.at\/index.php\/projects\/embodying-gaming\/","title":{"rendered":"EMBODYING GAMING"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Doctoral Thesis<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Embodying Gaming<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Actualizing the Virtual at Computer Game Events<\/em> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Commercial\nGaming Events attract hundreds of thousands of visitors every year as well as\nmillions of people who follow the events online. They exemplify various\ncontemporary developments surrounding digital technologies and the impacts they\nhave on culture and society, as well as the research of these phenomena,\nespecially with regards to ethnographic research comprising of classical “<\/a>offline” methods combined with means of\ndigital ethnography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nmaterialization of digital gaming culture in the context of these events\nreveals specific dynamics of simultaneous experiences of various “digital”\nand “non-digital” planes of interaction. The borders between “online”\nand “offline” are blurred and the merging of “digital” and “non-digital”\npractices are celebrated as part of these events. As such they are unique\nfields for anthropological research, as this aspect of parallel and\nsimultaneous interactions poses new challenges for ethnographic research, but\nat the same time allows new insights into the field and its agents on different\nplanes of interactions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My ethnographic research is situated in this hybrid field between “online” and “offline”, within the physically materialised culture of digital games at “real-life” events. “Classical” and “digital” ethnographic methods are interwoven, to follow a research field, that can\u2019t be situated exclusively in- or outside “the digital” but is characterized by this interconnection. Computer games, social media, streaming platforms and team speak clients are just as much part of the field, as queuing in front of exhibition halls or gaming booths, crowds, as far as the eye can see, and cosplayers embodying digital characters. The challenge to combine ethnographic research of various layers of “digital” and “non-digital” happenings, while doing the field and its agents justice, is not limited to gaming events but raises more general questions for the anthropological research of theses hybrid fields. How can we tackle these collapsed distinctions between “online” and “offline” research? As field research intensifies through simultaneous happenings online, we also need to ask how we can document these multiple layers of interaction? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a praxeological, cultural-analytical approach, this project examines (everyday) practices, interactions and negotiations in their larger socio-political context, as they exemplify a wide range of challenges posed to digital anthropology. As the field of gaming events combines “digital” and “real-life\u201d practices in a unique way, they reveal several dynamics, that are paradigmatic for the merging of “online” and “offline” practices. Even though bodies are treated as a relatively unimportant factors in digital gaming, they become significant in many particular ways in the context of gaming events. Digital experiences of gaming are suddenly “embodied” at those events. The “embodiments” of digital worlds can be seen in cosplays, fan clothing or tattoos, which are practices connected to the identity as a gamer for the research participants, but at the same time serve as advertising measures for companies and exhibitors at the events. Thus, processes of becoming a gamer, bodily experiences “online” and “offline”, and their links to consumption practices are focused in this research. How can we understand the simultaneous physical and digital presence of gamers at gaming events? And how can we describe their active participation in relation to the production of market values? How do gamers shape self-determined experiences through material and aestheticized consumption? How are aesthetics, bodies, emotional experiences and brands connected in a paradigmatic form of economy, that allows agents to articulate themselves within these commodified practices? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Digital\nGames are a prime example of an “experience economy” (Pine & Gilmore\n1999:20), selling positive emotional experience to gamers rather than material\ngoods or products. Their selling point is based on the experienced or emotional\nvalue, same can be said for commercials events. The conjunction of the two in\ncommercial gaming events serves as extreme example of an economy focusing on\nthe selling of an adventure that merges “real-life” and digital\ngaming experiences. In order to generate positive experiences, gamers\nparticipate (pro-)actively and enthusiastically in production processes.\nDigital and physical competitions are employed to provide an intense experience\ninvolving all (bodily) senses. Contrary to clich\u00e9s of “sitting around”\nin front of a computer, competitions involving bodily abilities and (muscle)\nstrength are frequently employed at gaming events. The ethnographic findings\nreveal various examples of how digital experiences inscribe themselves into “real-life”\npractices and vice versa, merging and complementing each other. They also show\nhow everyday practices linked to digital technologies often lead to unexpected\ndevelopments. Gender is one aspect which is (re-)negotiated in often contradicting\nways in digital communication and at the events. The observed practices stagger\nbetween hyper sexualization (especially of women) and sexism on one hand and\nthe stressing of the unimportance of gender and non-conformity to binary gender\nroles on the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crowd is imagined as a symbolic community in which one can show one\u2019s “true” self, oscillating between (digital)fantasies and bodily experiences. Gaming events serve as materially manifested places in which the digital is reflected. The rapid alternation between digital games and physical encounters is not exclusive to, but specific for gaming events. As such I see gaming events as the condensation of a series of contemporary dynamics surrounding the interconnections of “digital” and “real-life” experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publications<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

2023 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Multi-pr\u00e4sentes Ethnografieren. Ethnografische Anwesenheit in mehr-als-digitalen Feldern. <\/em>In: Martina Klausner, Dennis Eckhart (eds.): Digital[it\u00e4t] Ethnografieren. Forschungsmethoden f\u00fcr den digitalen Alltag. Kulturanthropologie Notizen 85\/2023. pp. 96-110. Online: https:\/\/ka-notizen.de\/index.php\/ka-notizen\/article\/view\/18\/20<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2021 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Becoming a Gamer: Zwischen Teilhabe und Konsum, Kommodifizierung und Agency<\/em>, In:\u00a0 Johannes Moser, Gertraud Koch, Lara Hansen (eds.): Welt.Wissen.Gestalten, Hamburger Journal f\u00fcr Kulturanthropologie HJK (13), pp. 621-630. Online: https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/360458169_Becoming_a_Gamer_Zwischen_Teilhabe_und_Konsum_Kommodifizierung_und_Agency<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Talks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

2023     Digital Gaming Matter: Verk\u00f6rperte virtuelle Welten. L<\/em>ecture series: Die Welt mit anderen Augen sehen: Why Anthropology matters, 29.06.2023, University of Bonn, Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2023     A Place like Cyberspace. Verk\u00f6rperte Digitalit\u00e4ten bei Gaming Events. C<\/em>onference: Alltag der Digitalit\u00e4t, \u00f6gekw-Tagung, 18-20.05.2023, Klagenfurt, Austria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2023     Digitales Spiel\u2013Material: Gaming Events zwischen Virtualit\u00e4t und Materie. L<\/em>ecture series: Digitale Anthropologie: Exemplarische Felder und interdisziplin\u00e4re Schnittstellen, 27.04.2023, University of T\u00fcbingen, Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2023     Multi-pr\u00e4sentes Ethnografieren. Hybriden Gaming Events ethnografisch auf der Spur<\/em>. Lecture series: Digital(it\u00e4t) ethnografieren? Methoden f\u00fcr den digitalen Alltag, 25.01.2023, University of Frankfurt (Main), Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2022     Digital Worlds \u201cIn-Between\u201d: Practicing Hybrid Futures at Computer Game Events. C<\/em>onference: Digital Futures in the Making: Imaginaries, Politics, and Materialities, 15.09.2022 – 16.09.2022 University of Hamburg, Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Gamers\u2019 Play-Grounds. Practices of Play(ing) and Beyond at Video Game Events.<\/em> Online-conference: Video Games as a Common Ground, 2-3.9.2022, University of Zadar, Croatia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Embodying Gaming. Entangling virtual and actual at computer game festivals<\/em>, lecture, 03.05.2022, University of Zadar, Croatia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2021 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cBecoming Bigger than Myself\u201d. Embodying Digital Gaming between Ritual and Play<\/em>. Conference of Societ\u00e9 Internationale d\u2019Ethnologie et de Folklore (SIEF) 2021, 19-24.06.2021, Helsinki, Finnland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2021     Serendipity und Lucky Chances \u2013 Playfulness im Event Kontext,<\/em> lecture series: Playing Video Games, 20.1.2021, University of Jena, Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2021     Digital Gaming Embodied. Ethnographic Serendipity and Lucky Chances at Gaming Events<\/em>. RustLAB lecture series: Data & Experimentalism. 14.01.2021. University of Bochum, Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2020     Truths about Gaming. Ethnographic perspectives on truth-making \u201conline\u201d and \u201coffline\u201d<\/em>. Conference: Digital Truth-Making. Ethnographic Perspectives on Practices, Infrastructures and Affordances of Truth-Making in Digital Societies, 7.-10.10.2020, University of Berlin, Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2020     Exploring the \u201cIn-Between\u201d<\/em>. Reflecting ethnographic methods at Gaming Events<\/em>. Conference: 16th EASA Biennial Conference, \u201eNew anthropological horizons in and beyond Europe\u201c, Virtual Lisbon conference, ISCTE-University Institute of Lisbon and ICS-Institute of Social Sciences, 20-24.07.2020, University of Lisbon, Portugal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2020     Spiel_Material. Zur ,Middle-Zone\u2018 zwischen Medien und Materie<\/em>. Conference: DIS(S)-CONNECT II | Wie Medien uns trennen und verbinden. Interdisziplin\u00e4re Doktorand*innen-Tagung, 16-18.04.2020, University of Vienna, Austria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2020     Spiel-R\u00e4ume. Interferenzen von digitalen und materiellen Raum- und K\u00f6rpererfahrungen bei Gaming Events.<\/em> Conference: “Technocultures & Technoscapes”, 30.1.-1.2.2020, University of Bonn, Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2019     Branding Gamers\u2018 Bodies: Verkn\u00fcpfungen von Teilhabe und Konsum, Kommodifizierung und Agency im Kontext von Massen Gaming Events<\/em>. Conference \u201eWelt-Wissen-Gestalten\u201c der deutschen Gesellschaft f\u00fcr Volkskunde 2019, 7-10.10.2019, University of Hamburg, Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2019     real.life.gaming.events. Kulturanthropologische \u00dcberlegungen zu ambivalenten Gaming Praktiken zwischen Krieg und Geborgenheit<\/em>. PHD Symposium: Fahnenflucht aus digitalem Kriegsgebiet, 24.10.2019, University of Arts Linz\/Donau, Austria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2019     Gamers\u2018 Bodies – Die Produktion von Subjekt, K\u00f6rper und ,Immersion\u2018 als performierte Vergn\u00fcgungserfahrungen im Kontext von Gaming Events<\/em>. Conference: DIS(S)-CONNECT | Wie Medien uns trennen und verbinden, 25.\u201327.04.2019, University of Mainz, Germany.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Doctoral Thesis Embodying Gaming Actualizing the Virtual at Computer Game Events Commercial Gaming Events attract hundreds of thousands of visitors every year as well as millions of people who follow the events online. They exemplify various contemporary developments surrounding digital technologies and the impacts they have on culture and society,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12,"parent":25,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-271","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rutheggel.mur.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rutheggel.mur.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rutheggel.mur.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rutheggel.mur.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rutheggel.mur.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/rutheggel.mur.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":408,"href":"https:\/\/rutheggel.mur.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/271\/revisions\/408"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rutheggel.mur.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/25"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rutheggel.mur.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rutheggel.mur.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}