Marcin Kozak
(Faculty of “Artes Liberales”, University of Warsaw)
Abstract:
Usually gaming world is strictly associated with the sphere of pure joy and amusement. Even if certain video games are designed to be exceedingly difficult or competitive, in the end their purpose should be separated from the work. In fact, video games gameplay and mechanics are often more interlinked to the concept of “labour” than to “play”. We play during our worktime and we work during our playtime. It is not a coincidence that game thinking and game-based tools are used in a strategic manner to integrate with existing business processes. Steven Pool, the author of the article Working for the Man. Against the Employment Paradigm in Videogames argues that games hire us for imaginary, meaningless jobs that replicate the structures of real-world employment. An overview of modern computer games shows us that in last years the significant share of the products from game industry reproduce the world of repetitive jobs (in particular: sandboxes with large open worlds). Moreover, even the act of gaming is framed into the labour system due to the AI systems constantly learning from very digestible food for thoughts – from the IT perspective – basically, our behaviors translated into code. However, the goal-oriented approach, Sim-lifestyle, simulators of real-life job (for example, Garbage Truck Simulator, Farming Simulator, Euro Track Simulator) and other unsettling examples are just a beginning. The presentation ventures to explore question whether we are able to separate labour and joy within the existing set of mechanics. If not, there is a necessity to investigate further: to what extend contemporary shape of video games are rooted in neoliberalism? what distinguishes “corrupted” practices from those devoted to entertainment? What is the role of storytelling? The speech will examine both single- and multiplayer titles, as well as varied genres, in order to track theoretically relevant common grounds.
Marcin Kozak pursues his PhD at the faculty of “Artes Liberales” at the University of Warsaw. He graduated in law, philosophy and liberal arts within the College of Inter-Area Individual Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Warsaw and Charles University in Prague.