research-article

Mitigating Exploitation: Indie Game Developers' Reconfigurations of Labor in Technology

Authors:

Jeffrey Bardzell,

Shaowen Bardzell,

Nathan McNeeseAuthors Info & Claims

Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, Volume 4, Issue CSCW1

Article No.: 56, Pages 1 - 23

https://doi.org/10.1145/3392864

Published: 29 May 2020 Publication History

Abstract

Much HCI research seeks to contribute to technological agendas that lead to more just and participative labor relations and practices, yet that research also raises concerns about forms of exploitation associated with them. In this paper, we explore how U.S. independent [indie] game developers' socio-technological practices inject forms of labor, capital, and production into the game development industry. Our findings highlight that indie game development 1) seeks to promote an alternative to business models of game development that depend on free and immaterial labor; 2) builds offline networks at different scales to develop collectives that can sustain their production; and 3) emphasizes how distributed collaboration, co-creation, and the use of free tools and middleware make game production more widely accessible. The research contributes to HCI research that seeks to explicate and mitigate emerging forms of exploitation enabled by new technologies and processes. Our critical review of indie developers' practices and strategies also extends the current conceptualization of labor and technology in CSCW.

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Cited By

Freeman GMandryk RFrommel JMirza-Babaei PLampe CFarzan RLópez CCardoso Llach DQuercia DMustafa MNiu SWong-Villacrés M(2024)Games and Play SIG at CSCW: Approaching Games Research from a CSCW PerspectiveCompanion Publication of the 2024 Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing10.1145/3678884.3687144(666-668)Online publication date: 11-Nov-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3678884.3687144
Denisova ABromley SMirza-Babaei PMekler E(2024)Towards Democratisation of Games User Research: Exploring Playtesting Challenges of Indie Video Game DevelopersProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36771088:CHI PLAY(1-25)Online publication date: 15-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3677108
Panchanadikar RFreeman G(2024)"I'm a Solo Developer but AI is My New Ill-Informed Co-Worker": Envisioning and Designing Generative AI to Support Indie Game DevelopmentProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36770828:CHI PLAY(1-26)Online publication date: 15-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3677082
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Mitigating Exploitation: Indie Game Developers' Reconfigurations of Labor in Technology
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Collaborative and social computing
    1. Empirical studies in collaborative and social computing

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Published In

cover image Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction

Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction Volume 4, Issue CSCW1

CSCW

May 2020

1285 pages

EISSN:2573-0142

DOI:10.1145/3403424

Editors:
Cliff Lampe
University of Michigan
,
Jeff Nichols
Google
,
Karrie Karahalios
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
,
Geraldine Fitzpatrick
Vienna University of Technology
,
Uichin Lee
KAIST
,
Andres Monroy-Hernandez
Microsoft Research
,
Wolfgang Stuerzlinger
Simon Fraser University, Canada

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Publication History

Published: 29 May 2020

Online AM: 07 May 2020

Published in PACMHCI Volume 4, Issue CSCW1

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Cited By

Freeman GMandryk RFrommel JMirza-Babaei PLampe CFarzan RLópez CCardoso Llach DQuercia DMustafa MNiu SWong-Villacrés M(2024)Games and Play SIG at CSCW: Approaching Games Research from a CSCW PerspectiveCompanion Publication of the 2024 Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing10.1145/3678884.3687144(666-668)Online publication date: 11-Nov-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3678884.3687144
Denisova ABromley SMirza-Babaei PMekler E(2024)Towards Democratisation of Games User Research: Exploring Playtesting Challenges of Indie Video Game DevelopersProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36771088:CHI PLAY(1-25)Online publication date: 15-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3677108
Panchanadikar RFreeman G(2024)"I'm a Solo Developer but AI is My New Ill-Informed Co-Worker": Envisioning and Designing Generative AI to Support Indie Game DevelopmentProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36770828:CHI PLAY(1-26)Online publication date: 15-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3677082
Kou YZhou YZhang ZGui X(2024)The Ecology of Harmful Design: Risk and Safety of Game Making on a Metaverse PlatformProceedings of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3643834.3660678(1842-1856)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3643834.3660678
Panchanadikar RFreeman GLi LSchulenberg KHu Y(2024)"A New Golden Era" or "Slap Comps": How Non-Profit Driven Indie Game Developers Perceive the Emerging Role of Generative AI in Game DevelopmentExtended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613905.3650845(1-7)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613905.3650845
Mandryk RMirza-Babaei PDenisova AFreeman GJohnson D(2024)Games and Play SIG: Connecting Games Research to the Broader HCI ContextExtended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613905.3643986(1-6)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613905.3643986
Cai JLin YZhang HCarroll J(2024)Third-Party Developers and Tool Development For Community Management on Live Streaming Platform TwitchProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642787(1-18)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
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Kamila MJasrotia SKushwaha P(2024)Understanding digital sweatshops: A qualitative investigation of workers’ perspectivesAsian Journal of Business Ethics10.1007/s13520-024-00210-yOnline publication date: 26-Aug-2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13520-024-00210-y
Freeman GLi LMcneese NSchulenberg K(2023)Understanding and Mitigating Challenges for Non-Profit Driven Indie Game Development to Innovate Game ProductionProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3580976(1-16)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
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Li LFreeman GMcNeese N(2022)Channeling End-User Creativity: Leveraging Live Streaming for Distributed Collaboration in Indie Game DevelopmentProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35551736:CSCW2(1-28)Online publication date: 11-Nov-2022
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