Players as Authors: Conjecturing Online Game Creation Modalities and Infrastructure

Authors

Abstract

As we outline a movement beyond the apparent creative stagnation in the videogames industry we envision possible transformations, beyond the gridlock a producer-consumer dichotomy, that propose to mobilize players as creative actors in a holistic experience. We propose to recognize the authoring roles players develop in their relation to the industry and the gaming community, that configure an emancipation from the current producer-consumer dichotomy. Building on this conjecture we review possible meanings of a player as author perspective and conjecture modalities of authorship and participation. We close by outlining some of the design challenges for an infrastructure to support those roles.

Subject

Information Systems Design

Conference

DiGRA 2005 Conference: Changing Views - Worlds in Play, June 2005