Recent theorizing around games and notions of play has drawn from a pool of mid-20th century scholars including such notables as Johann Huizinga, Gregory Bateson, Roger Caillois and Ludwig Wittgenstein. Through his articulation of the concept of language as a type of game, Wittgenstein has been both adopted and critiqued for purposes of circumscribing what are now commonly held as the necessary constituents of games including their systemic nature and the acquiescence of their participants to an agreed-upon rule structure: a set of rules which Wittgenstein likens to the ‘grammar’ of language (Salen and Zimmerman, 2001;Suits, 1978; Juul, 2005; Wittgenstein, 1953; Finch, 2001; Brenner, 1999). Although thus far Wittgenstein has served as a pillar of 20th and 21st century game theory canon, this paper adopts Wittgenstein’s notion of language-games not for purposes of examining games, but for purposes of examining the design of games. The pursuit of this paper is to utilize Wittgenstein’s lens of the language-game to investigate what it is that informs and consequently shapes and reinforces game design epistemologies in an attempt to encourage a reflexivity about the design practices behind the games we create. Read more...

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In the course of their increasing sociocultural importance, the academic interest in computer games has been growing considerably in the last years. This profound anthology comprehensibly introduces latest approaches in the central fields of game studies and provides an extensive survey of the contemporary game culture. Internationally renowned media and literature scholars, social scientists, game designers, and artists explore the cultural potential of computer games and present new concepts of researching sociocultural, industrial, and aesthetic aspects of digital entertainment. Read more...

Jason Rutter & Jo Bryce
Cyberspace Research Unit, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, PR1 2HE

Draft Prepublication Paper: Forthcoming, Sociology.

Abstract

Social science, policy and popular discourse around counterfeiting regularly position consumers of counterfeit goods as part of a technological elite or motivated by anti-capitalist or anti-corporate positions. In order to explore this construction and highlight its associated limitations, this paper presents quantitative data collected through postal and web-based questionnaires looking at the frequency, location and motivations for the purchase of counterfeit leisure items for consumers in the United Kingdom.

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