Usefulness of Understanding Computer Games to see them as ‘Co-produced’

Usefulness of Understanding Computer Games to see them as ‘Co-produced’
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Usefulness of Understanding Computer Games to see them as ‘Co-produced’
Introduction
The older model of media was largely packaged for consumption as opposed to the twenty-first-century networked media that promotes audiences as active co-producers of media content and meaning (Hjorth & Richardson, 2014). Media, including computer games, has transitioned from its early regimes as a communicative and social device to its modern industry-hyped potential as a creative form of media in an era of “participatory media” (Jenkins, Ford, & Green, 2018, p.36). Traditionally, computer games have been a product of technical game developers working in a tightly regulated industry (Dovey & Kennedy, 2006p.123). Media industries have come to appreciate the nature of culture becoming more participatory to rewrite the rules and perceive differently the relationship between computer game producers and fans. In multiplayer first person shooter (FPS) games, neither the developers nor the players are responsible for the final product, which makes such games a co-creative media (Dovey & Kennedy, 2006, p.123). As a result, few companies are ready to take the risk of this perception as it may potentially hurt their valuable intellectual property. This conflict arises because the corporate interests and those of the audience sometimes operate in parallel because even companies that are ready to embrace a participatory culture in computer game production are uncertain how much control they should relinquish (Jenkins, Ford, & Green, 2018, p.35). Nevertheless, as Banks (2013, p.1) notes, co-creativity has increasingly become an invaluable economic and cultural phenomenon where media consumers have at the same time become producers. Using Tom Clancy’s games like Rainbow Six Siege, a multiplayer first person shooter (FPS) game and others as an example, this paper argues that it is important to understand computer games and see them as ‘co-produced’ since within a participatory culture of production, media serves a range of cultural, political, and economic interests.
Understanding the paradigm shift of the transition of media such as computer games from mere social and communicative device to co-created media is an appreciation of the role of media in advancing cultural interests in society. For this reason, gamers have evolved from being predominantly gamers playing computer games to makers, thus further blurring the boundaries between game developers and players (Banks, 2013, p.1). A decade before the 9/11 attack, Don DeLillo’s Mao II claimed that there is a link between novelists and terrorists, which directly draws a connection between terrorists and writers in their role in altering the inner cultural life of society (Schopp & Hill, 2009, p.1). Computer games such as Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege and other techno-thrillers have adapted and shaped American mythologies of warfare to delicately approve political totalitarianism as a resistance against terrorist activities (Schopp & Hill, 2009, p.28). The computer game initiates players into the “insider world” of the intelligence and military communities using technical language that is translated literary and visually to depict the war on terror in a technological era (Schopp & Hill, 2009, p.136). In the US history, war and warriors have remained central in popular culture and the depiction of culture in Rainbow Six Siege characterizes how the US government wages war on terror, especially in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. The game shows the adoration of the American military and technological prowess in countering any further attacks on the United States (Schopp & Hill, 2009, p.129). Since culture is participatory as claims Jenkins, Ford, and Green (2018, p.37), and art significantly transforms that culture (Schopp & Hill, 2009, p.1), computer games ought to be seen as con-produced product where developers and players both contribute to their assemblage.
It is noteworthy to consider computer games as co-produced products to understand the political dynamics of a country. Jenkins, Ford, and Green (2018, p.35) recognizes that the circulation of media within the context of participatory culture serves some political interest such as in critiquing the construction of sexuality and gender or other policies in mass media. The access of computer games allows citizens to participate in political and social life that makes up a culture or become part of the public sphere (Turnbull, 2014, p.75). Tom Clancy Rainbow Six Siege uses the brand of Tom Clancy to depict an experience which carves to the right-wing politics and viewpoints. In the game, the American military superheroes are taken to restore order peace and order and bestow justice. The brand in its formulation indicates a conservative mindset as the political mindset. Just like the right-wing politics in the United States, the Rainbow Six Siege contains heroes and vill...