Video games

Joshua Reno

Chapter 3 in Elgar Encyclopedia of Economic Anthropology, 2025, pp 62-66 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The study of video games can take on a variety of economic dimensions, whether the focus is on consumption, exchange or production, respectively. Based on auto-ethnographic and digital anthropological research, this chapter considers recent efforts among retro gamers to remake gaming goods as self-concious acts of cultural invention and restoration in direct opposition, often, to the gaming industry. It shows that, despite the association of gaming with new and technically powerful devices, and representations of gamers as controlled by the billion-dollar gaming culture industry, actual users develop multiple strategies that are neither about the environmentalism, per se, nor about practical need, but focus on games as cultural objects worthy of preservation and respect. Moreover, recent economic trends, including the financialization and virtual platformization of gaming products all placed pressure on these retro gamers, offering incentives to innovate and even, in some cases, engage in market activism.

Keywords: Games; Play; Repair; Consumption; Corporations; Autoethnography (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035312566
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