ABSTRACT

Video games developers engage with their creations, and games in general, in profoundly emotional ways. Since the industry became a mass-market phenomenon, a growing body of research has emerged interrogating the connections between developers and the games they produce and how these connections relate to broader affective issues seen in the cultural and creative industries. Most of the research in this field focuses on core markets such as the United States (US), Europe and Japan, leaving a significant gap of empirical research in peripheral locations. While emotional and affective issues are also present in peripheral games development, games production in these locations is often influenced by core-like global cultural tropes. Drawing on ideas and concepts about immaterial labour and based on semi-structured interviews, the analysis shows that many Chilean developers often see Japanese and North American games as the primary source of inspiration. As a result, the periphery’s games are essentially locked into the tropes, themes, and core markets’ characters. While this might be viewed as disadvantageous, Chilean developers have identified this trait as a major strength when competing in the global game market.

摘要

电子游戏开发人员以深刻的情感方式参与创作和一般游戏。自从该行业成为大众市场现象以来，越来越多的研究开始质疑开发商与他们所生产的游戏之间的联系，以及这些联系如何与文化和创意产业中广泛的情感问题相关联。该领域的大多数研究都集中在核心市场上，例如美国（US），欧洲和日本，因此在周边地区的实证研究存在很大差距。虽然外围游戏的开发中也存在情感和情感问题，但这些地区的游戏制作通常受到类似核心的全球文化趋向的影响。借鉴关于非物质劳动的想法和概念，并基于半结构化访谈，分析表明，许多智利开发人员经常将日本和北美游戏视为灵感的主要来源。因此，外围设备的游戏本质上被锁定在比喻，主题和核心市场的角色中。尽管这可能被认为是不利的，但智利开发人员已将此特征确定为在全球游戏市场竞争中的主要优势。