ABSTRACT

The article investigates how the union IWGB Game Workers has been introducing strategies that allow members to be more closely in control of their visibility with bosses and peers. The videogame sector has been traditionally averse to unionization. Its compulsory network sociality, and the belief that game-work should be passion-driven, limit the expression of discontent and proposals for structural change. Drawing on 2 years of participatory observation and interviews with board members, the article looks at how the union has been protecting members’ anonymity and helping identify relations of power within the workplace while avoiding exposure. The strategies open new possibilities for workers’ organizing and shed light on how labor is understood in a fundamental sector of the creative economy. The article analyzes the implications currently affecting the union organizing project: board members become over-exposed, and internal policies protecting anonymity are challenged by the promotional cultures of social media.

摘要

这篇文章调查了工会 IWGB 游戏工作者如何引入策略，使成员能够更密切地控制他们在老板和同事中的知名度。电子游戏行业历来反对工会化。它的强制性网络社交性，以及游戏工作应该由激情驱动的信念，限制了不满的表达和结构变革的提议。通过两年的参与式观察和对董事会成员的采访，本文着眼于工会如何保护成员的匿名性并帮助识别工作场所内的权力关系，同时避免暴露。这些战略为工人的组织开辟了新的可能性，并阐明了如何在创意经济的基础部门中理解劳动力。