Digital Distinction: Class as mediated dispositions in China s Animal Crossing fever (original) (raw)

An exploration of the relationship between video games and cyber-nationalism in contemporary China

2022

Video games were introduced to China in the 1980s and the Chinese market is now the largest in the world. Although that many participants in cyber-nationalism are gamers, this correlation has not previously been explained in Anglophone scholarship. This essay presents evidence that over the last 30 years video games have been fundamental to the development of cyber-nationalism in contemporary China.

Situating Productive Play: Online Gaming Practices and Guanxi in China

2009

Economic activities in and around online gaming in China are often correlated in the West with practices of gold farming, or selling in-game currency to players for real money in online games. What can we learn about online gaming in China and about online gaming and online sociality more broadly when we look at economic and other “pragmatic” practices through which online gaming becomes meaningful to players? In this paper, we present findings from an ethnographic study of online gaming in China’s urban Internet cafes to discuss implications for game design, and HCI design more broadly. Considering the ties between socio-economic practices, development of trust and culturally situated imaginings of self-hood and otherness, brings to the fore how online gaming in and of itself constitutes the means for practical achievements in day-to-day management of guanxi (social connection).

Japanese console games popularization in China: Governance, Copycats, and Gamers

2015

This article attempts to explore the popularization of Japanese console games in China in the past two decades, which reveals the tripartite relationship of the nation- state, transnational cultural power, and local agents.1 This study focuses on the formation and development of the console game industry in a non-Western context, where the society has undergone dramatic transformations and has been largely influenced by the globalization process. Encountering social anti-gaming discourse and cultural protectionism, the importation and distribution of Japanese console games did not get support from the state. However, it found its way to the audience and gained popularity through piracy, the black market, and the local agents’ appropriation, becoming an integrated part of many Chinese early gamers’ lives. This article draws upon the intersection of cultural globalization with game studies, calling for an investigation into the complexity of the game industry through its socio- historical, political, and cultural environment.

From the main-melody story to gaming experience: is the Chinese digital game arena a potential counterpublic sphere

This article interrogates the possibility that the digital game arena plays a role as a 'counterpublic sphere' where alternative voices that violate the hegemonic narratives in the mainstream media culture can be expressed. Exemplified by The Invisible Guardian, a Chinese interactive role-playing game, we present the first study to bring political perspective into the Chinese digital game studies, combining narrative analysis and players' experience to provide a comprehensive understanding of political engagement in China's digital game arena. We argue that the digital game uses various strategies to portray figures from different political parties in a way that subverts mainstream main-melody dramas and sheds light on sensitive historical movements. This implies the potential of Chinese digital games to become a counterpublic sphere, delivering alternative voices that challenge the mainstream media discourse and stimulate gamers' political introspection.