Serra Sezgin- DIGITAL GAMES INDUSTRY AND GAME DEVELOPERS IN TURKEY: PROBLEMS AND POSSIBILITIES/ Türkiye’de Dijital Oyun Endüstrisi ve Oyun Geliştiriciler: Problemler ve Olanaklar (original) (raw)
Related papers
Digital Games Industry and Game Developers in Turkey: Problems and Possibilities
DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), 2018
This study aims to understand the games industry's problems in Turkey and the relation of those problems with game developers, their working practices and the ecosystem. Adopting an ethnographic approach, in-depth interviews were conducted with 20 game developers, who work in digital games industry, mostly in one of the most important creative clustering examples in Turkey, METU Teknokent. According to the findings of the field research, main problems are defined as the lack of know-how and human capital. It is understood that those problems aggravate adverse working conditions for game developers by causing working without getting paid or underpaid and the self-teaching process that generates excessive working hours. In this regard, the potentiality of creating a culture in the game ecosystem based on solidarity, collective learning and sharing information is argued to improve Turkey's games industry and game developers' working conditions.
Türkiye’de Dijital Oyun Endüstrisi ve Oyun Geliştiriciler: Problemler ve Olanaklar
Moment Journal, 2018
This study aims to understand the games industry's problems in Turkey and the relation of those problems with game developers, their working practices and the ecosystem. Adopting an ethnographic approach, in-depth interviews were conducted with 20 game developers, who work in digital games industry, mostly in one of the most important creative clustering examples in Turkey, METU Teknokent. According to the findings of the field research, main problems are defined as the lack of know-how and human capital. It is understood that those problems aggravate adverse working conditions for game developers by causing working without getting paid or underpaid and the self-teaching process that generates excessive working hours. In this regard, the potentiality of creating a culture in the game ecosystem based on solidarity, collective learning and sharing information is argued to improve Turkey's games industry and game developers' working conditions.
Moment Journal, 2019
it is not easy to reach comprehensive global data and analysis of the digital games industry. The first reason is the complex structure of the industry since it depends on many variables such as national and regional policies, cities, investments, incentives or the organizational strategies in political, economic, social and cultural aspects. The second reason, on the other hand, is related to finding an objective and independent statistics of the digital games industry. Apart from that, academic studies on the digital games industry mostly focus on the content of digital games and rarely on the structure of the industry or game workers' experiences. The absence of these studies in the literature is reasonably foreseeable considering the rapidly changing and transforming nature of technology and the difficulty to find long-term research funding for scholars.
Digital Games Between the Tensions of Culture, Creativity and Industry
2019
People working in the games industry and researchers in this field probably know that it is not easy to reach comprehensive global data and analysis of the digital games industry. The first reason is the complex structure of the industry since it depends on many variables such as national and regional policies, cities, investments, incentives or the organizational strategies in political, economic, social and cultural aspects. The second reason, on the other hand, is related to finding an objective and independent statistics of the digital games industry. Apart from that, academic studies on the digital games industry mostly focus on the content of digital games and rarely on the structure of the industry or game workers’ experiences. The absence of these studies in the literature is reasonably foreseeable considering the rapidly changing and transforming nature of technology and the difficulty to find long-term research funding for scholars.
Creative Industries in Turkey, 2020
Introduction Jenkins (2012; Jenkins & Deuze, 2008) proposes that today’s media cultural scene is a participatory one. This defines both the consumption of the media and the processes of production. Especially for the video games industry, it is seemingly less and less possible for gamers to consume a video game without actually participating in its extended media presence (e.g., social media content and interactions, gaming news, review videos, playthrough videos, fan fiction, fan art, forums, walkthroughs, leaderboards, internet memes, transmedia practices, etc.). Postigo (2007) asserts that “the fan culture for digital games is deeply embedded in shared practices and experiences among fan communities, and their active consumption contributes economically and culturally to broader society.” (p. 300) Video game producers begin this communication and participation process during the production of a game, and an increasing number of video games rely on prerelease marketing or communication to be successful. Preview copies, demos, crowd-source funding, developer blogs, and alpha and beta tests constitute some of the methods mobilized for this aim. Equally useful are do-it-yourself tools and media kits released along with the video games to promote fan production and modding. A contemporary discussion focusing on gamers, however, underlines that excessive critique and exercise of power in production of games from the perspective...
Decision Science Letters, 2023
The Indonesian creative economy has been on the rise since 2015 when it has started being measured and prioritized by the government. Its contribution towards the Indonesian GDP has risen significantly as well. A small part of that creative sector is the video game industry and market. The video game global market will be worth USD 200 Billion in 2023. Indonesia currently is ranked 16th in terms of market size. Although having an enormous market opportunity, local video game producers only contribute 1%. Growth opportunities exist, however local game studios are facing the difficulty of recruiting quality game developers. Higher education institutions need to produce graduates having the knowledge, competences, and skills relevant for their work. This study is done to identify and prioritize attributes for the design of a university level program in game development that ensures employability in the sector. A qualitative thematic analysis is done in identifying the important factors for an academic program, followed by an analytical hierarchical process in determining the factors. Result of the study shows that a curriculum with internships in game studios, ensuring students are knowledgeable on the business models & video game market, having practitioners teach in the program, and creating a community of practice in the university is essential in producing quality graduates.. rs; licensee Growing Science, Canada by the autho 3 2 20 ©
Understanding Video Game Developers as an Occupational Community
Abstract The video game industry is highly lucrative and has rapidly expanded over the last four decades. However there is limited academic research about the people who actually make the video games. This article provides an in-depth look into the culture of the video game workforce. Using ethnography and discourse analysis, this article seeks to identify and understand video game developers as a unique social group called an occupational community (Van Maanen and Barley, 1984).
This article illustrates a gap between popular narratives of game development in design texts and the reality of day-today development, drawing from an ethnographic account of intern developers to highlight the potential contributions of studio studies to both game scholars and aspiring developers. It describes three take-aways. The first is that developers have difficulty articulating their work to others, impacting how we learn, teach, and talk about development, including how we share knowledge across domains. The second is that negotiation with technology rather than mastery characterizes the daily work of new developers, and the third is that problems frequently arise in articulating and aligning the normally black-boxed work of individual developers. Resolution of these issues commonly depends on 'soft' social skills, yet, external pressures on developers mean they tidy up and professionalize accounts of their daily practice, thus both social conflict and 'soft' skills have a tendency to disappear. For those interested in games and culture, we commonly learn by reading about game development, taking classes, and of course, making games. But what new things might we learn by watching game developers themselves at work? This article highlights a disconnect between how we might think games are made, and the messy realities of what team-based game development can look like on the ground. I tie this disconnect to written accounts of what development looks like, but also developers' own descriptions of their work. This reflexive narrative is prompted by my own first experiences in game studios, and the realization that none of the myriad accounts about game development had prepared me for the reality of team-based development, its daily ebbs and flows, and the challenges new developers faced. Perhaps unsurprisingly – this disconnect between expectation and reality was reflected in the experiences
Game Development Practices and Developers' Attitudes - An International Survey
Changing Faces of Game Innovation. GaIn and GIIP Research Project Report. TRIM Research Reports.
Presented here is a report of a survey directed at game developers about different aspects of game development. Practices for idea generation and idea management vary quite a lot at different companies and also among different individuals. This applies among other things to sources of ideas, creativity techniques, and recording practices. The second part of the survey is about developers’ attitudes towards innovation, measured with a set of Likert-type statements. Generally it seems that their attitudes are mostly positive and even enthusiastic, even though some feel skeptical in one way or another.
A Qualitative Study of the Estonian Video Game Industry Expectations
Journal of Education and Learning
This paper presents a qualitative study of Estonian video game companies. In total, 11 companies were interviewed regarding their company values and expectations for employees. The interviews consisted of two parts. First, a regular semi-structured interview was conducted. In the second part, we used three persona sheets based on Bachelor graduates to provide an imaginary but tangible hiring situation for the company. This allowed us to explore in more detail what the companies consider important in certain employee candidates. Findings show that a strong common theme is that people working on video games need to be aware of the player and how the work shapes the game experience. Many companies encourage a work ethic based on individual responsibility and ownership in their employees. Interdisciplinary communication is very valued as well. Several companies said that employees need to be good fits, and a few even said that employees need to feel like part of a family. One company im...