Half Life's Counter-Strike: The interdependant relation of player productivity and game industry
An analysis of the player's constructive role
Luciano Ligeon
3549488
Introduction
After the second lecture it became clear to me that a lot of the students were planning on writing a paper on narrativity or interactivity. This is partly my reason for reconsidering the subject of my paper. Secondly, the feedback from the professor made it clear to me that my initial subject on narrativity and interactivity was too broad. After consulting more literature I came across the dissertation of Olli Sotamaa. In his dissertation Sotamaa argues for closer attention to the role of the player in productive activities in game studies. He states that “as gaming becomes more central in the everyday life of a gamer, the importance of constructive aspects tends to increase.” (Sotamaa, 2009, 77) He further goes on to argue that every game player is a potential game designer. The constructive actions of players that can be considered a form of design range from thinking to negotiating and modifying the rules. Occasionally some of these constructive activities lead to entirely new games. It is not surprising that this potential for players to constitute to the creation of new game elements and in some cases entirely new games has been noticed by the game industry. The decentralization of production is a transformation brought about by the information economy that I find most interesting. I therefor want to know more about the connection between player productivity and game industry, or better said the overlapping between play and design. The research object of this paper is supported by a specific case study. However, the motivations for this specific case differ from my previous motivations, as I will explain now.
During my visit at WZZRD in Enschede I had the chance to play one of my favorite games after a long period. I used to play this game very regularly and spent a significant amount of time playing this game. I am talking about Counter-Strike. Counter-Strike is an online, tactical first-person shooter that finds it's origin in another first-person shooter, namely Half Life. In game culture terms Counter-Strike is a modification of Half Life. Game modifications, in short mods, are the player's productive practices that lead to new game elements.
The first modification was made by a 21 year old student by the name of Mihn Le, a year and a half after the release of the first Half Life. In the gaming community he is also known as 'Gooseman'. After the fourth béta version the game gained so much popularity that Valve, the creative company behind Halve Life began assisting in the further development of Counter-strike. In August 2000 Valve and Sierra began selling Counter-strike as an add-on to Half Life. In that year Mihn Le was also employed by Valve. From that point on the game grew in popularity and more fans began engaging in all kinds of productive play by creating new scenario's, weapons and characters. Valve even began supplying fans with development kits for creating their own modifications.
I am most interested in the kind of productive play that leads to these new game elements because they not only have a significant influence on the experiences of the game amongst the players, but they also play a significant role in the design of the game (Sotamaa, 2009). Counter-strike is an excellent example of how digital games have the ability to implement player creative productivity in the design of the game, hence adding a great deal to the popularity of the game (Sotamaa, 102). This kind of productive play is also the main focus of my paper and is studied in relation to the game industry.
In my paper I will be focusing on two main aspects; the way productive play can constitute to the experience and design of digital games and the blurring of the boundaries between players and producers. What kind of affordances constitute to the kind of productive play that leads to new game elements? How does this relate to playing, the game in general and the game industry? What are the game industry perspectives on player production? To what extent does the game industry try to control the productive play? How can the game industry benefit from player production? The main question of my paper is:
How is player productivity, that leads to new game elements related to the design of the game and the game industry?
Game modifications represent one of the many forms of participation among game culture and in large among culture of participation. This research is an attempt to contribute to the existing literature on participation culture in game studies.
Method
I will attempt to critically analyze the discourse surrounding the modifications of Half Life leading to the development of Counter-strike to expose the affordances related to productive play and how that relates to the game industry. For further inspiration I will consult Mirko Schaefer's Bastard Culture, who makes a case study of the different connections and dynamics between producers and consumers. In his case a discourse-analysis was done of the Xbox Development Kit. His research pays special attention to how and to what extent technology has the potential to shape upcoming media practices. The method in my research shall consist of a combination between discourse-analysis and literature study.
Theoretical concepts
Construction
As defined by Joost Raessens in the Handbook of Computer game Studies the concept op construction is of significance when researching digital game modifications. Among Construction Raessens also introduces the concepts of Interpretation and Reconfiguration. The distinctions and overlapping between the concepts will further on be discussed as will become clear that Counter-strike fits within the concept of Construction.
Mirko Schaefer speaks of three domains of participation culture. Accumulation, Archiving and Construction. He too argues that these domains are not exclusive and overlap to some extent. It is clear that these concepts are similar to those of Raessens. They will both be important for my research.
Extended Cultural Industry
The three domains of participation culture mentioned above can according to Schaefer be seen as an extension of the Cultural Industry and represent the dynamic negotiations between the participants. The concept of Extended Cultural Industry will also play an important role in my research because it critically reflects on the concept of participation culture. I therefor have the theoretical concepts for analyzing the interrelatedness of player productivity and the game industry in the case of Counter-strike.
Gaming Capital
Player productions consists of a network of activities. These activities are stimulated by Gaming Capital. Gaming Capital consists of different forms of knowledge that seem to have value or significance (Sotamaa, 2009). It is a useful concept for examining the various player activities and the potential of gaming capital to move beyond the player's realm and constitute in the interrelatedness of player productivity and the game industry.
Post-fordism
The information economy has gradually brought the shift towards more flexible organization of production and more mobile labour units. The term Post-fordism describes not only the flexible production but also segmented and customized consumption (Sotomaa, 80). It is a useful concept for analyzing the blurring of boundaries between the player and the producer.
(Image from Van den Boomen et al., 2009, 156)
As shown in the figure above computer game mods fit in the domain of construction.
The different forms of participation are bound to restrictions. Thus Schaefer speaks of the Star Wars Mash-Up editor that gives fans the possibilities to express their creativity. These possibilities are restricted by the design of the companies and legal arrangements. Player's creativity are more frequently made subject to the software design and legal arrangements of the platforms made available by the companies. They explicitly integrate the users activities in their services (Van den Boomen et al., 2009, 154).
(Temporary) Recources
The Internet
Interviews with Mihn Le
Literature
- Benkler, Yochai. The wealth of networks: How social production transforms markets and free- doms. New Haven, London: Yale University Press, 2006
- Boomen, M. van den, Mirko Tobias Schaefer, 'Will the revolution be open sourced? How open source travels through society', in: Wynants, Marleen; Cornelis, Jan (Eds.): How Open Is the Future? Economic, Social and Cultural Scenarios inspired by Free & Open Source Software, Brussel: VUB Press, 2005, pp. 31-68.<http://www.vandenboomen.org/blog/up/opensource.pdf>
- Dyer-Witheford, Nick en Greig de Peuter. A Playful Multitude? Mobilising and Counter-Mobilising Immaterial Game Labour [2005] The fibreculture journal issue 5
- Hughes, J. & K. Lang. Transmutability: Digital decontextualization, manipulation, and recontextualization as a new source of value in the production and consumption of culture products. Proceedings of the 39th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (2006). http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/HICSS.2006.511.
- Jenkins, Henry. Fans, bloggers, and gamers: Exploring participatory culture. New York: NYU Press, 2006a ---, Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide. New York: NYU Press, 2006b
- Raessens, Joost. “Computer Games as Participatory Media Culture.” Handbook of computer game studies Red. Joost Raessens en Jeffrey Goldstein. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2005. 373-388.
- Schaefer, Mirko Tobias. Bastard Culture! User participation and the extension of cultural industry. Utrecht, 2008 ---, “Participation inside? User activities between design and appropiation” in Digital Material, tracing new media in everyday life and technology red. Boomen, Marianne van den, et. al., Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2009. 147-158
- Sotamaa, Olli. The Player's Game: Towards understanding Player production among Computer Game Culture. Finland: University of Tampere, 2009.
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