Making games normal: Computer gaming discourse in the 1980s

Based on a study of 1980s UK computer and gaming magazines, this article argues that a gaming discourse emerges in the middle of the decade with the strategic goal of normalizing the activity. It succeeds – gaming spreads – but fails in that to present gaming effectively as an attractive leisure pur...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inNew media & society Vol. 18; no. 8; pp. 1439 - 1454
Main Author Kirkpatrick, Graeme
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England SAGE Publications 01.09.2016
Subjects
technology and culture
gaming magazines
game studies
Computer gaming
content analysis
gaming discourse
discourse analysis
gamers
1980s
home computing
Online AccessGet full text
ISSN1461-4448
1461-7315
DOI10.1177/1461444814558905

Cover

More Information
Summary:Based on a study of 1980s UK computer and gaming magazines, this article argues that a gaming discourse emerges in the middle of the decade with the strategic goal of normalizing the activity. It succeeds – gaming spreads – but fails in that to present gaming effectively as an attractive leisure pursuit, gaming discourse has to absorb accusations of abnormality that were levelled at computer culture from the outset. Hence, ‘addictive’ gameplay becomes a good thing; the gamer is distinguished from the computer obsessive but is still defined as a ‘freak’, and gaming, having been presented as a realm of creative self-expression within the computer culture, becomes subject to the discourse of normal and correct computational practice. Gaming cannot escape the logic of its field, which determines that it will always try to be something more and better than gaming.
ISSN:1461-4448
1461-7315
DOI:10.1177/1461444814558905