University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies The Vault: Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2019-01-18 The Argonauts of esports Practice: Zooming in on the practice-networks of everyday gamers Buckland, Aiden Buckland, A. (2019). The Argonauts of esports Practice: Zooming in on the practice-networks of everyday gamers (Unpublished doctoral thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. http://hdl.handle.net/1880/109506 doctoral thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY The Argonauts of esports Practice: Zooming in on the practice-networks of everyday gamers by Aiden Buckland A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE CALGARY, ALBERTA JANUARY, 2019 © Aiden Buckland 2019 Abstract Should people be concerned about everyday gamers’ participation in esports practices? This dissertation will address the question by exploring how everyday gamers’ practices are informed by professional gaming (esports). The rise of professional competitive video gaming has exploded in the past two decades. Billions of dollars of prize money have been awarded to thousands of people around the globe since the turn of the century. While a valorized few players have been able to professionalize their gaming, millions of everyday gamers spend countless hours participating in these same practices with no hope of ever being professionals. Who benefits from the perpetuation of the instrumental in-game practices? Who shapes the practices of groups attempting to organize their esports gaming? How do the affordances of nonhuman actors shape the practices of everyday gamers participating in esports gaming? Can the creation of esports media really empower everyday gamers? Using a micro-ethnographic approach this project will trace practice-networks of a student gaming club at the University of Calgary. The approach draws from the theoretical perspectives of practice theory and actor-network theory. Assessing whether the practices elucidated through this framework should be of concern will be accomplished primarily through the concept of participatory culture. Many scholars have weighed in on the value of participatory culture in contemporary society and those positions will be used in the evaluation of the practice-networks of the gaming group. Through this perspective the study will zoom in on the in-game practices of everyday gamers. Through a series of interviews, event observations and time spent in the game I will examine what resources esports practices require and what benefits players receive for their ii execution. Through engaging with the concept of gamer capital, and expanding it, I will trace the different pressures placed on everyday gamers in relation to in-game practices. I will then zoom out to examine two of the actants, the Students’ Union and Riot Games, which shaped the organization of the student club. The esports game explored in this study forces everyday gamers to seek out others to form teams to play the game. In their efforts to organize their gaming on campus two main actants exerted influence over the organization of the group. I will trace how this influence was exercise. The group drew on various nonhuman actors, from social media to university lecture halls, in their participation in esports practice. I will then zoom in on how the affordances of these actors shaped the practice of the club. Finally, I will explore a competitive series produced by the group and streamed on YouTube, to assess whether this kind of participation is empowering everyday gamers. Keywords: esports, practice-networks, participatory culture iii Acknowledgements There are too many people to properly acknowledge in this space for the completion of this project. Dr. Maria Bakardjieva, my supervisor, who was always patient, insightful and supportive of my work. My internal committee members Dr. David Mitchell and Dr. Barbara Schneider, whom I’ve had the privilege of working for and learning from during my time in Calgary. I want to thank Dr. Charles Tepperman and Dr. Florence Chee, my external committee members, for agreeing to read this work and for guiding the project through this final phase. My peers in the Department of Communication Media and Film, at the University of Calgary from whom I’ve learned so much also deserve to be acknowledged. Of course, the gamers of the U of C LoL club and anyone else who I have had the pleasure of interacting with in the execution of this project. Lastly I want to thank my family for always supporting me, even when I told them I was going to study video gaming. iv Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. ii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ................................................................................................................v List of Figures and Illustrations ....................................................................................... viii Epigraph ............................................................................................................................... x Chapter 1 The Practice-networks of Professionalized Play ...............................................1 Game Studies and the State of Play ...............................................................................8 Gaming as Participatory Culture .............................................................................10 Chapter Outline .............................................................................................................11 Chapter 2 Video Gaming Paratexts and Participation .....................................................16 Markets, makers and immaterial labour ................................................................17 Video games and technological rationalization .....................................................18 Esports, paratext and gaming capital ...........................................................................19 The study of esports ................................................................................................20 Concept of Paratext in Gaming ...............................................................................24 The Doing of Paratext ..............................................................................................25 Streaming Video as Paratext ...................................................................................27 Gaming Capital .........................................................................................................28 Media participation .......................................................................................................31 From audiences to fans ...........................................................................................32 Participatory culture as audience empowerment ..................................................33 Critical approaches to media participation ............................................................35 What does participation have to do with esports? .....................................................39 Chapter 3 Zooming in and out with practice-networks ...................................................41 The Media Turn in Practice Theory .........................................................................42 eSports & Gaming as Practice .................................................................................43 Contemporary Theories of Practice ..............................................................................45 The Practice Theory of Schatzki and Reckwitz .............................................................47 Practice-networks .........................................................................................................50 Theoretical movement: Zooming in-Zooming out ..................................................51 Actor-network Theory ...................................................................................................54 ANT a selected vocabulary ......................................................................................55 The moments of translation ....................................................................................58 Potential Pitfalls .......................................................................................................60 Out of focus .............................................................................................................62 Conclusions ....................................................................................................................65 Chapter 4 Approaching audiences and gaming with ethnography .................................67 Ethnography as an approach to play, practice and networks .....................................67 v Virtual world ethnography ......................................................................................69