Developing Game Worlds: Gaming, Technology, and Innovation in Peru Eduardo Marisca Alvarez
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Developing Game Worlds: Gaming, Technology, and Innovation in Peru by Eduardo Marisca Alvarez B.A., Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (2008) Submitted to the Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Comparative Media Studies at the MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY June 2014 c Eduardo Marisca Alvarez, 2014. The author hereby grants to MIT permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of this thesis document in whole or in part in any medium now known or hereafter created. Author.............................................................. Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing May 9, 2014 Certified by. T.L. Taylor Associate Professor of Comparative Media Thesis Supervisor Accepted by . Heather Hendershot Director of Graduate Studies, CMS Professor of Comparative Media 2 Developing Game Worlds: Gaming, Technology, and Innovation in Peru by Eduardo Marisca Alvarez Submitted to the Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing on May 9, 2014, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Comparative Media Studies Abstract In this work, I've documented the origins, growth and structure of the Peruvian video game industry. Because of its underground origins, the Peruvian game industry provides an alter- native, more organic gateway to developing technology industries than forms of the \technological sublime" that have been recurrent over Peruvian technological history. Driven by creative rather than commercial objectives, people interested in game devel- opment figure out ways to get around gaps in existing training options to acquire the interdisciplinary skills they need to create games | setting up alternative infrastruc- tures to connect to each other, share information, and set up collaborations. Peruvian developers are also experimenting with ways to gain access to global networks and markets, which affects their design decisions and how they present themselves to peers and customers around the world. Games designed to present local cultural elements for international audiences | which I've called \borderland games" | have become sites where tension around self-presentation gets played out. Game studios are experimenting with various configurations of business practices, figuring out empirically what arrangements put them on the better path to engage international partners and secure creative and financial sustainability. Studios are collaborating with each other to address structural barriers affecting the industry as a whole, which is putting them in a stronger position to engage government agencies and gain support to address structural issues. This relatively unknown industry has been able to introduce complex skills and work around structural gaps and obstacles to create the foundations for a potentially viable technology and creative industry. How, exactly, the industry will develop remains to be seen, but its evolution can provide interesting lessons for the emergence of digital creative industries in developing economies. Thesis Supervisor: T.L. Taylor Title: Associate Professor of Comparative Media 3 4 Acknowledgments The acknowledgements section for this thesis could easily run longer than the thesis itself. Over the course of several months, I've had the good fortune to receive help and support from multiple people, in Cambridge, Lima, and elsewhere. People have been kind enough to let me into their homes and workplaces, and to sit with me for countless hours of conversation. On the Lima side, I'm very thankful for the support and collaboration from ev- eryone in the local game development industry, and very especially from Luis Wong, Juan Jos´eMiranda, Sol Samaniego, and the team at The Boneless | Renzo Guido, Joan Odicio, Max Pe~na,and Aldo Quispe | who provided me not only with excel- lent information, but also with access to many sites of research and social networks crucial to my research. I was also fortunate enough to enlist collaboration from mul- tiple people in the industry or related institutions who provided me with data or sat down with me for interviews: Lobsang Alvites, Michael Barclay, Oscar Choquecota, Phillip Chu, Christian Flores, Adam Johnson, F´elixLossio, Luciana Mendoza, Javier Mu~noz,Giacomo Preciado, Lorena S´anchez, Renzo S´anchez, Chiemi Tsukazan, Pierre Van Doorne, Maite Vizcarra. On the Cambridge side, I could not have finished this project without the support of my thesis advisor at MIT, T.L. Taylor, whose ongoing feedback and insight proved extremely valuable to the end result. I'm also extremely grateful for the feedback from my thesis committee member, Ian Condry, whose Creative Communities Initiative turned into a very fitting roof under which to explore many of the themes I became interested in. Over the last few months, I've also been extremely fortunate to receive support and feedback from Scot Osterweil, creative director at the MIT Education Arcade, where I was a research assistant during my time at MIT. This research project also received early and crucial support from Jim Paradis, who helped me articulate what it would look like and provided crucial resources that allowed me to pursue fieldwork in Lima. Additionally, I'm grateful to the International Game Developer Association, whose IGDA Scholarship program allowed me to attend the 2014 Game 5 Developer Conference in San Francisco, California. I'm also very much indebted to the members of my cohort in the MIT Compar- ative Media Studies program, the class of 2014, who observed this project evolve over the course of two years and had to endure pitches and presentations one too many times: Denise Cheng, Rodrigo Davies, Erica Deahl, Julie Fischer, Alexandre Gon¸calves, Jason Lipshin and Lingyuxiu Zhong. Members of the CMS class of 2013 (Amar Boghani, Katie Edgerton, Ayse Gursoy, Rogelio L´opez, Chris Peterson, Molly Sauter, Steve Schirra, Abe Stein, Huan Sun, Jia Zhang) were also helpful in providing guidance and moral support at the early stages of this project, as were members of the class of 2015 (Liam Andrew, Chelsea Barabas, Heather Craig, Suruchi Dumpawar, Sean Flynn, Desi Gonz´alez,Jesse Sell, Erik Stayton, Ainsley Sutherland, Yu Wang) in reading and reviewing sections of this work in various contexts. All of them have helped me think through the issues at stake in my research during long brainstorming sessions at the MIT Muddy Charles Pub, where a significant share of this work was written. I've received comments and feedback from multiple people on various sections of this work. For chapter two, I received feedback from William Uricchio, professor in the MIT program in Comparative Media Studies. For chapter five I received feedback from Casey O'Donnell, assistant professor in the Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media at Michigan State University. And chapter six re- ceived feedback from Alberto Vergara, visiting fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. The contributions from all these people have made my arguments much stronger, and considerably more interesting. Any mistakes or inaccuracies, of course, remain entirely my own. Special thanks go out to my family, who've supported and encouraged me for many years, even when they didn't fully understand just exactly what it was they were supporting or encouraging. And finally, to Clara, for whom the fact that this work is done means I can finally return home. 6 Contents List of Figures 9 List of Tables 11 1 Introduction 13 1.1 Mapping the Global Game Industry . 17 1.2 Creative Communities in the Global Periphery . 20 1.3 The Challenge of Creating Creative Industries . 23 1.4 Following Games Through Society . 26 2 Reconstructing a Technological History 33 2.1 Peru 2.0 . 35 2.2 Pursuing the Technological Sublime . 41 2.3 The Promise of a Nation . 44 2.4 Gaming as a Technological Counter-Narrative . 52 2.5 Local Area Networks . 61 3 How to Become a Worldbuilder 71 3.1 Gaining Access . 74 3.2 Opening the Black Box of Game Development . 76 3.3 Gaining Experience Points . 86 3.4 Learning as an Ancillary Industry . 96 3.5 Growing Up and Getting a Job . 102 7 4 Not All Peripheries Are Created Equal 109 4.1 \If Finland can do it, so can we" . 113 4.2 The Making of a \Native Product" . 119 4.3 Games as Sites of Cultural Negotiation . 130 4.4 Reverse-Engineering Transnationalism . 143 5 Playful Ventures 147 5.1 Starting Up . 150 5.2 Funny Business . 158 5.3 Software Industry, Culture Industry, Media Industry . 167 5.4 Stepping Out Of The Shadows . 170 5.5 \Education, Entertainment, Entrepreneurship" . 179 6 The Entrepreneurial Republic 183 6.1 The Game of Politics . 186 6.2 Startup Nation . 194 6.3 Innovation \Ecosystems" . 200 6.4 \Export Quality" . 204 6.5 Gaming the Entrepreneurial Republic . 209 7 Conclusions: A Perfect Storm 211 7.1 Too Small to Fail . 213 7.2 Creative Communities and Economic Complexity . 218 7.3 A New Socio-Technical Contract . 222 7.4 Game Over . 226 Bibliography 229 8 List of Figures 2-1 A photograph of ship traffic around the guano islands of Chincha, 1863 45 2-2 Brus Rubio. La explotaci´ondel caucho en Pucaurquillo (The Exploita- tion of Rubber in Pucaurquillo) ..................... 50 2-3 A screenshot from Aventuras D'Onofrio . 53 2-4 A screenshot of F´utbol Excitante ..................... 58 2-5 Opening screenshot for Adventure Time: Righteous Quest . 69 3-1 Pitching game ideas at the beginning of a small game jam. 78 3-2 Early character illustrations for Conclave. 84 3-3 Group photo of participants at the 2014 Global Game Jam in Lima . 96 4-1 Entering the favela in the Takedown scenario in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 ................................. 111 4-2 Peter Vesterbacka, Chief Marketing Officer for Rovio, being inter- viewed for Peruvian television. 114 4-3 Rovio people presenting their history to a classroom packed with de- velopers in Lima.