Shared Play with the Push of a Button: a Mixed-Method Analysis of Sony PlayStation 4’s Share-Platform Rens Lohmann Master Thesis Utrecht University Tutor: Dr. Ann-Sophie Lehmann Second Assessor: Dr. René Glas Submission date: September 22, 2014
[email protected] Keywords Video games, spectatorship, streaming, social, sharing, shared play, platform studies MA New Media & Digital Culture © 2014 Rens Lohmann. Personal and educational classroom use of this thesis is allowed, commercial use requires specific permission from the author. “It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this.” (The Legend of Zelda, 1986) ABSTRACT With the incorporation of the Share-button and its underlying platform on the PlayStation 4, Sony has decided to bring social connectivity and the sharing of gameplay to the masses. Video game play streaming and sharing have their roots in early user-generated content, performing, and spectating practices. Examples from the nineties are machinima, speedrunning, and online multiplayer gaming in that period. Users with a high level of technical proficiency created content that was creative, subversive, and initiated new forms of interactions between players and spectators. The creation of user-generated content came under stricter corporate control when it was integrated as a part of well-designed and well- marketed video game platforms. While the construction of this material became more accessible to general players, creativity and subversiveness became more limited. Sony PlayStation 4’s Share-button can be seen as a culmination of this development. As a form of controlled participation, the button and its proprietary platform facilitate remarkably quick production of this content with a limited toolset of creative possibilities.