PLAY / COUNTERPLAY: THE CULTURAL POLITICS OF DIGITAL GAME MODIFICATION ALBERT BRADY CURLEW A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY JOINT GRADUATE PROGRAMME IN COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE YORK UNIVERSITY AND RYERSON UNIVERSITY, TORONTO, ONTARIO DECEMBER 2010 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaONK1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your Tile Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-80552-7 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-80552-7 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Nnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1+1 Canada Abstract The modification of pop culture by its users happens with such frequency that the output of these practices, as well as the emerging cultural politics attached to them, should not be ignored. This dissertation explores the cultural politics of the modification (or "modding") of digital games by their users in applying a contextual triangulation of cultural studies, political economy and critical information studies to several relevant case examples that identify, analyze and interrogate how user modification of digital games is affecting and being affected by interactions and confrontations between media users, corporate producers, and wider social and political forces. The concept of modding offered here, broadened from existing conceptions by emphasizing not only the structural alteration of game code but also the potential alterations of conceptual influence (via the borrowing and re-expressing of ideas, themes and subject matter from existing sources), is tied to user creativity as expressed in the concept of participatory culture, itself theorized here as animated by play and playful experimentation within spaces of possibility. Framed in this way, modding is positioned not as a recent gaming phenomenon, but one bound to the entire history of video games as technological forms and to a wider socio-cultural history of playing with cultural forms in general. As such, attempts to contain, regulate or commercially exploit user behaviour (by erecting boundaries of play) are challenged by modification's links to play and playful experimentation that appear both cultural and natural, manifesting in what I call counterplay, the oppositional or disruptive practices of some creative users. iv From the nuanced perspective offered by disciplinary triangulation, modding is rendered as a multi-dimensional cultural practice, bound both to forces of user empowerment offered by socio-technical change and to forces of user exploitation present in existing socio-economic structural realities. Ultimately, what becomes clear is that how modders negotiate this contested terrain works to persistently redefine the role of media users and expected user behaviour in the popular cultural environments they play in, play with and play against. v Acknowledgements This project has come to fruition only because of the patience, support and guidance of my supervisory committee; thus, I am forever indebted to Greg Elmer, Barbara Crow and Steve Bailey. I thank them for their attentive criticisms, thoughtful comments and continued encouragement, even as my quirks challenged their thresholds for tolerance. I am thankful to have had the privilege of working with the faculty, staff and associates of the Joint Graduate Programme in Communication and Culture at York and Ryerson Universities, especially Kevin Dowler, Myles Ruggles, David Skinner, Fred Fletcher, Darren Wershler-Henry, Andrew Herman and Mary-Louise Craven. Rosemary Coombe deserves special gratitude for her support during my comprehensive exams and feedback on the early drafts of this project. For their participation in my dissertation defence, I thank Bart Simon, Markus Reisenleitner and Peter Cumming. Many thanks are due to Diane Jenner for always having the answers to my questions and for picking me up when I was at my worst. For reasons too numerous to list here, thank you also to Ken Werbin, Jen Jenson, Imre Szeman, Dennis Desroches and Andrew Mactavish. I am grateful for the support, friendship and collaboration of my fellow spelunkers through the depths of graduate school, especially Zach Deveraux, Fenwick McKelvey, Ganaele Langlois, Peter Ryan, Yukari Seko, James Cairns, Alison Harvey, Danielle Deveau, Michelle Coyne, Marcos Moldes, David Meurer, Aleks Kaminska, Lauren Cruikshank, Megan Humphrey, Nis Bojin, Ryan Bigge and Ren Bucholz. vi For my sanity, I thank Cathy Boyd-Withers, Karen Solomon, Karen Hardtke, Sean Coleman, Dr. Frank Cashman and Dr. Robin Rosen. For my inspiration, I thank Professor Hershel Layton, Dr. Ryuta Kawashima, Dr. Gordon Freeman, Huang Lee, Kyle Hyde, Ashley Mizuki Robbins, Henry Hatsworth, Maxwell the Scribblenaut, George Stobbart, Nico Collard, Uriel Septim, Guybrush Threepwood, Larry Laffer, Roger Wilco, Jade, Pey'j and Double H. For a strong support base, I thank my wonderful family and friends, including Albert and Lorraine Curlew, Crystal Curlew, Chris Baker, Rhonda Kirkpatrick, Charles Barone, Tanya Humphrey, Meghan Muldoon, Scott Stoneman, Kathryn Allan, and Ryan Ardelian. Finally, for my happiness, I extend a heartfelt thanks to Heather Colpitts. Without her lasting love, patience and support, none of my endeavours, let alone this one, would be as complete, rewarding and meaningful. On the Roots of this Project To frame the motivations behind this project, a visual allusion is useful. York University's homepage features a rotation of five or six images, each supplemented with a number of observations drawn from different disciplinary foci, all in an attempt to emphasize York as an interdisciplinary institution. For example, the image of a human brain is accompanied by observations that suggest that in the image a philosopher sees "Descartes," whereas a neuroscientist might see "synaptic misfire" and an educator simply sees "a sponge." Another image in this rotation is that of a video game vii controller, accompanied by observations that suggest a psychologist sees "disappearing interpersonal skills," a health scientist sees "rising obesity rates" and an educator sees a "teaching aid." But what do we who study communication and culture see? I'm not represented in this graphic, nor are many of my colleagues that study games from the standpoints of cultural studies or political economy. Thus, this project is an attempt to concretize what someone from these disciplinary backgrounds might see when presented an image related to digital games. From the same image, as a cultural analyst, I see the practice of play intersecting with technology, and I see that such intersections are rarely without their politics. What I have provided in this dissertation is an examination of the cultural politics that surround one extreme example of play intersecting with technology: digital game modification or "modding," in which playing games takes a back seat to "playing with" games. Furthermore, a culturally-focused perspective sees modding not simply as a practice on the leading edge of "new" media engagement, but one that is bound up in very old cultural realities (that people modify the world around them) and specific political realities (that "change" is frequently an exercise of power). So modding will not be treated here as brand new, nor will it be treated as limited to digital media or computer technologies, despite the accelerations and enhancements offered by these inventions. Instead, modding is treated here as an expression of participatory culture, the cousin of do-it-yourself creation, friend of collage and sibling of the remix. As such, it is a cultural reality, as well as a practical reality in the everyday lives of many people, viii including me, hence my interest in this subject. Explaining this demands that I share some of my personal history with modification. My younger years were