Video Gaming Parlours: The Emerging Field of Video Gaming in India A thesis submitted to The University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities 2016 Gagunjoat S. Chhina School of Social Sciences Abstract .................................................................................................................................. 4 The Emergence of Video Gaming in India......................................................................... 5 Declaration ............................................................................................................................. 6 Copyright statement ............................................................................................................... 6 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ 7 Chapter 1. Video gaming in India: The Emergence and Social Construction ....................... 8 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 8 Organisation of the Thesis .................................................................................................. 9 Chapter 2. Surveying the Field of Video Gaming................................................................ 21 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 21 Theoretical Debates: Narrative and Ludic Approaches .................................................. 24 Separation of Games and Culture ..................................................................................... 26 The Cultural Studies Approaches to Video Games .......................................................... 31 Social Field ................................................................................................................... 35 Using Goffman’s Micro-sociological Approach to Study Video Gaming ....................... 42 Framing Video Game Play Experiences........................................................................... 46 Chapter 3 The Research Process and Methods .................................................................... 52 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 52 Defining the Research Questions ..................................................................................... 53 Chandigarh as the Research Location .............................................................................. 54 Research Design: Methods in the Field ........................................................................... 56 Using Ethnographical Approach to Study Video Gamers ................................................ 58 Conducting the Ethnography ............................................................................................ 63 Capturing the Field Site Data through Qualitative Mixed Methods................................. 65 Participant Observation of Birthday Parties ..................................................................... 69 Conducting Interviews at Indian Gaming Parlours .......................................................... 72 Analysing the Research Data ........................................................................................... 76 Multi-site ethnography: Conducting Secondary Fieldwork in Manchester ..................... 77 The Kyoto Lounge Video Gaming Bar ............................................................................ 80 Difficulties When Conducting Research .......................................................................... 82 Critiques of Ethnographic Methods.................................................................................. 84 Ethical Issues in Conducting Research............................................................................. 85 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 87 Chapter 4. Video games in India: Inception and Historical Context .................................. 89 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 89 India’s Closed Economic Restrictions and the Entrance of Video Game Technology .... 91 2 Emergence of Video Games in India................................................................................ 92 Video Gaming in the West ............................................................................................... 95 The Indian Infrastructural and Material Context of Video Game Play ............................ 99 The First Encounters of Urban Video Game Players ....................................................... 99 The First Encounters of Rural Video Game Players ...................................................... 105 The Creation of a Video Gaming Field through Glocalisation ...................................... 109 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 115 Chapter 5. Entrepreneurial Actors and Video Game Parlours ........................................... 117 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 117 Habitus and the Field ...................................................................................................... 118 Emerging Fields ............................................................................................................. 120 The Creation of the Video Gaming Parlour Indulgence ................................................. 122 Organisation of Physical Space around the Habitus of Adjacent Fields ........................ 128 The Organisation of Space in Indulgence and Cultural Situatedness............................. 134 The Kyoto Lounge: A Video Gaming Bar in Manchester ............................................. 137 Restricting Actor Behaviour in an Emerging Field ........................................................ 142 Non-Entrepreneurial Actor’s and the Shaping of Practices in ....................................... 146 Video Gaming Parlours through Birthday Parties .......................................................... 146 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 154 Chapter 6. Making Sense of Video Games through Glocalisation .................................... 156 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 156 Framing and Glocalisation ............................................................................................. 157 The Rejection of Science Fiction ................................................................................... 163 ‘Modding’ or the Modification of Global Games .......................................................... 177 Chapter 7. Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 189 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 189 The Player and the Socio-Cultural Context .................................................................... 190 Research Questions, Location and Theory ..................................................................... 191 Empirical Findings ......................................................................................................... 194 Theoretical Implications ................................................................................................. 201 Limitations and Future Research .................................................................................... 203 References .......................................................................................................................... 205 Appendices ......................................................................................................................... 226 Appendix One – Ethical Practice in Condcuting Research ............................................ 226 Appendix Two – Ethical Practice in Condcuting Research ........................................... 227 Appendix Three - Semi-Structured Interview Questions for Video Gamer Study ........ 228 3 Appendix Four – Participant Information Sheet ............................................................ 229 Appendix Five – List of Figures ..................................................................................... 229 Appendix Six – List of Interviewees .............................................................................. 231 Indulgence gaming parlour ......................................................................................... 231 Oxide gaming parlour ................................................................................................. 231 Kyoto Lounge ............................................................................................................. 232 Word Count: 78,571 4 Abstract Video Gaming Parlours: The Emergence of Video Gaming in India Gagunjoat S. Chhina Doctor of Philosophy University of Manchester, Sociology 18 January 2016 This thesis critically