DISTRIBUTING PRODUCTIVE PLAY: A MATERIALIST ANALYSIS OF STEAM by Daniel Joseph Master of Arts, Ryerson University and York University, Toronto, Ontario 2011 Bachelor of Arts, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, 2009 A dissertation presented to Ryerson University and York University in partial fulfillment for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the program of Communication and Culture Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2017 © Daniel Joseph, 2017 AUTHOR'S DECLARATION FOR ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION OF A DISSERTATION I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this dissertation. This is a true copy of the dissertation, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I authorize Ryerson University to lend this dissertation to other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research. I further authorize Ryerson University to reproduce this dissertation by photocopying or by other means, in total or in part, at the request of other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research. I understand that my dissertation may be made electronically available to the public. ii Abstract DISTRIBUTING PRODUCTIVE PLAY: A MATERIALIST ANALYSIS OF STEAM Daniel Joseph Doctor of Philosophy Ryerson University, 2017 Valve Corporation’s digital game distribution platform, Steam, is the largest distributor of games on personal computers, analyzed here as a site where control over the production, design and use of digital games is established. Steam creates and exercises processes and techniques such as monopolization and enclosure over creative products, online labour, and exchange among game designers. Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding framework places communication at the centre of the political economy, here of digital commodities distributed and produced by online platforms like Steam. James Gibson’s affordance theory allows the market Steam’s owners create for its users to be cast in terms of visuality and interaction design. These theories are largely neglected in the existing literature in game studies, platform studies, and political economy, but they allow intervention in an ongoing debate concerning the ontological status of work and play as distinct, separate human activities by offering a specific focus on the political economy of visual or algorithmic communication. Three case studies then analyze Steam as a site where the slippage between game-play and work is constant and deepening. The first isolates three sales promotions on Steam as forms of work disguised as online shopping. The second is a discourse analysis of a crisis within the community of mod creators for the game Skyrim, triggered by changes implemented on Steam. The third case study critiques Valve Corporation’s positioning of Steam as a new space to extract value from play by demonstrating historical continuity with consumer monopolies. A concluding discussion argues Steam is a platform that evolves to meet distinct crises and problems in the production and circulation of its digital commodities as contradictions iii arise. Ultimately, Steam shows how the cycle of capital accumulation encourages monopolization and centralization. Keywords: political economy, digital labour, Steam, platforms, play, distribution, games iv Acknowledgements First and foremost, I want to thank my supervisor, Dr. Jennifer Jenson. Dr. Jenson helped shape who I’ve become as a scholar, but more importantly, as a person. Wherever I end up I will forever be in her debt. Likewise, considerable support came from my examining committee. Dr. Paul Moore and Dr. Colin Moores joined my committee at a crucial point in my dissertation’s development, and helped push me to complete it. Extra-special thanks are due to my external examiners for taking the time to read and offer their substantive and highly relevant feedback to it: Dr. Darren Wershler, who helped me make the choice to pursue graduate studies when I was finishing my Bachelors degree at WLU. Dr. Mark Lee waded through a lot of Marxist materialism to give me his substantive feedback and insights from the field of Retail Management, for which I am intensely grateful. Jo Ann Mackie deserves special thanks as well, who has patiently helped me through intricacies of the program. My love goes out to lifelong friends: Alex Cybulski, Luke Simcoe, Siobhan Özege, and Erin McCurdy were there for me every step of the way. The same love goes out to Anshuman Iddamsetty, Alison Little, and Matthew Braga (and the rest of Cyber Club) who helped me get back on my feet when I was down on my luck. A red salute is reserved for my comrades in the Parkdale Club: Frances Sedgewick, Jay Watts, Katie Skene, Angela Milivojevic, Rhonda Sussman, Sara Ali, and especially Howard Tessler, (who passed on during the writing of this dissertation). This dissertation is just one example of how we still have a world to win! Closer to home, I have to thank Erene Stergiopoulos for being by my side for the majority of my PhD. Without her love, support, and advice I doubt I would have produced anything of quality. My love goes out to her (and three very silly cats: Ryoko, Alina, and George) for this. v Dedication For my parents, Margaret Joseph and Donald Joseph vi Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................ iii Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... v Dedication .................................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... ix Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 Steam’s Basic Features: A Short Primer ................................................................................. 19 Store .................................................................................................................................... 19 Library ................................................................................................................................. 21 Community .......................................................................................................................... 22 User Profile.......................................................................................................................... 24 Methodology ........................................................................................................................... 25 Case Studies ....................................................................................................................... 25 Critical Discourse Analysis .................................................................................................. 26 Description .......................................................................................................................... 29 Chapter Outlines ..................................................................................................................... 30 Chapter 2: Play, Work, and the Political Economy of Games ...................................................... 34 Huizinga’s Conception of Play ................................................................................................ 35 Towards a Taxonomy of Games: Roger Caillois ..................................................................... 39 The Political Economy of Games ............................................................................................ 54 Modding and Digital Labour .................................................................................................... 57 Affordances and Media: Two Interventions ............................................................................. 61 Encoding/decoding and Affordance Theory ............................................................................ 63 Affordance Theory and the Work Task .................................................................................... 68 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 73 Chapter 3: The Steam Sale ......................................................................................................... 75 Trading Cards and the Discovery Queue ................................................................................ 81 The Lunar New Year Sale ....................................................................................................... 86 Steam Summer Picnic Sale .................................................................................................... 88 Three Productive Sales Promotions ....................................................................................... 88 Chapter 4: The Discourse of Digital Dispossession .................................................................... 93 The Commodity Fetish ............................................................................................................ 97 vii Enclosure, Primitive Accumulation & Accumulation by Dispossession ................................... 99 The Major Themes ................................................................................................................