#PlayingWithSpectators

Interactive Play-Watch Experiences on Twitch.tv, platform capture, and the domestication of potentials of play

Authors

Abstract

Analyzing the co-experience in the spectatorship of games in Twitch.tv, as well as the powers of interactive play-watching on the platform, it is possible to recognize modes of production and consumption that insert the spectator in the game and subvert notions of watching and classic play. While the interactive watch permeated by hacks, mods, and bots of users and autonomous collectives and small companies characterizes a challenge to big names in the game market, the phenomenon of platform capture, where the industry recognizes, hijacks, and monopolizes such potentials of play, shows itself as another instance of its colonization by neoliberal capitalism. The article sheds light on the scenario, reflecting on how interactive play-watching practices emerge and how they have been experienced, appropriated, and shaped by various actors and the institutions that house their activities.

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Author Biographies

Dara Coema, Universidade Federal Fluminense

Mestre em Comunicação e Bacharel em Estudos de Mídia pela Universidade Federal Fluminense. Coordenadora técnica do projeto social Gaming Parque, integrante do "mediaLudens: grupo de pesquisa em mídias digitais, experiência e ludicidade" e parte da diretoria do projeto de extensão Game Clube UFF (PROEX/UFF).

Emmanoel Ferreira, Universidade Federal Fluminense

Professor do Departamento de Mídia e Estudos Culturais e do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Comunicação da Universidade Federal Fluminense (Niterói/Rio de Janeiro, Brasil). Coordenador do mediaLudens: Grupo de Pesquisa em Mídias Digitais, Experiência e Ludicidade. E-mail: emmanoelf@id.uff.br.

Published

2024-02-26