The Subject in Times of Media and Social Change. The Analytic Potential of the Mediatization Approach Using the Case of Retro Gaming

Jeffrey Wimmer

Abstract


The study focuses on the question of the mediatized constitution of subject and subjectivity, which, surprisingly, has received little attention so far. The analytical reference to the mediatization approach enables a holistic understanding of subject, communication and media. Using the empirical example of the media (sub)culture of retro games, this article empirically examines the extent to which computer gamers are influenced by the spaces of experiences of games, not only in the moment of playing them, but also in the long term, with regard to their personal development and social community. The findings illustrate two dimensions of subjectivation processes: on the one hand, the reflective handling of computer games and thus subjectivation through games and game contexts, on the other hand, the nostalgic recollection of specific games and game contexts, which can be clearly separated analytically from the first dimension.

Keywords


mediatization; nostalgia; retro games; subjectivation

Full Text:

PDF

References


Ackermann, J. (Eds.) (2016): Phänomen Let’s Play-Video – Entstehung, Ästhetik, Aneignung und Faszination aufgezeichneten Computerspielhandelns. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

Beil, B. (2013). Die Sehnsucht nach dem Pixelklumpen. Retro-Gaming und das populärkulturelle Gedächtnis des Computerspiels. In M. Kleiner & T. Wilke (Hrsg.), Performativität und Medialität Populärer Kulturen. Theorien, Ästhetiken, Praktiken (pp. 319–335). Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

Bröckling, U. (2016). The Entrepreneurial Self. London: Sage.

Carstensen, T., Schachtner, C., Schelhowe, H., & Beer, R. (Eds.) (2014). Digitale Subjekte. Praktiken der Subjektivierung im Medienumbruch der Gegenwart. Bielefeld: Transcript.

Chandler, D., & Fuchs, C. (2019). Digital Objects, Digital Subjects: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Capitalism, Labour and Politics in the Age of Big Data. London: University of Westminster Press.

Couldry, N. & Hepp, A. (2017). The Mediated Construction of Reality. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Dahlgren, P. (2013). Tracking the Civic Subject in the Media Landscape. Versions of the Democratic Ideal. Television & New Media 14(1), 71–88.

Downing, S. (2011). Retro Gaming Subculture and the Social Construction of a Piracy Ethic. International Journal of Cyber Criminology, 5, 750–772.

Felzmann, S. (2010). Playing Yesterday – Media Nostalgia and Retro Gaming. In C. Swertz & M. Wagner (Eds.), GamePlaySociety. Contributions to Contemporary Computer Game Studies (pp. 107–114). München: kopaed.

Heineman, D.S. (2014). Public Memory and Gamer Identity: Retrogaming as Nostalgia. Journal of Games Criticism, 1. Retrieved from http://gamescriticism.org/articles/heineman-1-1

Hepp, A. (2010). Mediatisierung und Kulturwandel: Kulturelle Kontextfelder und die Prägkräfte der Medien. In M. Hartmann & A. Hepp (Hrsg.), Die Mediatisierung der Alltagswelt. Festschrift zu Ehren von Friedrich Krotz (pp. 65-84). Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

Hepp, A. (2012). Mediatization and the ‘Moulding Force’ of the Media. Communications, 37(1), 1–28.

Hepp, A. (2013a). Cultures of Mediatization. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

Hepp, A. (2013b). Th Communicative Figurations of Mediatized Worlds: Mediatization Research in Times of the ‘Mediation of Everything’. European Journal of Communication, 28(6), 615–629.

Hepp, A., Bozdag, C., & Suna, L. (2011). Mediatized Migrants: Media Cultures and Communicative Networking in the Diaspora. In L. Fortunati, R. Pertierra, & J. Vincent (Eds.), Migrations, Diaspora, and Information Technology in Global Societies (pp. 172–188). Abingdon: Routledge.

Hepp, A., Berg, M., & Roitsch, C. (2014). Mediatized Worlds of Communitization: Young People as Localists, Centrists, Multi-Localists and Pluralists. In A. Hepp, & F. Krotz (Eds.), Mediatized Worlds: Culture and Society in a Media Age (pp. 174–203). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Hoffmann, D., Krotz, F. & Reißmann, W. (Hrsg.) (2017). Mediatisierung und Mediensozialisation. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

Johanssen, J., & Krüger, S. (2016). Digital Media, Psychoanalysis and the Subject. CM: Communication and Media Journal, 38(11). Retrieved from http://aseestant.ceon.rs/index.php/comman/issue/view/467/showToc

Kent, S. (2001). The Ultimate History of Video Games. New York: Tree Rivers Press.

Krotz, F. (2013). Aufwachsen in Mediatisierten Gesellschaften. In S. Trültzsch, C. W. Wijnen & C. Ortner (Hrsg.), Medienwelten im Wandel (pp. 39–53). Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

Krotz, F. (2017a). Sozialisation in mediatisierten Welten. In D. Hoffmann, F. Krotz & W. Reißmann (Eds.), Mediatisierung und Mediensozialisation. (pp. 21–40). Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

Krotz, F. (2017b). Explaining the Mediatisation Approach. Javnost – The Public, 24(2), 103–118. doi:10.1080/13183222.2017.1298556

Krotz, F. (2019). Wie konstituiert das Kommunizieren den kommunizierenden Menschen? Zum Subjektkonzept der Kommunikationswissenschaft im Zeitalter elektronisch mediatisierter Lebensweisen. In P. Gentzel, F. Krotz, J. Wimmer & R. Winter (Hrsg.), Das vergessene Subjekt: Subjektkonstitution in mediatisierten Alltagswelten (pp.17–37). Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

Lepa, S., Krotz, F. & Hoklas, A.-K. (2014). Vom ,Medium’ zum ,Mediendispositiv’: Metatheoretische Überlegungen zur Integration von Situations- und Diskursperspektive bei der empirischen Analyse mediatisierter sozialer Welten. In F. Krotz, C. Despotović, M. Kruse (Eds.), Die Mediatisierung sozialer Welten: Synergien empirischer Forschung (pp. 115–141). Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

Reichert, R. (2008). Amateure im Netz. Selbstmanagement und Wissenstechnik im Web 2.0. Bielefeld: Transcript.

Rosengren, K., Wenner, L. & Palmgreen, P. (Eds.) (1985). Media Gratifications Research. Current Perspectives. London: Sage.

Strauss, A.L. (1987). Qualitative Analysis for Social Scientists. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Suominen, J. (2008). The past as future? Nostalgia and Retrogaming in Digital Culture. Fibreculture, 11. Retrieved from http://journal.fireculture.org/issue11/index.html

Tomanić Trivundža, I. et al. (Eds.) (2018). Critical Perspectives on Media, Power and Change. London–New York: Routledge.

Wimmer, J. (2012). Digital Game Culture(s) as Prototype(s) of Mediatization and Commercialization of Society. In J. Fromme & A. Unger (Eds.), Computer Games and New Media Cultures: A Handbook of Digital Game Studies (pp. 525–540). Berlin: Springer.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/ms.2020.4.25-40
Date of publication: 2021-04-21 14:07:04
Date of submission: 2020-10-31 20:50:17


Statistics


Total abstract view - 940
Downloads (from 2020-06-17) - PDF - 0

Indicators



Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2021 Jeffrey Wimmer

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.