Power Play Play: Regulatory Frameworks of Esports in Asia and Europe

Evolution of PC Bangs: Traditions and Trends in South Korea

Canons of Games Research: An Analysis of the Most Cited Publications

Challenge Types in Videogame play

The Quest for Serious Sex Adventures: A Structural Analysis of Puzzle and Humor

A Comparative Study of Attachment: Fighting Games and Taekwondo in Life

Ethics of Online Cheating: From Chess to Esports and Back

Prank, Troll, Gross and Gore: Performance Issues in Esport Live-Streaming

This article examines the functions of prank performance and troll performance for the aesthetics of personal live-streaming, i.e. the practice of live-streaming one’s personal performance via platforms such as Twitch.tv. The study is based on a close analysis of personal esport live-streamer Ali Larsen, aka Gross Gore, via a 12-month observation period. With help of Goffmanian frame theory the notions of interview frame and play frame are introduced as the basic cognitive tools for organizing personal esport livestream experiences. The study concludes by proposing three factors that are vital for the aesthetics of personal live-streaming in general: (1) the feeling of affecting live-streams, (2) the suspense that derives from expecting something unexpected to happen in livestreams, and (3) the sharing of dramatic developments that occur in live-streams.

Ludology, Narratology and Philosophical Hermeneutics

In this article we present the hermeneutic method as a tool for analyzing game studies discourses. We use Markku Eskelinen’s profusely interpreted “The Gaming Situation” (2001) as a case study. Our premise is that whereas the hermeneutic method is academically well-established, its conscious application is not. It is suggested that with conscious application of the hermeneutic method the persistent and problematic questions in game studies, like those related to narrative, definition, and art, gain potential to be treated with increased sophistication.

Puzzle Is Not a Game! Basic Structures of Challenge

By analyzing ontological differences between two contested concepts, the puzzle and the game, the paper aims at constructing a structural framework for understanding the videogame and its challenges. The framework is built on three basic challenge structures: the puzzle, the strategic challenge, and the kinesthetic challenge. The argument is that, unlike the latter two, the puzzle cannot constitute a game.