An Exploitation Ecosystem Model for Fan-based Labour in the Games Industry

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McCutcheon Chris Hitchens Michael McEwan Mitchell
2022 DiGRA ’22 – Proceedings of the 2022 DiGRA International Conference: Bringing Worlds Together

This paper will introduce the Exploitation Ecosystem (ExEc) model, which is based upon the foundational work of Dyer-Witheford and de Peuter (2006), Crane (2013), and Barrientos et al. (2013). The ExEc model organises and synthesizes research in slavery, exploitation, and precarious work into a more focused structure that can be applied to understanding exploitation in affluent modern economies. The model re-categorises the work of previous researchers and integrates them in a holistic approach, represented across two layers in the proposed model. The basic architecture of the model is introduced, revealing three aspects to exploitation: organisational, societal and individual, and is illustrated via examples. The ExEc model is particularly relevant to domains that rely heavily on fan passion and third-party content creators for their success, such as the games industry.