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The other game researcher: participating in and watching the costruction of boundaries in game studies

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Authors: Copier Marinka
Source: Level Up Conference Proceedings
Utrecht: University of Utrecht, November, 2003
Pages: 404-419
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Abstract:

Game researchers are busy doing game studies: researching, writing and publishing articles, organizing conferences and creating a curriculum. I will argue that creating a new autonomous discipline such as game studies mainly involves constructing boundaries on different levels. In this article I would like to discuss how we can watch and analyze where and how these boundaries are being constructed, while realizing that I am also participating in this process. I mainly focus on the construction of borders between game studies and other disciplines and the ways in which a line is being drawn between game researchers, game designers and gamers. I will argue that Donna Haraway’s concept of situated knowledge can help us to realize where and how knowledge is being produced. I will claim we have to look into the empirical situation of game research in order to see that we all produce knowledge from a certain (hybrid) position and perspective.

Keywords: Science and Technology Studies, game researchers, game studies, constructing a discipline, boundary-work, situated knowledge, hybrid researchers