Indie Dreams: Video Games, Creative Economy, and the Hyperindustrial Epoch. Issue 7 (November 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Crogan, Patrick
• Other Names: Harvey Alison guest-editor.; Giddings Seth guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Games and culture. Volume 13:Issue 7(2018)
• Page Start: 671
• Page End: 689
• Publication Date: 2018-11
• Subjects: indie games -- video games industry -- video games as cultural form -- neoliberalism -- Bernard Stiegler; Games -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Video games -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Computer games -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Interactive multimedia -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 303.4834
• DOI: 10.1177/1555412018756708
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1555-4120

Abstract

This essay draws on research undertaken as part of a research network project exploring the growth of independent game producers in recent years and the associated changes in the technological and economic conditions of the games industry in the UK, Europe, and the North American continent. It reflects on the possibilities of and challenges to a critical and creative maturing of video games as a cultural medium, evaluating these in the context of contemporary developments in global technoculture and the digital economy. Bernard Stiegler's critical analysis of hyperindustrial consumer culture is mobilized in evaluating the dreams for an indie future of video games as a creative force in digital cultural transformation.