Boosting, Glitching and Modding Call of Duty: Assertive Dark Play Manifestations, Communities, Pleasures and Organic Resilience
- Submitting institution
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Canterbury Christ Church University
- Unit of assessment
- 34 - Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, Library and Information Management
- Output identifier
- U34.034
- Type
- C - Chapter in book
- DOI
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-
- Book title
- The Dark Side of Game Play: Controversial Issues in Playful Environments
- Publisher
- Routledge
- ISBN
- 9781138827288
- Open access status
- Out of scope for open access requirements
- Month of publication
- -
- Year of publication
- 2015
- URL
-
-
- Supplementary information
-
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- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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0
- Research group(s)
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-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This chapter contributes to the edited collection The Dark Side of Game Play which investigates dark play in video games and controversial play behaviour. Meades’ analysis develops the scholarly understanding of Schechner’s concept of ‘dark play’ within the context of multiplayer online games – specifically the Call of Duty franchise on the Xbox 360. This is significant as the franchise was the first that brought partially anonymous online multiplayer gaming to mass audiences, and as a result allowed new insights into dark play. The research builds upon ethnographic and participant-observation fieldwork, which adhered to appropriate ethics regulations, carried out within the game and its surrounding communities, including official and illicit channels (game modding and hacking forae). The study was unique as it was written from a privileged point of access within the illicit game modification community (due to time spent in the communities, cultural entrée, and fieldwork), and represents one of the first analyses to illuminate the practices and motivations surrounding illicit game modification on the Xbox 360 platform. The research also analysed the commercial context of dark play and the game developer’s changing attitude to rule-breaking players. The study and data analysis are contextualised within historical and contemporary literature related to transgression, dark play, and cheating. The analysis identifies three levels of dark play in relation to Call of Duty: Boosting (complicit cheating in order to progress); Modding (the use of illicit modification services to progress in the game or to harass players); and Hacking (the explicit creation of modding tools and services, for reputation and profit). Unlike other articles in the collection, which detail examples of dark play done within the scope of the rules, Meades’ analysis explores examples that are assertive – they are done in conscious violation of terms of service and even relevant laws.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -
