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Games and Culture
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Productive Play

Game Culture From the Bottom Up

Celia Pearce

University of California, Irvine

In this article, the author argues against the assertion, originating with "canonical" game studies texts such as Homo Ludens and Man, Play, and Games, that inherent in the definition of games is that they are "unproductive." Instead, she makes a case for the notion of productive play, in which creative production for its own sake (as opposed to production for hire) is an active and integral part of play activities, particularly those enabled by networks. Citing from her recent ethnographic research studying intergame immigration between massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs), the author describes one case in which players ejected from the MMOGUru: Ages Beyond Myst became highly productive, creating artifacts from Uru in other virtual worlds like There and Second Life. Over time, the Uru Diaspora expanded the game's culture, eventually creating their own original Uru-and Myst-inspired artifacts, including an entirely new game.

Key Words: play • games • MMOG • massively multiplayer games • game studies

Games and Culture, Vol. 1, No. 1, 17-24 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1555412005281418
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