Participatory media culture in direct context to video games, is the idea that play is a much bigger concept than simply what happens inside the game. Play’s involvement in culture is not often looked at critically and is is undermined due to a societal construct that it is unproductive due to it being a passive activity. I believe that this is a very flawed construct.
This play which is often stated as a waste of time, is actually very important as this activity is an essential building block for humans in regards to their cultural and social life. Video games need participation from their audience in order to make meaning, otherwise they are just codes and software. Participation within video games involves four elements which include multimedia, virtuality, interactivity and connectivity. I will be looking at the participation within FIFA through the elements of interactivity and connectivity.
Interactivity and connectivity in FIFA 21
Interactivity is the relationship between the game and the human, the game tells the player what to do and the player decides what they will do within the game. The game is also interacting with the player by responding to their commands and providing challenges. It is this specific element that separates games from other forms of media. This interactivity can be seen through FIFA 21, where the game interacts with the player by responding to the commands that they press, deciding if they want to shoot, pass or tackle within the game. The game also provides challenges to the player’s commands through the use of the oppositions team where it is the games job to react to the commands that the player is using in order to make the match entertaining and challenging. This interaction is essential due the fact that if it was too easy to win and score the player would lose interest.
Connectivity can be also be seen in FIFA 21, where the game connects humans to it via the use of crowd/player audio and soundtracks to get an investment towards the game. The game also holds large cultural connectivity where due to its popularity it as connect humans with other humans to create a large fandom within the game, for example this can be seen through the opportunity to play with or against one and another.
Participation within FIFA can also be seen separately through the process of reconfiguration, as mentioned the games large popularity means it as received cultural criticism on YouTube, but uses this feedback from players to improve the games next release.
These brief examples showcase how play is absolutely productive and needed in the video game and game media industry.
I hope you enjoyed, thank you for listening.
References
- Tran, A., 2020. FIFA More Than Just A Video Game. Soccer Politics/ The Politics of Football. (Accessed 5th September 2022)
- Our Culture. 2021. The Impact of Video Games on Culture. (Accessed 5th September 2022)
- Siregar, C., 2022. How FIFA soundtrack become cultural tastemakers: ‘The music you listen to defines your life’ / Goal.com (Accessed 5th September 2022)
- Game Developer. 2022. Book Excerpt: Understanding video games as culture. (Accessed 5th September 2022)
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