1. Introduction to Game Studies: Games in Culture
Chapter 8: Preparing for a
Game Studies Project
© Frans Mäyrä & SAGE Publications

2. Learning to Ask
The following discusses issues related to conducting independent study projects in Game Studies.
Discovering the right research question is crucial: how you ask will define what you will find.
Genuine interest in the topic is important, but be realistic about the scope of study.
You need to check what previous research exists - often a major challenge, as relevant studies are produced in multiple disciplines, under different topics.

3. Spiral of Study
Image credit: Frans Mäyrä.
Genuine research progresses in a ‘hermeneutic circle’: deepening knowledge will influence or change the original hypotheses.

4. Readiness for Change
Fixating too early on a particular approach may mean missing an important point later; however, searching for an approach for too long is also a problem.
One may roughly divide time and effort in one’s project into three main parts:
doing ‘pre-study’ (playing games, searching literature, reading, making notes, outlining the work)
gathering and analysing data on the chosen topic, using the chosen methodology
writing and proof reading the actual research paper.
Plan ahead and keep a calendar or journal - it helps you to see whether your work will be finished in time!

5. Narrowing Down
Overly general and vague research questions are hard to process into a successful study.
Narrowing down is one helpful method.
For example, rather than aiming to understand the ‘nature of interaction in a multiplayer FPS’, one might focus on observations recorded in one particular map of one particular FPS game.
The closer one looks, the more one will find.
e.g. how do different players approach this single map? How does the number of players affect the game? How about bots?

6. Examples: Paper Titles from DiGRA 2005 Conference
Shadowplay: Simulated Illumination in Game Worlds
Towards an Ontological Language for Game Analysis
Fundamental Components of the Gameplay Experience: Analysing Immersion
Push. Play: An Examination of the Gameplay Button
The Things We Learned on Liberty Island: Designing Games to Help People Become Competent Game Players
Presence Experience in Mobile Gaming
Designing Goals for Online Role-Players
Girls Creating Games: Challenging Existing Assumptions about Game Content
Understanding Korean Experiences of Online Game Hype, Identity, and the Menace of the ‘Wang-tta’

7. Selecting and Building the Toolbox of Methods
Rather than there being a right or wrong methodology, each Game Studies project needs to consider its goals and then adopt appropriate approaches and tools.
It is important to realise how each branch of learning has its associated histories of thought.
e.g. writing about the aesthetics of games would require learning about the traditions of humanities – just as a study of player communities necessitates familiarity with the fundamentals of social sciences.
Each branch of learning has its own views on ontology and epistemology (e.g. what games fundamentally are vs. how we can study and learn about such phenomena).

8. Humanities Methods
Structuralism and semiotics have particularly influenced contemporary Game Studies.
Systems like languages or games are studied through an analytical process to identify their constituative elements and underlying logic.
Textual analysis and discourse analysis are common approaches in humanities.
Literary, media and cultural studies have contributed to discussions on the aesthetic and structural character of games, as well as to critiques of the games industry or games’ ideology.

9. Social Sciences Methods
Like humanities, these focus on human realities but put greater emphasis on the scientific method and verifiable facts.
The formation of hypotheses in a way that can be empirically measured and falsified is important for quantitatively-oriented studies.
Qualitative social scientists, in particular, have been critical towards the application of natural sciences in social studies (classical view know as ‘positivism’).
Surveys, interviews and self-reporting techniques, such as diary-keeping, are central methods.
Ethnography is an important method, involving systematic observation, note-taking and analysis of data derived during field studies (e.g. in an online player guild).

10. Design Research Methods
Various ‘meta-design’ approaches are part of design research: researching the game design methods and their underlying logic.
Finding the proper balance is important: while researchers usually aim to produce good research, and game designers good games, design researchers aim to make a contribution that is both theoretical and practical.
Inviting different audiences to play-test games during their development is an emerging industry practice (related to QA, quality assurance).
Structures of game can also be organised into (semi)formal systems that may be used in design.
Design experimentation, ideation and prototyping techniques, and involvement of focus groups are all part of doing games design research.

11. Game Playing as a Method
Rich and diverse game playing is crucial for doing Game Studies professionally.
Analytical play is often different from leisurely play.
‘Playing for a goal’: making notes and actively engaging in comparisons within wider historical, conceptual and social contexts.
Not only playing one’s personal favourites, but playing to gain a more comprehensive understanding of different game cultures.
Analytical play is the basis of doing e.g. structural gameplay analysis, thematic analyses of games’ shell, or social analyses of different players and their cultures.

12. Writing for An Audience
Science and scholarship are the production and communication of knowledge.
Solid argumentation, logical structure and clear language are essential for any study.
Good presentation does not try to hide the weaknesses of research, but rather recognises them as opportunities for further study.
Academic studies invite dialogue and always reference their sources.
One classic paper structure is ‘IMRaD’: Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion.

13. Further Resources See the companion web sites: www.sagepub.co.uk/mayra