Video games are a form of literature for sociologist Simon

By Sylvain Comeau

Every day, millions goof off playing video games when they are supposed to be working. But for Bart Simon, video games are a serious subject for research and study.

Last month, the professor of sociology launched the Montreal GameCODE project, a Concordia-based research initiative to look at the cultural impact of digital games.

“Today there is a new field of research called digital game studies, which looks at games as a medium on a continuum with literature, television, film and so on,” Simon said in an interview. “This field emerged in the last 10 years, and has attracted communications and literature people; games are like literature, games are like stories.”

Since Simon is a sociologist, the GameCODE project will add new dimensions to the emerging field of digital game studies.

“There is another way to come at it, which is a direction informed by what has been called sociology of the Internet, or Internet studies. This looks at the Internet or information technology as a means of communication and interaction between human beings. Games are an extension of that, a form of information technology through which people interact.”

“Because of the boom in popularity and market penetration of video games, today they form an important part of the cultural landscape. So the argument is pretty strong; if you think television and film is important, you have to think video games are important.”

Simon is funding the project from two research grants he received to study digital games. “Rather than just make this my own thing, I decided to recognize that there are a lot of people in Montreal who have an interest in video games. I’m using some resources from the grant, and my position here at Concordia, to foster some communication between scholars and designers. The GameCODE Project is a forum for these people to interact.”

The project has already attracted scholars from UQAM and Universite de Montreal as well as Concordia, not to mention people from the game designer community. The project hosts biweekly workshop meetings and an informal (soon to be formal) speaker series, and maintains a research room with new computers and a library of archived research material.

“This kind of thing is not often done with personal research grants, but it’s inexpensive and very productive. And the level of interest in the subject is very high.”

The Project will address some of the common critiques of digital games and gamers, such as the charge that players are antisocial and isolated. Simon says such stereotypes don’t always match the reality of gaming experience.

“In terms of social properties, some games are alienating, and others help to foster communities. For example, one kind of game we are studying is massively multiplayer online games.

“The most popular one in North American is called EverQuest, a Tolkeinesque fantasy role-playing game. This is a co-operative game; on any given night you can log on to play your character, along with 20,000 other people, and the game is constructed so that you can’t play alone. In order to progress, you must make friends and learn to work together.”

While much of the research into games has focused on whether or not they incite real-life violence, Simon says the project will be taking a much broader view.

“You can’t shy away from the relationship between media and violence; it’s a very old problem, and it didn’t start with games. We will be looking at that a bit, but our mandate is much broader. The major goal of this project, and why it is sociological more than anything else, is to understand why games are important to the people who play them.”

The emphasis on the subjective viewpoint of gamers will preclude any pre-conceived notions by the researchers.

“We are very focused on player experience, player understanding, interviews and ethnography of the play of the game. We need to understand how players subjectively experience the games, and how they decide how games fit into their lives – or not.”