Browsing by Author "Jalamo, Tuomas"

This study analyses the relationship between video game fans, developers and publishers. The topic is approached via a case study that explores online fan reviews of the video game Mass Effect 3 at the Metacritic website. The game had a controversial ending, which was posthumously altered due to negative feedback from the fans. The study seeks to understand the ways in which the case study reflects the issues between the fans and the industry and how these themes are related to the wider discourse of video game fans as active co-producers. Moreover, the study also discusses the ways in which the industry could potentially avoid such negative scenarios as the Mass Effect 3 debacle. The case study is used to highlight the ways in which fans act as co-producers within modern participation culture and the economy of reputation: the most active individuals are often the most influential and powerful in the online sphere. This is also true in the context of game fandom, where the 'core fans' have a significant amount of influence in terms of content-related decisions. To understand this dynamic, this study uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative content analysis as its methods. The study also speaks for a more transparent and open attitude towards methodologies not commonly utilised in the field of fan studies. Based on qualitative and quantitative analyses, the study finds that betrayal, ownership and identity are significant themes in the fan reviews. It suggests that the fans felt that Bioware had betrayed them by not staying aesthetically and mechanically consistent with the video game series’s earlier outings. Moreover, the prejudices toward both Bioware and the publishing company Electronic Arts played a significant role in the content of the reviews. In conclusion, the study presents a model of the communication between the video game fans and the industry and suggests that fan feedback is based around four main aspects: mechanic expectations, aesthetic expectations, fan identities and the reputation of the developing and publishing companies within the fan community. Understanding these factors are fundamental in reading the discourse of video game fandom. This study suggests that misreading of these core aspects played an important part in Bioware’s failure to communicate with its fans.