Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
  • Publication
    What is theory if theorizing is a game?
    (European Group for Organization Studies, 2018-07-07) ;
    The purpose of this paper is to explore what we mean by theory, by looking at theory through a game lens. In comparing and contrasting the two phenomena of games and theory, we seek to better understand what theory is and is not, how theory is distinguished from theorizing, what constitutes a theoretical contribution, how theory and practice are linked, and the nature of academic work. The paper is structured as follows. We begin by discussing what is meant by a game, and, notwithstanding the difficulties of defining what constitutes a game, we outline four characteristics of games, and identify four basic roles in game activity. In the next section, we discuss the similarities between games and what is commonly understood as theory. We then proceed to describe how a game perspective can add to our understanding of theorizing. The paper’s final section then builds on this to consider the implications of thinking about theorizing as a form of game-playing. This exercise in comparing and contrasting theory leads, ultimately, to recognising the importance of phrónēsis in games, and its relatively marginal position (until recently) in theory and theorizing.
      338
  • Publication
    The Bitcoin Game: Ethno-resonance as Method
    The global financial crisis and the contemporaneous emergence of the digital currency Bitcoin invite us to think about money and how it often functions almost imperceptibly in society. In this article, we show that Bitcoin is a ‘new object of concern’ that also compels us to reimagine ethnography in a digital age. We present a method, which we term ethno-resonance, that is both a reaction to the conditions presented by the Bitcoin phenomenon and a way of maintaining critical distance from its cyberlibertarian politics. We explicate six aspects of the method, framed around answers to what, why, how, who, when and where questions. Applied to cryptocurrencies, the method leads us to depict Bitcoin as a game, and we analyse the game’s dynamics through mapping the interplay between four foundational myths that animate, complicate and sustain the game. More broadly, this contributes to our understanding of the nature of money and alternative currencies.
    Scopus© Citations 8  933
  • Publication
    Exploring the job/game boundary: the Klein bottle game
    (Edge Hill University, 2017-07-05) ;
    Games are often characterised as closed or autotelic, a term coined by Csikszentmihalyi (1990) to describe a state of ‘flow’ or ‘optimal experience’ for the player. But a player may be any problem solver where the solution of the problem is the end, if not the obsession. In this paper we interrogate a common perception of a game as dichotomous with job. The image of a boundary between game and job is an artificial construct, owing much to history and ideology. To query the validity of the boundary construct we propose the analogy of an all embracing game, the Klein bottle game, that makes use of the mathematical description of a boundaryless topological space.
      204
  • Publication
    Theory Games
    This paper examines the remarkable and unexplored correspondence between games (and board games in particular) and what is commonly understood as theory in the social sciences.  It argues that games exhibit many if not most of the attributes of theory, but that theory is missing some of the features of games.  As such, game provide a way of rethinking what we mean by theory and theorizing.  Specifically, games and their relationship with the ¿real¿ world, provide a way of thinking about theory and theorizing that is consistent with recent calls to frame social inquiry around the concept of phrónÄ“sis.
      386
  • Publication
    Carnival in the global village: Re-imagining information infrastructures
    (Taylor & Francis, 2019-08-12) ;
    Infrastructures are typically seen as boring and serious, and are routinely depicted using metaphors from transportation. We argue that the carnival is a fruitful metaphor for understanding emerging information infrastructures, as the information age is also the age of the carnival. We distinguish between the ubiquitous or distal carnival and its particular manifestations – the proximate carnival – both of which are characterized by play, anarchy, dissimulation, vulgar language, and excessive consumption. The article focuses on Bitcoin, which we see as a nascent information infrastructure and an exemplary instance of a proximate carnival. It also considers how the carnival metaphor might help us reimagine our study of the information age.
      427
  • Publication
    'These our actors': the representation of players in the legal game
    (Edge Hill University, 2017-07-05) ; ;
    Recent trends in litigation, corporate structuring and technological innovation have highlighted core dynamics concerning identities generally, and legal personhood in particular. This paper seeks to explore and question the concept of the legal person, itself, as an actor, and its construction through quasi-juridical systems of power. We argue that there is an ontological separation between living men and women and their legal representations, and propose a conceptual schema based in part on the games studies literature, wherein actorial identities known as 'Avatars' are created by performative declarations (Searle, 2006), and act within a bounded Framework. This schema is employed to distinguish corporations from individuals, to model the use of legal ‘Avatars’ by Apple Inc. and show unique properties of Bitcoin technology as well as the novelty of decentralized autonomous organizations such as zeromember LLCs (Bayern, 2014).
      228