A one-day symposium, hosted by Manchester Metropolitan University, on Friday morning, February 28, that brings together scholars from across the UK and Europe to present their current research on the topic of “ludocapitalism” and the relationship between structure, culture and the agents that move within it.

Inspired by the Alison Harvey and Seth Giddings’ 2018 special issue in Games and Culture on ludic economies, this symposium will be a place to see hear about cutting edge research into the ways in games and play are increasingly entangled with capitalism and how governments, corporations, and workers navigate this "playful" regime of accumulation.

This is the first of what we hope will be an ongoing series of events that look deeper into the ways digital technology is changing production, consumption, and society in general.

This event was organized by Dr. Tom Brock and Dr. Daniel Joseph in the department of Sociology, and funded by RCASS.

Schedule

Registration: 9:30

Alison Harvey - 10:00

• Disassembling the talent pipeline in games.

Jamie Woodcock - 10:15

• Worker organising in the videogames industry.

Karen Gregory - 10:30

• Deliveroo, gamification and risk.

Anna Ozimek- 10:45

• Game workers in Europe.

Break 1 - 11:00.

Maria O’Brien- 11:15

• The intersection of digital games production and cultural policy in Ireland.

Olli Sotamaa - 11:30

• Game production studies in the era of ludocapitalism

Matti Karhulahti- 11:45

• Esports Play.

Break - 12:00

Josh Jarrett - 12:15

• Political economy of MOBAs.

Paolo Ruffino - 12:30

• Economic ideology in ludic texts.

Seth Giddings - 12:45

• AI and virtual economies.

Event finishes at 1pm