New issue of ephemera: theory & politics in organization - Games,incorporated
Issue editors:Nick Butler, Sverre Spoelstra, Bent Meier Sørensen, and Lena Olaison
https://ephemerajournal.org/issue/games-incorporated
We live in an age of gamification in which play has infiltrated every aspect of our lives. From the algorithmic strategies of gig workers to the training simulations of spaces agencies, from the disciplined fun of online gaming communities to the puzzle-solving conspiracies of QAnon, the logic of play has spread throughout the social and organisational body. Games are now embedded in business and politics, serving to magnify (rather than to ameliorate) existing tensions with contemporary capitalism. Play is no longer a temporary reprieve from 'real life', but a technique through which labour, governance, and ideology take shape – an inexorable ludic drive that absorbs everything in its path. The Special Issue thus asks what happens when games become incorporated into bureaucratic workplaces, digital platforms, institutional practices, and paranoid fantasies.
Contributors:Niels Åkerstrøm Andersen, Giles Bunch, Emil Ahlström, Per Fors, Felix Diefenhardt, Max Haiven, Mathias Denecke, and Lea Zierott