Mods
As one of my dissertation chapters I intend to map out a ‘modding’ community. Playing a game is but one way to experience it; the surrounding meta-activities are just as socially and culturally relevant. So beyond describing this phenomenon against a background of existing media theory (e.g. active audience, uses & gratifications), I want to focus on collaborative practices, underlying motivations, and the context in which a game mod may emerge. Hopefully it will reflect on contemporary notions of ownership, authorship, division of labor, and cooperation. Currently, it looks like the subject will be the modders surrounding Command & Conquer: Generals and the Zero Hour expansion, since that game is just friggin’ awesome.
Here I will list some of the relevant sites towards writing this chapter as well as some of the books and articles I will collect along the way.
Sites
commandandconquer.filefront.com
ambitious but not quite there yet
total conversions:
Literature
Henry, J. (1992) Textual Poachers: Television Fans & Participatory Culture. Routledge: New York & London.
Pearce, C. (2006) Games AS Art: The Aesthetics of Play. Visible Language, 2006; 40, 1, Research Library, pg. 66-89.