Difference of games to other media

On the most superficial level, games are no different to any other types of digital media because they are encapsulated in the same binary ones and zeroes as any other type of digital file. In fact, close to 80% of the respondents to the survey below considered there to be no difference, generally for this reason. However, there are more complex considerations that, when taken into account, reveal the unique nature of computer games. Central to these is the fact the games, as other software, exist purely as a digital medium and have no real value when expressed in any other form. Three other points, discussed below, emphasise that issues surrounding games should be considered partly separate to those relating to other forms of media.

First, the creation of games is a complex process that draws on the skills of many creative, technical and business professionals. The process is most similar to that of movies because both media generally require large budgets and involve a large network of related skilled individuals. Singleton affirms that

[Games’] economic characteristics bear perhaps the closest resemblance to movies. Both are typical of the entertainment industry in that success of a product is hard to predict, and money lost on flops must be made up on hits. Both have in common high production costs and large file size, and both are often consumed once (2007: 6).

Aside from the simplest games, most contain an abundance of text, art, video, special effects and highly specialised programming. The development team can consist of dozens, or even hundreds, of programmers, coders, designers, modellers, artists and writers; added to this are the marketing team and the distributors. Another consideration is the creation of games for video game consoles: the developers must obtain a license to work on the manufacturer’s hardware, and the particular hardware configuration may necessitate additional specialised programmes and personnel (Independent, 2009). In addition, advances in technology mean that the hardware base for games is always in flux, and constant innovation is needed to make full use of the best available technologies; as graphics, processors and storage become faster and bigger, developers must concurrently increase games’ appearance and performance to remain on the cutting edge (Moore, 2009).

Second, games require an entirely different system of marketing and monetisation to other kinds of media. Crucially, games do not possess a performance aspect that can be charged for: while musicians can stage concerts and sell merchandise, film producers can screen movies in cinemas and famous artists, writers and actors can receive sponsorship deals, games do not have an equivalent outlet. Game merchandise caters to a small, niche market. This means that the only profit a game can generate is from its sales and corresponding services. These sales can take a variety of forms: aside from standard retail and digital sales, games can be bundled with hardware (enticing gamers to buy

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Thirdly, games – and software in general – have always had an interesting and fluid relationship with copyright. Linus Torvalds essentially pioneered the idea of open-source, freely shared software with his Linux operating system (Bowrey, 2005: 84-5). Early games were often released under freeware or shareware licenses – both concepts allowed the user to distribute copies of the game legitimately and freely to anyone they chose (Taylor, 2002: 228). Unfortunately this is rarely the case with larger titles, as the monetary and time input into games has grown exponentially; however, the internet attest to the millions of smaller games that are available freely to players through websites and file-sharing networks. Another phenomenon related to games and copyright is ‘abandonware’ – a game or software programme that has been ‘abandoned’ by its creator and is no longer supported or is significantly outdated. Due to the increasingly rapid development of technologies, games and software become obsolete much sooner than other forms of media; despite their potential cultural significance, the high reliance of games on graphic and processing power as a key feature means that, as quickly as these trait improve, so quickly do older games become obsolete and outdated. Also, as game companies merge, split or close, they often lose track of who owns which intellectual properties, and it often occurs that older games become lost in the shuffle; essentially, they become orphan works. Gamers who wish to rediscover these games turn to abandonware sites, where older games are catalogued and available (often illegally) for download (while some rights-holders consent to having the downloads available, they generally require a fee; others simply issue cease and desist notices) (Coleman and Dyer-Witheford , 2007: 939-40). In this process, gamers infringe on the copyrights of orphaned computer games. Coleman and Dyer-Witheford refer to these pirates rather romantically as the ‘renegade archivists of an ephemeral art form’ (2007: 940)

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