New Media M.A. Research Blog | Media Studies, University of Amsterdam

Video Games as Infrastructures of Resistance

This blog post covers a heavily understudied area of digital activism: online video games. With people in self-isolation and trapped in their houses for over half a year now, it is crucial that we recognize the creative ways people...

By Frederikke Christiansen on 10/19/20 Comments Off

Why Venezuelans are ganging up on Old School Runescape to combat the effects of an economic crisis

As the economic crisis gets worse, some Venezuelans look online to play video games. By selling the in-game gold for real life currency, they make a living. Recently, the Venezuelan players of Old School RuneScape have formed a big...

By on 09/27/20 Comments Off

Online Activism meets Digital Gaming: Protesters are now taking to the virtual streets

Online activism has allowed for many positive changes to occur within socio-political sectors via social media campaigns and online petitions; now, digital gamers have taken an interest in activism. The innovative form of online protesting has caused quite a...

By Frederikke Christiansen on 09/27/20 Comments Off

Supercell’s Brawl Stars; a step towards an ethical Freemium design in Mobile Gaming?

Supercell released their newest game, Brawl Stars, in December 2018. Its' business model marks a shift towards a more ethical design of Freemium games.

By Victor Loye on 09/27/20 Comments Off

Shattering a totalitarian monopoly?

This blog post covers the struggle between Epic Games on one side and Apple and Google on the other. By suing Google and Apple over anti-competitive practices, Epic Games hopes to break the tight grip the platforms have on...

By David Dijkhuis on 09/24/20 Comments Off

Unfolding Twitch Vernaculars through Emotes

Twitch is the largest and most popular video game live streaming platform, owning up to 72.2% of total hours watched compared to YouTube, Facebook Gaming, and Mixer (Perez). Not only is Twitch a gaming based streaming platform, but it...

By Boy Singmanee on 10/24/19 Comments Off

Build your own community on Discord

Initially meant as a platform for online gaming, text and voice chat app Discord has become much more than that. It allows for communities to sprout and conversations to spark. But where do we draw the line on the...

By Tamar Hellinga on 09/22/19 Comments Off

Google Stadia: A new player has joined the platform wars

You either die an information utility, or live long enough to adopt the politics of platforms. Imagine video games no longer being tied to the hardware boxes they’re designed for, but instead being playable anywhere, on any device. We...

By Tiede Bart on 09/22/19 Comments Off

Facebook Gaming: Live Streaming the Perils of Data Privacy

The ability to record and live stream video games has completely reformed the gaming industry as it became the birthplace of popular online live streaming communities. Why do younger people today spend more time watching gaming content than playing...

By Boy Singmanee on 09/20/19 Comments Off

Forcing Gamers to Gamble: The Star Wars Battlefront II loot boxes debate

Edit Edit status When Star Wars Battlefront II (2017) (SWBFII) released on 17 November there was a huge backlash from the gamer community surrounding the implemented loot boxes and micro transactions in general. In SWBFII the gamer plays...

By Thijs Wortel on 09/24/18 Comments Off

Mission Control: The changing boundaries of control and ownership in the world’s biggest crowd funding success.

The latest controversy surrounding the in development game Star Citizen, struck me as illustrative of the pitfalls and complexities of new forms of financing, and how they manifest the sunk cost fallacy in new, unexpected ways. It isn’t just...

By Tim Groot on 09/24/18 Comments Off

The new Xbox adaptive controller, another step towards digital inclusion?

It is not easy for some players to enjoy the virtual experience of video games. Microsoft noticed the issue and, to break down the barriers faced by people with disabilities, the multinational technology company just launched a couple weeks...

By Camille Godineau on 09/23/18 Comments Off

Reassessing the Viability of Cloud Gaming

Cloud gaming as a concept, as promising as it may be, has not been able to live up to its expectations. Having been around since the year 2000 with the launch of a startup like G-Cluster (Cai et al....

By Rama Adityadarma on 09/23/18 Comments Off

Twitch.tv: A Socially Valuable Platform, or Just Another Amazon Revenue Stream?

Instagram influencers and YouTube vloggers have long been seen as the leaders in monetizing one’s online self. New to this scene are an entirely different cohort of digital money makers: those who profit as professional video gamers on live...

By Emma Knight on 09/21/18 Comments Off

Pokémon Go: A Blueprint for Augmented Reality?

July 2016, a cultural zeitgeist dating back to the 90s was unleashed upon the world with renewed and unprecedented vigour. Pokémon Go fever swept the world – at its peak in mid-July, it was estimated that over 45 million (Griffiths)...

By Rhubini Kunasegaran on 09/19/16 Comments Off

Amazon Underground – the app store insurgent

Recently Amazon launched a new app store Amazon Underground for Android users, which replaced the Free App a Day program. It features not only items from the Amazon shopping app and the whole catalog from its app store, but...

By Radina Teodosieva on 09/17/15 Comments Off

A true astronaut of inner space: how your phone is making Virtual Reality a reality

“Looking like a cross between a T’ai Chi master, a navy frogman, and the Terminator, a man harnessed to electronic leads and fitted with a strange piece of headgear slowly turns and gestures. The pointing hand and the ballet...

By Nick van der Meulen on 09/16/15 Comments Off

Augmented reality; Pokémon in the real world

After 20 years, The Pokémon Company announced the release of its latest project. A new mobile game called Pokémon Go, produced in collaboration with Nintendo and Niantic. The game will be available in 2016 for iOs and Android. For...

By Kimberly Leerkes on 09/15/15 Comments Off

Oculus Rift: the next big leap towards virtual reality

In August 2012, the company Oculus VR set up a Kickstarter project to encourage the development of a revolutionary technological device, capable of plunging users into an immersive virtual reality. The Kickstarter rose to see $2.4M invested by 9’500...

By Alexander Guian-Illanes on 09/15/15 Comments Off

Get Water! Have fun and make a difference

What if someone told you that by playing a fun digital game you could raise awareness to a current global issue, promote learning and education, or perhaps even help solving relevant problems at a local, national and/or international level?...

By Giovanna Salazar Ojeda on 09/18/14 Comments Off

Functions of representation in a work of art & MMORPGs

Interactive Digital Art ‘‘Do Not Touch” is an interactive crowd sourced music video for Light Light’s song ‘Kilo’. The video was created by Amsterdam based art collective Moniker. Before the experience starts users are being notified that their cursor...

By Giel Veenstra on 09/18/14 Comments Off

Kashing in with the Kardashians

Kim Kardashian is one of the most divisive personalities in Hollywood, but her eponymous mobile game is the runaway hit of the summer. Since its launch at the end of June, Kim Kardashian Hollywood has been downloaded millions of time...

By Nora McLeese on 09/17/14 Comments Off

Video Games: Ethical Issues faced by Producers and Consumers

Video games have been facing various scrutiny over the years in which certain ethical issues are questioned over the production and reception of the media product. Grand Theft Auto V and its previous sequels, has faced scrutiny over the...

By Sirak Tegegn on 09/11/14 Comments Off

SteamOS: Openness & the Future of Gaming

Valve Corporation recently announced their own operating system streamlined for games called SteamOS. With SteamOS Valve wants to bring their popular online gaming platform Steam (with 50 millions accounts) into the living room. Valve already had developed an interface,...

By Michael Kerssens on 10/07/13 Comments Off