Between consumption and production:
The productive leisure of video game workers of Montreal
New media workers and their organisations have been studied by researchers in geographical
economy (Scott 1998; Christopherson 2002; Grabher 2002; Grabher 2002; Pratt 2002; Christorpherson
2004), organisational studies (Neff 2004), sociology and urban sociology (Smith 2001; Benner 2002;
Lloyd 2006). In media studies, cultural work have generated numerous studies, but video game workers
have been given little attention until recently (Kline, Dyer-Witheford et al. 2003; Kerr 2006; Deuze
2007). Considering the culture of video game workers, the existing studies focus essentially on the
corporate culture of video game companies. This culture is described as gendered, commercial,
“techno” (Deuze 2007, pp.227-232)
In this paper, we choose to concentrate our analysis on the culture of video game workers
themselves rather than assuming from the outset that there a distinct corporate culture specific to video
game companies. In a context of “liquid work” (Deuze 2007) where the boundaries between private life
and work place are blurring, it seems judicious to study the culture of video game workers from their
individual point of view. More precisely, we choose to examine the cultural leisure of these workers.
Cultural leisure refers to the practices that are linked to the worlds of art and cultural entertainment
(both legitimized and popular cultural practices). Our aim is to describe the variety of cultural leisure
practiced by these workers and to study the relationships between that cultural leisure and their
professional activity. We will see that leisure and cultural activities can be linked to different spaces
(domestic spaces, city streets, cultural places and virtual spaces) and are often prone to be recycled in a
personal professional project or in a working context.
We choose to discuss the question of convergence from a cultural repertoire perspective.
argue that hobbies and cultural activities of video game workers outside of their working space can be
commoditised as work assets to a certain extent. This enables us to discuss and precise the concept of
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A perspective already explored by a French art sociologist to study temporary art workers. Menger, P.-M. (2003). Travail,
structure sociale et consommation culturelle. Vers un échange d’attributs entre travail et loisir ? Vol.1. Les publics de la
culture. O. D. e. P. Tolila. Paris, Presses de Sciences Po: 61-86.
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