Playing games has a crucial methodological role within the study of games. At the same time, detailed overviews of how academic playing is conducted are difficult to find. In this article, the authors begin with Espen Aarseth’s outline of playing research and offer some updates to it in order to build a more context-aware approach. To exemplify the elaborated methodology, the authors apply it to the rhythm game DJ HERO. They emphasize in this article that a game not only creates a world of its own, but also is in many ways connected to the traditions directed by real-world culture and economics. Thus, playing research needs to go beyond the limits of gameworld and normative gameplay, and move toward a concept or assemblage of play that takes into account games as singular and multifaceted technocultural entities.
AarsethE. (May, 2003). Playing research: Methodological approaches to game analysis. Paper presented at DAC 2003. Melbourne, Australia.
3.
AarsethE. (2007). I fought the law: Transgressive play and the implied player. In BabaA. (Ed.), Situated play: Proceedings of the Third International Conference of DiGRA (pp. 130-133). Tokyo, Japan: University of Tokyo.
DJ HERO. (2009). [Developed by FreeStyleGames.] Santa Monica, CA: FreeStyleGames & Activision Publishing.
16.
Dyer-WithefordN.de PeuterG. (2009). Games of empire: Global capitalism and video games. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
17.
ErmiL.MäyräF. (2005). Fundamental components of the gameplay experience: Analysing immersion. In de CastellS.JensonJ. (Eds.), Changing Views - Worlds in Play: Proceedings of the Second International Conference of DiGRA (pp. 15-27). Vancouver, Canada: University of Vancouver.
18.
Egenfeldt-NielsenS.SmithJ. H.ToscaS. (2008). Understanding videogames: The essential introduction. New York, NY: Routledge.
GiddingsS.KennedyH. W. (2007). Little Jesuses and *@#?-off Robots: On cybernetics, aesthetics, and not being very good at lego star wars. In SwalwellM.WilsonJ. (Eds.), The pleasures of computer gaming: Essays on cultural history, theory and aesthetics (pp. 13-32). Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
21.
GuattariF. (1995). Chaosmosis: An ethico-aesthetic paradigm. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
22.
GUITAR HERO. (2005). [Developed by Harmonix.] Santa Monica, CA: Activision Publishing.
23.
HarawayD. (1988). Situated knowledges: The science question in feminism and the privilege of partial perspective. Feminist Studies,14, 592-593.
24.
IversenS. M. (2010). Between regulation and improvisation: Playing and analysing “Games in the Middle” (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
25.
JuulJ. (2009). Casual revolution: Reinventing video games and their players. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
26.
KirkpatrickG. (2009). Controller, hand, screen: Aesthetic form in the computer game. Games and Culture, 4, 127-143.
27.
KlevjerR. (2002). In defense of cut-scenes. In MäyräF. (Ed.), Computer Games and Digital Cultures Conference Proceedings (pp. 191-202). Tampere, Finland: Tampere University Press.
28.
KücklichJ. (2007). Homo deludens: Cheating as a methodological tool in digital games research. Convergence, 13, 355-367.
29.
LammesS. (2007). Approaching game-studies: Towards a reflexive methodology of games as situated cultures. In BabaA. (Ed.), Situated play: Proceedings of the Third International Conference of DiGRA (pp. 25-30). Tokyo, Japan: University of Tokyo.
30.
LangeP. G.ItoM. (2010). Creative production. In ItoM.BaumerS.BittantiM.boydd.CodyR.Herr-StephensonB.HorstH.A.LangeP.G.MahendranD.MartínezK.Z.PascoeC.J.PerkelD.RobisnonL.SimsCTrippL., Hanging out, messing around, and geeking out (pp. 243-293). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
31.
LessigL. (2008). Remix: Making art and commerce thrive in the hybrid economy. London, England: Bloomsbury Academic.
32.
MalabyT. M. (2007). Beyond play: A new approach to games. Games and Culture,2, 95-113.
33.
MäyräF. (2008). An introduction to game studies: Games and culture. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
34.
MillerP. (2004). Rhythm science. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
35.
PargmanD.JakobssonP. (2006). The magic is gone: A critical examination of the gaming situation. In SantorineosM. (Ed.), Gaming realities: A challenge for digital culture (pp. 15–22). Athens, Greece: Fournos Centre for the Digital Culture.
36.
ParikkaJ. (2010). Insect media. An archaeology of animals and technology. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
37.
PoschardtU. (1998). DJ Culture. London, England: Quartet Books.
38.
ROCK BAND. (2007). [Developed by Harmonix Music Systems.] Cambridge, MA: Harmonix Music Systems.
39.
ShaviroS. (2009). Without criteria: Kant, Whitehead, Deleuze, and Aesthetics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
40.
SINGSTAR. (2004). [Developed by Sony London.] London, England: Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.
41.
SotamaaO. (2009). The player’s game: Towards understanding player production among computer game cultures. Tampere, Finland: Tampere University Press.
