Paying to win, part 2: serialization, power creep, and late capitalism in Hearthstone

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18568/cmc.v16i47.1894

Keywords:

Card Games, E-Sports, Jogo, Midiatização, Capitalismo Tardio.

Abstract

This paper discusses power creep in the digital game card Hearthstone (Blizzard, 2012), questioning it from the perspectives of mediatization, serialization and late capitalism. The goal is to politicize the issue by pointing to the overlapping of contemporary cultural industry with game’s epistemological and ontological perspectives. We undertake the effort to review some theories of mediatization, observing the particularities of serialization in games. To achieve the main goal, we set out for an exploratory empirical analysis of professional players discourse on YouTube, revealing traces that help us locate the agency of late capitalism and serialization in Hearthstone’s power creep. Finally, we reinforce the need to scrutinize the contemporary entertainment industry, as well as the need to (re) think understandings about digital games and their cultures.

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Author Biographies

Thiago Falcao, Universidade Federal do Maranhão

Professor of Journalism at Universidade Federal do Maranhão. Throughout his story, he was an assistant professor (replacement) at Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), and a professor at the Bachelor’s degree in Radio, TV and Internet at UAM. He is a PhD in Contemporary Communication and Culture at Universidade Federal da Bahia. 

Daniel Marques, Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia

Assistant Professor at the Center of Applied Culture, Language and Technology at Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia
(CECULT/UFRB), PhD in Contemporary Communication and Culture (Póscom/UFBA).

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Published

2019-12-10

How to Cite

Falcao, T., & Marques, D. (2019). Paying to win, part 2: serialization, power creep, and late capitalism in Hearthstone. Comunicação Mídia E Consumo, 16(47), 530–554. https://doi.org/10.18568/cmc.v16i47.1894

Issue

Vol. 16 No. 47 (2019): SETEMBRO/DEZEMBRO

Section

Artigos

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Authors retain the copyright and grant the journal the right to first publication, with the work simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License that allows the work sharing with acknowledgment of authorship and initial publication in this magazine.