A Critical Look at Dream Jobs in the Video Game Industry

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In “A Precarious Game,” Ergin Bulut examines the world of video game production through ethnographic research conducted over three years. While many video game developers love their work, the dream job can be both alienating and precarious for others. Bulut argues that the passion of a predominantly white and male labor force relies on material inequalities that involve the sacrificial labor of their families and unacknowledged work of precarious testers, along with thousands of racialized and gendered workers in the Global South.

Although work is often seen as a matter of economics, Bulut contends that it is not just an economic matter but also a political one. Within the video game industry, work and passion may seem to signify freedom, participation, and choice, but they can also accelerate self-exploitation and impose emotional toxicity on other workers by forcing them to work endless hours. Furthermore, Bulut argues that the industry’s ludic discourses often mask the racialized and gendered inequalities on which a profitable transnational industry thrives.

In essence, “A Precarious Game” challenges readers to consider the relationship between work and passion as a matter of democracy rooted in politics, rather than a simple economic trade-off in the workplace.

Publisher ‏:‎ ILR Press (March 15, 2020)
Language ‏:‎ English
Paperback ‏:‎ 222 pages
ISBN-10 ‏:‎ 1501746537
ISBN-13 ‏:‎ 978-1501746536
Reading age ‏:‎ 18 years and up
Item Weight ‏:‎ 11.7 ounces
Dimensions ‏:‎ 6 x 0.51 x 9 inches