Play to Submission

Gaming Capitalism in a Tech Firm

Tongu Wu

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Paperback

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English

Temple University Press,U.S.
28 June 2024

Sociology; Labour economics; Organisational theory & behaviour; Games development & programming

Games are often a fun perk of a tech company job, and employees can “play to win” in the competition to succeed. But in studying “Behemoth” (a pseudonym for a top American tech company), Tongyu Wu discovered that gaming work culture was far more insidious.

Play to Submission shows how Behemoth’s games undermined and manipulated workers. They lost their work-life balance and the constant competition made labor organizing difficult. Nonetheless, many workers embraced management’s games as a chance to show off their “gamer” identities and create a workplace culture with privileged insiders and exiled outsiders, with female and migrant workers usually in the latter group. Moreover, Wu indicates this may be the future of work for high- and low-skilled and, creative workers in an environment where capitalists have heightened demands for technology and creativity.

Drawing from 13 months of ethnographic work, Wu presents a persistent reality in which the company reaps the reward of surplus productivity, leaving employees themselves in a highly competitive and sometimes precarious work position.

By: Tongu Wu
Imprint: Temple University Press,U.S.
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 18mm
Weight: 399g
ISBN: 9781439922989
ISBN 10: 1439922985
Pages: 238
Publication Date: 28 June 2024
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Tongyu Wu is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Zhejiang University in China.