I&E Group Internal Seminar Series: The politics of designing - stories, impressions and egos
Abstract
This study investigates the socio-political process of designing computer games for mobile phones. We seek to understand how game designers deal with the technical challenges of developing games for such small form factor devices as mobile phones. The findings reveal the “negative” social consequences that may arise when designers attempt to make sense of and workaround technical challenges. The research contribution this paper makes is threefold. First, it offers a socio-political perspective on the mobile phone game design process. Second, we show how individuals construct work stories as tools by which they make sense of technical challenges and read meaning into their working lives and relationships with others. Third, we illustrate the political use of these work stories: the actors attributed positive outcomes in their work to the self and negative outcomes to external forces, and, their presentation of the self to others was strategic. Finally, we outline some implications for managing processes of mobile game design.