Desde a década de sessenta os guitarristas de rock são considerados ícones da cultura musical popular. Venerados por uma comunidade fiel de entusiastas, alguns deles são chamados de deuses, heróis e mitos. Suas histórias pessoais e artísticas são constantemente narradas e celebradas na mídia, tanto nos meios de comunicação tradicionais quanto nos ambientes digitais. E toda essa adoração pode ser visualizada concomitantemente no culto tecnológico à guitarra elétrica, um dos instrumentos musicais mais vendidos no mundo. Mesmo que tantos fãs, jornalistas e críticos musicais construam discursos fantásticos para se referir aos guitarristas heróis, uma investigação mais aprofundada sobre a estrutura dos arquétipos e símbolos presentes no compartilhamento de sentido entre os amantes do rock é uma tarefa ainda inacabada. Nossa hipótese parte do princípio de que diversos mitos e narrativas heroicas são atualizados continuamente nas práticas culturais contemporâneas cuja experiência transforma e orienta a visão de mundo dos atores sociais envolvidos na sua disseminação. Essa comunhão em torno da imagem sagrada dos guitar heroes extrapola a esfera artística e se constitui em um estilo de vida com significações múltiplas, sejam elas, comportamentais, estéticas e sexuais. O objetivo é compreender como essas representações sociais refletem e atualizam a própria visão idealizada de que como a sociedade se vê. Outro objetivo é enfatizar a importância desse fenômeno na prática de consumo associada à guitarra elétrica onde o mito desempenha uma função simbólica essencial. / Since the sixties, rock guitarists have been considered icons of popular music culture. Venerated by a faithful community of enthusiasts, some of them are called gods, heroes and myths. Their personal and artistic stories are constantly narrated and celebrated in the media, both in traditional media and in digital environments. And all this worship can be seen concomitantly in the technological cult of electric guitar, the one of the best-selling musical instruments in the world. Even though so many fans, journalists and music critics create fantastic speeches to refer to guitar heroes, further research into the structure of the archetypes and symbols present in the sharing of meaning among rock lovers is a task rarely addressed and still unfinished. Our hypothesis sustain that various heroic myths and narratives are continuously updated in contemporary cultural practices whose experience transforms and guides the world view of the actors-net involved in its dissemination. This communion around the sacred image of guitar heroes goes beyond the artistic sphere and constitutes a lifestyle with multiple meanings, that is, behavioral and aesthetic. The objective is to understand how these social representations reflect and actualize the idealized vision of how society sees itself. Another objective is to emphasize the importance of this phenomenon in the practice of consumption associated with electric guitar where the myth plays an essential symbolic function.

Desde a década de sessenta os guitarristas de rock são considerados ícones da cultura musical popular. Venerados por uma comunidade fiel de entusiastas, alguns deles são chamados de deuses, heróis e mitos. Suas histórias pessoais e artísticas são constantemente narradas e celebradas na mídia, tanto nos meios de comunicação tradicionais quanto nos ambientes digitais. E toda essa adoração pode ser visualizada concomitantemente no culto tecnológico à guitarra elétrica, um dos instrumentos musicais mais vendidos no mundo. Mesmo que tantos fãs, jornalistas e críticos musicais construam discursos fantásticos para se referir aos guitarristas heróis, uma investigação mais aprofundada sobre a estrutura dos arquétipos e símbolos presentes no compartilhamento de sentido entre os amantes do rock é uma tarefa ainda inacabada. Nossa hipótese parte do princípio de que diversos mitos e narrativas heroicas são atualizados continuamente nas práticas culturais contemporâneas cuja experiência transforma e orienta a visão de mundo dos atores sociais envolvidos na sua disseminação. Essa comunhão em torno da imagem sagrada dos guitar heroes extrapola a esfera artística e se constitui em um estilo de vida com significações múltiplas, sejam elas, comportamentais, estéticas e sexuais. O objetivo é compreender como essas representações sociais refletem e atualizam a própria visão idealizada de que como a sociedade se vê. Outro objetivo é enfatizar a importância desse fenômeno na prática de consumo associada à guitarra elétrica onde o mito desempenha uma função simbólica essencial. / Since the sixties, rock guitarists have been considered icons of popular music culture. Venerated by a faithful community of enthusiasts, some of them are called gods, heroes and myths. Their personal and artistic stories are constantly narrated and celebrated in the media, both in traditional media and in digital environments. And all this worship can be seen concomitantly in the technological cult of electric guitar, the one of the best-selling musical instruments in the world. Even though so many fans, journalists and music critics create fantastic speeches to refer to guitar heroes, further research into the structure of the archetypes and symbols present in the sharing of meaning among rock lovers is a task rarely addressed and still unfinished. Our hypothesis sustain that various heroic myths and narratives are continuously updated in contemporary cultural practices whose experience transforms and guides the world view of the actors-net involved in its dissemination. This communion around the sacred image of guitar heroes goes beyond the artistic sphere and constitutes a lifestyle with multiple meanings, that is, behavioral and aesthetic. The objective is to understand how these social representations reflect and actualize the idealized vision of how society sees itself. Another objective is to emphasize the importance of this phenomenon in the practice of consumption associated with electric guitar where the myth plays an essential symbolic function.

This thesis seeks to first understand why individuals play Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Several motivational factors are looked at including fantasy, self-esteem, self-efficacy, and the desire to play a real instrument. In addition to the motivation factors, the communication theories of uses and gratifications and deficient self-regulation are used to define the gamers who play Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Once the paper defines a theoretical framework, a survey is used to test the variables. The significant findings are then discussed and suggestions are made as to how these games can more effectively be used as marketing tools for guitar manufacturers and music companies.

<p>Abstract</p><p>Title: The game of playing: A media ethnographic study of children playing videogames on a Swedish after school recreation centre. Spelet om spelandet: En medieetnografisk studie av barns dataspelande på en fritidsklubb.</p><p>Number of pages: 46</p><p>Author: Peter Brandberg</p><p>Tutor: Amelie Hössjer</p><p>Period: Spring term 2008</p><p>Course: Media and Communication studies D</p><p>University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala University</p><p>Purpose/Aim: The aim with this study is to describe how children play video games in an everyday context. In this study this context consists of a Swedish after school recreation centre. By combining three different aspects on the activity this study tries to understand how both the video game and the social and cultural context in which the activity takes place in influences it. This by taking one analyse of the specific game that the children played at the time of the study and how the overall environment is structured into account. Together these two perspectives contribute to the understanding of the playing as a complex and dynamic activity.</p><p>Material/Method: The material and method consists primary of a participatory observation which were conducted for eight days in an after school recreation centre. The analyse of the video game uses specific parts from the ludologist Aki Järvinens “applied ludology” to understand the game Guitar Hero.</p><p>Main results: The main results of this study shows how the social context influences the play activity in which the children needs to negotiate about the resources needed to play. They used different strategies to try to gain control over the interfaces to the game. The study also shows how the children didn’t relate to the fact that these interfaces looked like guitars in their use of them. Instead the children used knowledge about other interfaces and played the game by “pressing buttons in the right time”.</p><p>Keywords: media ethnographic, participatory observation, ludology, applied ludology, video game, game studies, guitar hero, children, after school recreation centre, situated play</p>

Abstract Title: The game of playing: A media ethnographic study of children playing videogames on a Swedish after school recreation centre. Spelet om spelandet: En medieetnografisk studie av barns dataspelande på en fritidsklubb. Number of pages: 46 Author: Peter Brandberg Tutor: Amelie Hössjer Period: Spring term 2008 Course: Media and Communication studies D University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala University Purpose/Aim: The aim with this study is to describe how children play video games in an everyday context. In this study this context consists of a Swedish after school recreation centre. By combining three different aspects on the activity this study tries to understand how both the video game and the social and cultural context in which the activity takes place in influences it. This by taking one analyse of the specific game that the children played at the time of the study and how the overall environment is structured into account. Together these two perspectives contribute to the understanding of the playing as a complex and dynamic activity. Material/Method: The material and method consists primary of a participatory observation which were conducted for eight days in an after school recreation centre. The analyse of the video game uses specific parts from the ludologist Aki Järvinens “applied ludology” to understand the game Guitar Hero. Main results: The main results of this study shows how the social context influences the play activity in which the children needs to negotiate about the resources needed to play. They used different strategies to try to gain control over the interfaces to the game. The study also shows how the children didn’t relate to the fact that these interfaces looked like guitars in their use of them. Instead the children used knowledge about other interfaces and played the game by “pressing buttons in the right time”. Keywords: media ethnographic, participatory observation, ludology, applied ludology, video game, game studies, guitar hero, children, after school recreation centre, situated play