Media debates about children and new technology is based on adult’s views and opinions, while children’s own knowledge on the subject seldom is represented. I stress that the reason for this is childism. This thesis aims to highlight a selected group of children’s experiences and knowledge about video games in relation to surrounding contexts, peers and adults. The empirical data consists of seven hours of observations from a course on video game programming as well as interviews with four of the participants, aged eight to nine, with an interest in video games. With the use of hermeneutics, affordance theory and theories on culture the data has been analyzed and structured into five themes: Competence and identity, Notions about adults, Video games as communal practices, Regulations and freedom and Normative values about video games. The results indicate a range of different aspects of the participants’ experiences of as well as ideas and assumptions about video games and video game contexts. The participants showed practical and theoretical knowledge about games, their structures and related terms, which they used to shape identities of being knowledgeable persons who play games. This is not to be confused with the label ‘gamer’, which not all participants identified themselves with. Despite the fact that some of the participants knew adults who had a more or less substantial interest in gaming, they considered adults to be individuals who do not play video games and are unversed about games in general. Video games and their surrounding contexts can be seen as communal practice which constitutes in virtual as well as physical spaces. During the observation studies it became clear that video games were the focal point of interaction in the participants’ peer culture, and that this peer culture was part of and extended into a superior video game culture. The participants gaming practices were regulated by the premises of the games as well as aspects concerning when, what and for how long they were allowed to play; all of which was mainly determined by adults. By resistance or acceptance, the participants either yielded or used strategies to elude the restrictions. Occasionally during the interviews, the participants made statements that appear to be shaped by normative values about both children, video games and gamers. These normative values derive from discourses concerning quality, what is considered to be a ‘good childhood’ and the alleged dangers of video games; discourses that the participants both reproduced and opposed. In conclusion, these matters need to be further researched and brought into light to nuance the common debate about children and video games.

Denna uppsats undersöker genusskillnader i spelet World of Warcraft, om hur förutsättningarna ser ut, vad spelarna gör med dessa förutsättningar, samt hur detta reflekterar spelkulturen i spelet. Uppsatsen utgår från Judith Butlers genusteori om att könet är socialt konstruerat och upprätthålls genom en maktpolitisk struktur, samt genom språk och handlingar. Anita Sarkeesians diskussioner om kvinnliga stereotyper i spel tas upp för ett annat perspektiv i ämnet. Undersökningen består av en analys av bilder från spelet, samt en djupare diskussion där detta kopplas till tidigare forskning inom ämnet om spel, identitet och spelkultur. Resultatet är att det finns stora genusskillnader när spelaren skapar en karaktär, men färre skillnader i spelet i utseendet på utrustning. Däremot använder sig många spelare av verktyg i spelet för att objektifiera sina kvinnliga karaktärer. Det finns många icke spelbara karaktärer i typiskt maskulina roller, men många av de kvinnliga fienderna är objektifierade och deras sexualitet används som en skrämmande aspekt till skillnad från de manliga fienderna. Detta, i kombination med ett nedvärderande språk och manliga gate-keepers, speglar spelkulturen i helhet hur kvinnliga spelare inte är välkomna och hur kvinnliga karaktärer i spelet objektifieras.

Video games have been proven by research to be of high interest among children as well as witnessed by the author of this study during preschool visits. It thus begs the question how much understanding and engagement that preschool teachers in turn have regarding the video game culture that children partake in. The preschool curriculum states that teachers must ensure that the children’s education is shaped in correspondence to their interests. This study sought to see whether children’s video game culture could be applied for this, by hearing what kinds of notions that a small selection of teachers had regarding said culture. From a discourse perspective, various assertions regarding the culture were stated. Dominant amongst the interviewed teachers were how video games are deemed inappropriate through the encouragement of violent acts, language, and extensive gameplay. Games deemed appropriate orientated in the school’s core curriculum and acquisition of knowledge therein. The study revealed that some teachers deemed certain games and game aspects differently from their peers, and ideas were presented on how certain games, previously deemed inappropriate, could be used in educational situations. It is therefore recommended that more research needs to be conducted regarding said ideas, with a broader selection of respondents in general.

I ett samhälle där datorspelare anses vistas i en högst amoralisk miljö, vill vi med den här studien granska hur etik och moral ter sig i den virtuella världen via ett symboliskt interaktionistiskt perspektiv. Genom kvalitativa intervjuer har elva spelare av onlinespel fått redogöra för sin egen upplevelse av den interaktion de genomgår dagligen. Med hjälp av utförliga teorier kring etik och moral, symbolisk interaktionism och spelkultur har studien ett brett teoretiskt underlag som appliceras i en hermeneutisk analys. Resultatet visar att etik och moral existerar i onlinespel, samtidigt som amoraliteten. Det verkar röra sig om två olika kulturer. Studien lägger sin fokus på den förstnämnda och beskriver både vad fenomenet består i, och hur det ter sig. Essensen handlar om den sociala aspekten, det vi kan kalla för socialitet. Vi fann essensen utifrån fem teman, som alla rör grupp, socialitet och samspel. Slutsatsen visar att det finns en moralisk spelkultur och en amoralisk, baserat på graden av socialitet och inlevelse. Den moraliska spelkulturen skapas och återskapas utifrån spelarnas meningsskapande, sociala behov och den virtuella världens flexibilitet.   Nyckelbegrepp: Etik, Moral, Onlinespel, Spelkultur, Symbolisk interaktionism. / In a society in which gamers are considered to engage in an amoral environment, we intended with this study to examine how ethics and morality appears in the virtual world through a symbolic interactionist perspective. Through qualitative interviews eleven gamers have been able to give their own views about their experiences of the interaction they undergo daily. With help from detailed theories about ethics and morality, symbolic interactionism and gaming culture, this study has a wide theoretical foundation which applies in a hermeneutical analysis. The results show that ethics and morality exists within online games, as well as an amoral gaming culture. It appears to be two cultures, in which this study puts its focus on the first and describes both what the phenomenon is made of, and how it appears. The essence is about the social aspect, what we call sociality. This essence was found through five themes, all regarding group, sociality and interaction. The conclusion shows that there is a moral gaming culture as well as an amoral one, based on the degree of sociality and immersion. The moral gaming culture is created and recreated from the creation of meaning and social needs through the gamers as well as the flexibility of the virtual world.   Keywords: Ethics, Morality, Online game, Game culture, Symbolic interactionism.

The aim of this study is to examine how game culture is portrayed in Swedish regional politics by using a descriptive idea analysis in official political documents developed by Swedish regions. The result show five different ideological catgories - "game and film", "games associations and community", "children and youths", "the gaming industry and cultural and creatvie industries" and "game culture as a department". Although game culture is described as a department by many regions, games are undermined by being used as a means to boost more established cultural departments. Elitist ideas work against game culture, which can cause parts of game culture, which has more in common with more traditional forms of culture, to be prioritized. The cultural and social values of video games can be overlooked in favor of educational and economic values.

Studien har utgångspunkt i den föreslagna upplösningen av det svenska spelmonopolet. Lagregleringen föreslås träda i kraft i början av 2019 för att tillåta privata spelaktörer att både agera och marknadsföra sig på den svenska spelmarknaden på lika villkor som de statligt ägda spelbolagen idag har. Genom att ge de privata aktörerna tillträde på den svenska marknaden menar svenska myndigheterna att man genom licenser kan kontrollera att samtliga aktörer agerar måttfullt med sin marknadsföring. Spelberoende är klassats som ett folkhälsoproblem och belastar därmed samhället både ekonomiskt och ur en hälsosynpunkt. Utifrån ett konsumtionskulturellt perspektiv beskriver och bidrar studien med en djupare förståelse för representationers innebörd i spelbolags reklamfilmer samt vad spel har för betydelse utifrån dessa. En kvalitativ innehållsanalys på 12 reklamfilmer har genomförts. Det empiriska materialet har sedan analyserats och tolkats med hjälp av konsumtionskulturella teorier. Studien visar på att budskapen som reklamfilmerna kommunicerar skiljer sig åt beroende på vilken spelform som marknadsförs. Reklamfilmer för lotterispel är missvisande då de bland annat endast skildrar vinnare. De säljer drömmen om en ny identitet och självförverkligande samt att det kan uppnås genom spelande. En vinst anses möjliggöra mer konsumtion vilket tillskriver individen en högre social status i ett konsumtionssamhälle. Kasinospel och betting säljs och marknadsförs som en upplevelsebaserad produkt med spelande som aktivitet i fokus. Vidare påvisar studien att reklamfilmernas representationer av manliga attribut befäster och förstärker stereotypa föreställningar om manlighet och spelande som en manlig aktivitet. Studien påvisar problematik med de kriterier i lagförändringen som spelbolagen förväntas förhålla sig till. Kriterierna ämnar kontrollera att marknadsföringen präglas av måttfullhet. De är dock vagt formulerade och lämnar tolkningsutrymme för både konsumenter och rättssystemet. Tolkningarna av de kommunicerade budskapen skapar konnotationer hos mottagaren som blir svåra att kontrollera. Spellicensutredningens föreslagna kriterier för att upprätthålla måttfullhet i spelbolags marknadsföring är baserade på okunskap och förenklade föreställningar om hur reklam egentligen fungerar. / The study is based on the proposed dissolution of the Swedish gambling monopoly. The regulation is suggested to take effect in early 2019 in order to allow private actors to both act and promote themselves on the Swedish gambling market on equal terms as the state-owned gambling companies. The purpose of granting private gambling companies access to the Swedish market is, according to the Swedish authorities, to by a gambling license system make sure that all actors promote their business moderately. Gambling is classified as an addictive disease, and thereby burdens society both economically and from a health point of view. With a consumer-cultural approach, the study describes and contributes to a deeper understanding for the meanings’ of the representations in gambling companies’ commercials and what meaning gambling has from a cultural point of view. A qualitative content analysis of 12 commercials from gambling companies has been made. Theories in consumer-culture have been applied to analyze the empirical data. The study finds evidence that the messages communicated by the commercials differ depending on the type of gambling being marketed. Commercials promoting lotteries are misleading as they only portray winners. They sell the dream of a new identity and self-realization which can be achieved through gambling. Winning on a lottery is considered to enable more consumption which gives the individual a higher social status in a consumer society. Casino gambling and betting is promoted as an experience-based product with focus on the gambling as an activity. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that the commercials’ representations of male attributes consolidate and amplify stereotypes of masculinity and gambling as a male activity. The study shows problems with the criteria in the regulation that the gambling companies are expected to abide by. The purpose of the criteria is to ensure that marketing is characterized by moderation. However, they are vaguely formulated and leave interpretation for both consumers and the judiciary. The recipient creates connotations of the interpretations of the communicated messages that become difficult to control. The proposed criteria for maintaining moderation in gambling companies’ marketing are based on ignorance and simplified notions about how advertising really works. The study is written in Swedish.

The aim of this paper is to examine the National Library of Sweden's ability to preserve the gaming culture. It will also look at what the subjects gaming culture and cultural heritage means. The source materials of the essay are mainly previous research of cultural heritage and gaming culture, plus some texts fom the National Library of Sweden and other offical laws and text, which makes this essay mainly a litterature study with some description theory. Through my studies of these earlier texts, the questions that emerged for me are the following: - How is culture heritage defined according to the academic world and the cultural world? - How can gaming culture be defined as a concept and a cultural heritage? - What does the preservation of the gaming culture look like at the National Library of Sweden?  The results show that cultural heritage is a difficult to specify subject, much like culture itself. In the end no two persons specify it the same, but I myself fell for the Swedish National Heritage Board's definition: all material and immaterial expressions of humans. Gaming culture is also quite difficult to specify, since many people see it as different things. Something all seems to agree on is that includes all kinds of expressions from humans. Hence, it should be obvious that it is a part of the cultural heritage. The Nation Library of Sweden includes several departements. For the one I interviewed it is not quite possible for them to preserve the gaming culture because of various laws. They want to, but cannot. Other departments might be able to collect those parts instead. So they might be able to preserve a complete picture of the gaming culture. So, I propose that citizens step in and take over the responsibility for preserving the parts of the gaming culture that parts of the National Library simply cannot access at the moment. Maybe the citizens can collaborate with local archives, or even the National Library of Sweden, and the gaming culture will still find a place in the archives in the end.

I denna studie undersöks den kraftiga kritik som riktats mot de TV- och dataspel som omfamnar olika typer av vad jag kallar progressiva element. Det rör sig framförallt om sådant som mångfald, representation eller hur spelen i sitt utförande bryter mot hur de traditionellt sett har utformats. Studien är en diskursanalys av YouTube-videos, där utgångspunkten har varit hur argumenten konstruerar en viss problemformulering kring dessa progressiva element, med specifika orsaker och lösningar. Genom att dekonstruera dessa uttalanden och sedan rekonstruera en ekvivalenskedja, dvs. relationen mellan olika subjektspositioner och tecken, menar jag att detta visar på hur diskursen bärs upp av en binär logik där ett ”vi”, Spelarna, ställs mot ett ”dom”, Social Justice Warriors (SJWs). Denna logik konstrueras genom binära diskursiva uteslutningar vilket gör grupperna till varandras motsatser. I diskursen avpolitiseras rollen som Spelare genom att den knyts samman med begrepp som rationalitet, spelkulturen och den fria marknaden, medan SJWs förknippas med censur, ideologi och icke-spel. På detta sätt osynliggörs således en subjektsposition starkt förknippad med maskulinitet och en ofta pseudo-meritokratiskt och socialdarwinistisk ideologi, som hävdar tolkningsföreträde och motsätter sig alla typer av förändring, på grundval av sanning och fakta. / This study examines the sharp criticism directed at video games that embrace different types of what I call progressive elements, primarily those that include diversity, representation, or deviate from traditional video gaming mechanics and norms. The study is a discourse analysis of YouTube videos, where the starting point has been how the arguments construct a problem in relation to these progressive elements, with specific causes and solutions. By deconstructing these statements and then reconstructing a chain of equivalence, i.e. relations between subject positions, this shows how a binary logic carries the discourse where a specific ‘we’, The Gamer, are up against a specific ‘them’, the Social Justice Warriors (SJWs). By ways of binary discursive exclusions, the groups are constructed as opposites. In the discourse, The Gamer becomes depoliticized by relating it to concepts of rationality, game culture and the free market, whilst SJWs are associated with censorship, ideology, and non-games. In this way, The Gamer makes invisible its association with masculinity and an often pseudo-meritocratic and Social Darwinist ideology, and claims an interpretative prerogative and oppose any kind of change, on basis of truth and facts.

Detta examensarbete skrevs vårterminen 2022 på institutionen för bild och slöjdpedagogik på Konstfack. Med en utgångspunkt i teorier om materialets agens och kulturella traditioner tar arbetet ann den digitala kultur som de senaste decennierna vuxit fram med ett extra fokus på skolans elever och deras fritid. Frågeställningen Hur förändrar görandet relationen till digitalt skapande i skolan? Banar väg för en undersökning av den relation skolan och lärare har till elevernas egen visuella kultur och om görandet kan bjuda in denna till skolans rum. Genom en workshop i digitala spel blev blivande bildlärare vägledda att delta i ett digitalt kreativt görande och deras utsagor, både före och efter workshoppen, analyserades med diskursanalys som metod. Resultatet visade att de blivande bildlärarna har en blandad bakgrund och bekvämlighet i det digitala görandet och att det finns en oro i att eleverna är mer kunniga i en del medium än läraren. De blivande lärarna hade även blandade åsikter om det digitala materialet och dess effekt på processen där vissa menade att hantverkets agens påverkades negativt av handens frånvaro och andra såg datorn som ett hjälpmedel.   Utifrån detta arbete väcks det sedan nya frågor om det digitalas relevans i bildämnet och hur ett digitalt görande skapar behov för en ny sorts didaktik där det digitala materialets agens får ta plats och görandet möjliggöra att eleverna kan vara delaktiga i utformandet av den digitala kulturen. I arbetet diskuterar jag även behovet av att utveckla lärarutbildningen för att höja den digitala kompetens som lärarna innehar.

An ordinary gamer - a qualitative analysis of the treatment of women in CS:GO is an essay with the aim to examine the treatment of women who play CS:GO, and the influence of the response and to highlight the player interaction and communication in the game and its influence on the individual. With questions concerning treatment, the consequences of treatment and future interest in gaming and the gaming industry, the paper examines how a selection of women look at the treatment they receive in CS:GO. The essay also focuses on player interaction and communication in the game, and examines the importance of communication in the game, and the impact on the individual. To analyze the result, gender theories regarding femininity, masculinity, queer, gender hierarchy and patriarchal structures was used. The study was conducted with 10 qualitative interviews of girls aged 14-24 years who play or have played CS:GO. The study also uses a more ethnographic method where I play the game to observe the communication, treatment and response at close range. The result show a broad picture of the response to that woman gets, and contains stories about the good, bad and neutral approach. The results also show that the treatment is something very subjective and different for all individuals. Furthermore, the results also shows patriarchal structures within the game and how men use power and violence in order to organize women. Regarding communication and play interaction, is it through interviews and observations clear that communication plays an important role in the game and affect the individual to either play better or worse depending on what type of response and treatment the player gets. Conclusions are that women that play CS:GO are treated in different ways, some take it more personally than other and some are affected bigger than other. Some women choose not to play the game or only play with friends while other choose to play with an anonymous profile and to distort their voice.