How the Internet Has Been Great for Brick-and-mortar Production and Consumption of Designer Board Games

• In Event: 3267 - Section on Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Sociology Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 6. Technologies and the Everyday

Abstract

For most forms of popular culture, with the popular music industry as the paradigmatic case, the traditional brick-and-mortar production and consumption landscape has been drastically hurt and reduced by online tools and practices. In contrast, brick-and-mortar designer board game publishing companies, manufacturers, and retail stores are all growing stronger and larger in recent years. This is not in spite of online tools and practices, but rather because of them. Through participant observation and in-depth qualitative interviews with board game designers, playtesters, artists, producers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers, reviewers, and consumers; this paper investigates how this is the case, demonstrating that online forms may not necessarily weaken or replace traditional brick-and-mortar practices, but may in fact strengthen them and allow them to continue to exist and thrive. Attention is also given to how the internet facilitates informal mechanisms to protect innovation and intellectual property in the absence of necessarily weak formal legal protections. This work speaks to diverse audiences interested in lively and relevant dynamics of how culture can persist in the face of change.

Author

• Nathan D. Wright, Bryn Mawr College