Balancing Emotional Labor, Autonomy, and Integration in the Cultural Intermediation of Indie Games

• In Event: Uncovering Emotional Labor and Care Work in Gig Economy Systems

Abstract

Cultural intermediaries are argued to engage in forms of invisible labor on a daily basis, alongside numerous other tasks expected of them. Grounded in empirical research, this paper addresses the role of cultural intermediaries in the production, distribution, and reception of independent digital games. Festival and showcase curators, local community organizers, co-working space managers, and other support actors are central to sustaining indie game cultures but are often overlooked. Our research makes visible the diverse taskscapes of cultural intermediaries and the wide varieties of work involved, and the attendant tensions and challenges they face.

Our methodology is based in an unconventional symposium-as-research-site method which we argue is able to bring indie intermediaries and their networks to the surface. In the process, we also were able to collectively name and make visible the particular form of cultural work that our participants are engaged in.

Contrary to ideas of cultural intermediation as the insertion of self-interested, exploitative, gatekeeping “middle men” between production and consumption, we contend that cultural intermediation is not a simple process limited to value extraction, commodification, and symbolic qualification of cultural objects – nor is this how intermediaries understand or experience their work. Much of the work of cultural intermediation is personal, relational, and emotional at its core.

In this paper, we strive for a more fully-realized account of cultural intermediation, one that takes into consideration the diversity of this work, and intermediaries’ own difficulties in establishing and maintaining their positions within cultural industries.

Authors

• Matthew Perks, University of Waterloo

• Felan Parker, University of St. Michael's College