The New Cultural Economy of Digital Game Production A dissertation

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

Santa Barbara

An Industry of Indies:

The New Cultural Economy of Digital Game Production

A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the

requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

in Film and Media Studies

by

John Robert Vanderhoef II

Committee in charge:

Professor Michael Curtin, Co-Chair

Professor Anna Everett, Co-Chair

Professor Constance Penley

Professor Lisa Parks

Professor Alenda Chang

Professor Matthew T. Payne

September 2016

The dissertation of John Robert Vanderhoef II is approved.

_____________________________________________________

Alenda Chang

_____________________________________________________

Matthew T. Payne

_____________________________________________________

Lisa Parks

_____________________________________________________

Constance Penley

_____________________________________________________

Anna Everett, Committee Co-Chair

_____________________________________________________

Michael Curtin, Committee C-Chair

June 2016

An Industry of Indies: The New Cultural Economy of Digital Game Production

Copyright ? 2016

by

John Vanderhoef

iii

PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Like any scholarly work, this dissertation is the result of years of collaboration, mentorship,

and guidance by many talented and generous people. First, I would like to thank the members

of my dissertation committee, Michael Curtin, Anna Everett, Matthew T. Payne, Lisa Parks,

Constance Penley, and Alenda Chang for their intellectual and material support throughout

my time at UCSB and while engaged with this project. Each has contributed invaluable

suggestions and resources that have enriched the project in ways both profound and subtle.

I have had the opportunity to take many classes at UCSB as a PhD student. Each and

every professor I have had the privilege of studying under has helped shape me as a scholar

and inspired aspects of this project. Some professors I did not study under, but instead

encountered through department socializing, organized events, or through other facets of

academic life. These professors offered valuable advice or ¨C and this cannot be overstated ¨C a

friendly conversation to ease the anxiety that graduate school often evokes. While many of

these professors ended up on my committee, and I will not relist them here, I want to provide

a brief litany of equally outstanding scholars who have offered me support and

encouragement over the last few years: Janet Walker; Jennifer Holt; Charles Wolfe; Ross

Melnick; Peter Bloom; Anna Brusutti; Bhaskar Sarkar; Greg Siegel; Cynthia Felando; and

Dick Hebdige. In particular, Kevin Sanson, who I worked closely with for a few years on the

Media Industries Project, was an enormously generous boss, colleague, and friend.

Before one can run, one has to walk. With this in mind, my time at UCSB would not

have been possible without the support of my master¡¯s thesis committee at the University of

Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Thanks to Barbara Ley for helping me get to where I am today.

Michael Z. Newman has remained a close friend and, in fact, offered me the chance to

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produce the first of many co-authored publications way back in 2012. I especially want to

thank Elana Levine for seeing something in an intellectually precocious poet 10 years ago, in

2006, while I was enrolled in her Introduction to Media Studies course at UW-Milwaukee.

While I was not quite the model student, Elana still encouraged me to pursue a career in

media studies, rather than creative writing, and remains a close friend and mentor today.

Surviving in graduate school is almost impossible without a group of supportive

colleagues with whom you can share your victories and defeats ¨C and maybe a drink or two.

These people have all been exceptional in this regard: Greg Burris; Maria Corrigan; David

Gray; Regina Longo; Bianka Ballina Calderon; Alexander Champlin; Alston D¡¯Silva; Rachel

Fabian; Hannah Goodwin; Daniel Grinberg; Lisa Han; Jennifer Hessler; Abigail Hinsman;

Wesley Jacks; Carlos Jimenez; Lan Xuan Le; Juan Llamas-Rodriguez; Steve Malcic; Rahul

Mukherjee; Bhargavi Narayanan; Lindsay Palmer; Jade Petermon; Dan Reynolds; Noah

Zweig; Diana Pozo; Athena Tan; Corrigan Vaugn; and Thong Win.

I would like to thank Janet Walker for her role in guiding the initial proposal for this

project in a course dedicated to that task, and I would also like to thank Steven Malcic,

Alston D¡¯Silva, and Greg Burris. Along with Janet¡¯s sagely guidance, we shared in the

sometimes painful process of writing original research proposals.

Every research project is overdetermined with its influences. With this in mind, I

want to briefly list just a fraction of the amazing scholars not acknowledged so far that I have

had the chance to meet in person and who have personally influenced my scholarship.

Unfortunately, due to the nature of these things, many worthy names have been omitted. If

you are one of them, please accept my sincere apologies: Karen Petruska; Melanie Swallwell;

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