A Study in Practice: The Structure and Functioning of Ludic Habitus in Interactions with Digital Games

The act of playing digital games is a complex process of interaction between players and the hardware and software components of the game system. Scholars have previously theorized this process, as well as researched player attributes and design elements of games in an attempt to make sense of how they affect the act of play. However, there is a lack of theoretical frameworks that can account for digital gaming in the relation between different timeframes –both as a moment-to-moment interaction between game and player, and as a longer activity that players participate in over the course of their lives. Approaching digital gaming from the perspective of practice theory, the project described in this dissertation develops a general framework of digital gaming practice, a theory of digital gaming that explains how humans develop into players over the course of multiple acts of play, and how these prior experiences help to structure their understanding and behavior in subsequent gaming situations. In developing this understanding, the project draws on the work of Pierre Bourdieu and frames players as practitioners possessing ludic habitus – a system of dispositions that structure their perception, appreciation, and action during acts of playing digital games. The general framework of digital gaming practice uses the concept of ludic habitus to describe the practice of digital gaming in a holistic, integrated fashion, both in its concrete manifestations (as moment-to-moment player-game interaction during an act of play) and from a diachronic perspective (as a long-term activity that changes how one understands and plays games).The project features a novel, interdisciplinary methodological approach, which combines theoretical research, digital game design and development practices, and exploratory playerstudies with qualitative methods of data collection. Ludic habitus was initially defined on the basis of theory review, after which the three player studies, utilized custom digital game prototypes, focused on exploring a particular aspect of habitus – perception, appreciation, and action. These studies provided useful, particular insights into how a specifically ludic habitus functions during individual acts of playing digital games. Combined data from the studies provided empirical grounding for the general framework of digital gaming practice and for the functioning of ludic habitus therein. By developing the general framework and the concept of ludic habitus, the project contributes to a deeper, more comprehensive understanding of digital gaming across different temporal frames, explaining how players develop into specific kinds of players, and how that influences how they understand and play new digital games on a moment-to-moment level. The framework can be applied by game scholars and designers to understand the acts of playing digital games that they are researching or designing, while ludic habitus can be used as a trait based conceptual tool for examining and comparing players. Taken as a whole, the project sets the stage for future applications of practice theory to digital gaming, and for further research into the different aspects of a player’s relationship with the field of digital games. Furthermore, the project’s methodological approach and design practice reflections offer insights into habitus research and the relationship between processes of game design and study design in practice based research projects, which are useful for Bourdieusian scholars in other fields as well as for those looking to integrate game design practice and game/player research.