Co-creating Videogames

Dr John Banks is a senior lecturer (Head of Postgraduate Coursework Studies) and researcher in the Creative Industries faculty, Queensland University of Technology, Australia. He researches and publishes on co-creativity, innovation and social media in the creative industries, especially videogames and interactive entertainment. He has a special interest in organisational and workplace culture. His past decade of research on the topic of co-creativity in the videogames industry includes his recent publication Key Concepts in Creative Industries (2012) with John Hartley, Jason Potts, Stuart Cunningham, Terry Flew and Michael Keane.

• Introduction: Co-creating matters1. Situating Co-creativity2. Co-creative Technologies3. Co-creating Trainz4. Co-creative Labour? (with Sal Humphreys)5. Co-creative Expertise6. Modeling Co-creativity: A Co-evolutionary approach (with Jason Potts)Conclusion: Crafting Co-creative Culture (in Conversation with Will Wright)NotesBibliographyIndex

In the realm of game scholarship, John Banks' Co-Creating Videogames is that rare combination of significant access to the sites of videogame production and astute analysis that resists easy answers. His account of co-creative digital production shows how creativity, uncertainty, and value combine in the new economies (in the broad sense) that videogames have ushered onto the cultural landscape. A crucial contribution is his willingness to recognize the top-down elements of contrivance and design that inevitably shape the seemingly 'bottom-up' dynamics of digital cultural production. This book belongs on the bookshelf of anyone interested or invested in cultural production in the digital age.