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The Assemblage of Play

T.L. TaylorT.L. Taylor
October 1, 2009
Associate Professor T. L. Taylor

The notion of assemblage for computer game studies and the relationship between technological artifacts, game experience, and sociality.

This article explores the notion of assemblage for computer game studies. Drawing on this framework, the author proposes a multifaceted methodological approach to the study of games and the play experience. Drawing on user-created mods (modifications) in the game World of Warcraft and an analysis of a raid encounter there, a discussion is undertaken about the relationship between technological artifacts, game experience, and sociality. Primary to the consideration is an argument for the centralizing the interrelation of a variety of actors and nodes when analyzing lived play in computer games.

[Taylor, the Assemblage of Play]

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T.L. Taylor
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T.L. Taylor

T.L. Taylor is a qualitative sociologist who has focused on the interrelations between culture and technology in online environments for over thirty years. Her work sits at the intersection of sociology, critical internet and game studies, and science and technology studies. She is the author of three books on gaming as well as co-author of a handbook on ethnographic methods. In addition to her academic work, she co-founded the non-profit AnyKey and served as its director of research, then advisory committee chair, from 2015-2021. She was also a founding member of Twitch’s Safety Advisory Council and served on it from 2020-2024. She has been visiting researcher at Microsoft Research New England and is regularly sought out for industry consultations. She teaches subjects that include critical internet studies, qualitative methods, and gaming. She is also currently the director of the MIT Game Lab.

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