Workers' visibility and union organizing in the UK videogames industry



Ruffino, Paolo ORCID: 0000-0001-7112-9483
(2022) Workers' visibility and union organizing in the UK videogames industry. CRITICAL STUDIES IN MEDIA COMMUNICATION, 39 (1). pp. 15-28.

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Abstract

The article investigates how the union IWGB Game Workers has been introducing strategies that allow members to be more closely in control of their visibility with bosses and peers. The videogame sector has been traditionally averse to unionization. Its compulsory network sociality, and the belief that game-work should be passion-driven, limit the expression of discontent and proposals for structural change. Drawing on 2 years of participatory observation and interviews with board members, the article looks at how the union has been protecting members’ anonymity and helping identify relations of power within the workplace while avoiding exposure. The strategies open new possibilities for workers’ organizing and shed light on how labor is understood in a fundamental sector of the creative economy. The article analyzes the implications currently affecting the union organizing project: board members become over-exposed, and internal policies protecting anonymity are challenged by the promotional cultures of social media.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Videogame industry, labor union, digital labor, creative industries, Game Workers Unite, IWGB Game Workers
Divisions: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of the Arts
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 01 Oct 2021 07:21
Last Modified: 18 Jan 2023 21:27
DOI: 10.1080/15295036.2021.1985157
Open Access URL: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-021-02120-3
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3138832