Abstract
This chapter is the first chapter in the empirical section of the volume, and here a taxonomy of indie developers is provided on the basis of the interview material. In emerging industries, the analytical categories being employed to practically and cognitively structure the field are continuously modified, and the inconsistencies and tensions derived from emerging categories are largely indicative of quick changes in the industry. The empirical material indicates that indie developers as an operational and meaningful term can be defined on the basis of at least four different descriptions. Furthermore, the term “indie developers” is used in a pragmatic manner, that is, it serves a purpose to signal certain values, norms, and commitment to the video game industry and the gamer community, despite being vague in its contours. In general, “indie developer” is more of an associative than a denotative concept, and industry participants use it in a fairly uncomplicated manner to describe specific developer attitudes or convictions, or an aesthetics or game design that honours creative solutions and bricolage over technical virtuosity.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Borges, J. L. (1999). John Wilkin’s analytical language, in Selected non-fiction. London: Penguin.
Bowker, G. C., & Star, S. L. (1999). Sorting things out: Classification and its consequences. Cambridge and London: The MIT Press.
Brandl, B., & Ibsen, C. L. (2019). Collective wage bargaining and the role of institutional stability: A cross-national comparison of macroeconomic performance. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 43, 677–694.
Carruthers, B., & Espeland, W. (1991). Accounting for rationality; Double-entry book-keeping and the rhetoric of economic rationality. American Journal of Sociology, 97(1), 31–69.
Chia, R. (1999). A ‘Rhizomatic’ model of organizational change and transformation: Perspective from a metaphysics of change. British Journal of Management, 10, 209–227.
Durkheim, É., & Mauss, M. (1963). Primitive classification (R. Needham, Trans.). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Ehrich, K., Williams, C., & Farsides, B. (2010). Fresh or frozen? Classifying ‘spare’ embryos for donation to human embryonic stem cell research. Social Science & Medicine, 71(12), 2204–2211.
Fleischer, A. (2009). Ambiguity and the equity of rating systems: Unites States brokerage firms, 1995–2000. Administrative Science Quarterly, 54(4), 555–574.
Foucault, M. (1970). The order of things. London and New York: Routledge.
Hsu, G. (2006). Jacks of all trades and masters of none: Audiences’ reactions to spanning genres in feature film production. Administrative Science Quarterly, 51(3), 420–450.
Kear, M. (2017). Playing the credit score game: algorithms, ‘positive’ data and the personification of financial objects. Economy and Society, 46(3–4), 346–368. https://doi.org/10.1080/03085147.2017.1412642.
Lévi-Strauss, C. (1966). The savage mind. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
Panofsky, A., & Bliss, C. (2017). Ambiguity and scientific authority: Population classification in genomic science. American Sociological Review, 82(1), 59–87.
Polillo, S. (2011). Money, moral authority, and the politics of creditworthiness. American Sociological Review, 76(3), 437–464.
Power, M. (2015). How accounting begins: Object formation and the accretion of infrastructure. Accounting, Organizations, and Society, 47, 43–55.
Sommerlund, J. (2006). Classifying microorganisms: The multiplicity of classifications and research practices in molecular microbial ecology. Social Studies of Science, 36(6), 909–928.
Spicer, J., Kay, T., & Ganz, M. (2019). Social entrepreneurship as field encroachment: How a neoliberal social movement constructed a new field. Socio-Economic Review, 17(1), 195–227.
Stinchcombe, A. L. (1965). Social structure and organization. In J. G. March (Ed.), Handbook of Organizations (pp. 142–155). Chicago: Rand Mcnally.
Strand, M. (2011). Where do classifications come from? The DSM-IIL, the transformation of American psychiatry, and the problem of origin in the sociology of knowledge. Theory and Society, 40, 273–231.
Svendsen, M. N., & Koch, L. (2008). Unpacking the ‘spare embryo’ facilitating stem cell research in a moral landscape. Social Studies of Science, 38(1), 93–110.
Waguespack, D. M., & Sorenson, O. (2011). The rating game: Asymmetry in classification. Organization Science, 22(3), 541–553.
Whitehead, A. N. (1929). The aims of education. New York: Mentor Books.
Wittgenstein, L. (1974). Philosophical grammar (R. Rhees, Ed.; A. Kenny, Trans.). Oxford: Blackwell.
Zhao, E. Y., Ishihara, M., Jennings, P. D., & Lounsbury, M. (2018). Optimal distinctiveness in the console video game industry: An exemplar-based model of proto-category evolution. Organization Science, 29(4), 588–611.
Zuckerman, E. W. (1999). The categorical imperative: Securities analysts and the illegitimacy discount. American Journal of Sociology, 104, 1398–1438.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Styhre, A. (2020). Who Is an Indie Developer? Sorting Out the Categories. In: Indie Video Game Development Work. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45545-3_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45545-3_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-45544-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-45545-3
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)