Foxman, Maxwell

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Open Access
Esports buffs: the perceived role of fans and fandoms in U.S. collegiate programs
(Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 2024-09-11) Cote, Amanda C.; Rahman, Md Waseq Ur; Foxman, Maxwell; Wilson, Andrew; Harris, Brandon C.; Can, Onder; Hansen, Jared C.
Introduction: Collegiate esports—organized competitive gaming—has expanded rapidly in the United States, drawing in student players, broadcasters, and support staff, as well as university employees. Universities have invested financially in esports, hoping to capitalize on gaming fandom to attract prospective students and enhance campus community integration. Little research, however, addresses collegiate esports fandom in depth. Methods: Drawing on thirty-one in-depth interviews with collegiate esports players, student workers, program directors, and administrators, this article investigates how collegiate esports participants perceive and discuss their fans. Results: We identify three central themes related to fans in the dataset: discussions of fans’ role in the collegiate esports environment, comparisons between esports and traditional sports fans, and concerns about the underutilization of fans within collegiate esports spaces. Subsequently, we theorize these themes through existing research on professional esports and traditional collegiate sports fandoms, as well as through the concept of “fan labor,” or how the productive work of fans provides value to the nascent industry. Discussion: This article thus not only specifically explores how collegiate esports programs are normalizing fan labor as an essential part of their practices, but also questions who benefits from this relationship and how. Investigating collegiate esports fans as an under-researched group additionally provides a new perspective on how fan labor integrates with media industries more broadly.
Open Access
Recasting Twitch: Livestreaming, Platforms, and New Frontiers in Digital Journalism
(Routledge: Taylor and Francis Group, 2024-04-05) Foxman, Maxwell; Harris, Brandon C.; Partin, William Clyde
Despite Twitch’s dominant position in Western livestreaming markets, institutional journalists rarely produce content on the platform. This paper investigates how journalistic practices, cultures, business models, and institutions approach Twitch through three empirical sites: The Washington Post’s experimentation with the app, left-leaning political influencer Hasan Piker, and the pro-QAnon 24/7 “news” channel, Patriots’ Soapbox. The cases demonstrate how newsmaking on Twitch flouts traditional journalists’ ideological and occupational boundaries, exploiting the platform’s features and affordances to enroll the audience in a live broadcasting experience.
Open Access
Lessons for Journalists from Virtual Worlds
(Columbia Journalism Review, 2022-10-06) Foxman, Maxwell
In the darkest days of the covid-19 pandemic, as many people figured out how to work and live in isolation, they turned to various virtual worlds and spaces for comfort. From games like Animal Crossing to Zoom, the popularity of communing and communicating both virtually and synchronously skyrocketed and persists in “post pandemic” life. Everything from conferences to the rising concept of the “metaverse” connects to virtual worlds. At the same time, the pandemic was merely tinder for a fire that has been flickering in digital gaming for decades. Almost twenty years earlier, news outlets like CNN and Reuters set up bureaus in Second Life and experimented with virtual-reality (VR) content. While concepts like the metaverse are positioned as future technology, virtual worlds are already widely available. Given this reality, how should journalists write about them, or even use them, in the present? This report takes a first step in answering this question. After providing a brief history, it defines virtual worlds as online and digital spaces of implied vast size in which users congregate, mostly synchronously. Approximations of virtual worlds can be found in online gaming, VR, and livestreaming platforms like Twitch, all of which cater to hundreds of thousands of concurrent users, if not more, at any given time. Using the pandemic as the launching point for research, the report then analyzes 379 articles that reflect journalists’ current and shifting views about virtual worlds. Animal Crossing, Twitch, and VR technology represent three archetypal cases. An inductive analysis of key themes is followed by semistructured interviews with twenty-one journalists who wrote about the subject. These interviews support specific lessons writers can take in how to approach virtual worlds from a journalistic viewpoint, as well as the opportunities and drawbacks of using them as tools.
Open Access
Beyond Genre: Classifying Virtual Reality Experiences
(IEEE, 2022-09) Foxman, Maxwell; Beyea, David; Leith, Alex P.; Ratan, Rabindra; Hua Chen, Vivian Hsueh; Klebig, Brian
Because virtual reality (VR) shares common features with video games, consumer content is usually classified according to traditional game genres and standards. However, VR offers different experiences based on the medium’s unique affordances. To account for this disparity, the paper presents a comparative analysis of titles from the Steam digital store across three platform types: VR only, VR supported, and non-VR. We analyzed data from a subset of the most popular applications within each category (N=141, 93, and 1217, respectively). The three classification types we analyzed were academic game genres, developer defined categories, and user-denoted tags. Results identify the most common content classifications (e.g., Action and Shooter within VR only applications), the relative availability of each between platforms (e.g., Casual is more common in VR only than VR supported or non-VR), general platform popularity (e.g., VR only received less positive ratings than VR supported and nonVR), and which content types are associated with higher user ratings across platforms (e.g., Action and Music/Rhythm are most positively rated in VR only). Our findings ultimately provide a foundational framework for future theoretical constructions of classification systems based on content, market, interactivity, sociality, and service dependencies, which underlay how consumer VR is currently categorized.
Open Access
Virtual reality and music's impact on psychological well-being
(Frontier Media, 2022-08-11) Foxman, Maxwell; Pimentel, Danny; Alexanian, Stephen
Quality of life is bound to psychological well-being, which in turn is affected by the frequency and magnitude of negative mood states. To regulate mood states, humans often consume media such as music and movies, with varied degrees of effectiveness. The current investigation examined the effectiveness of virtual reality (VR) vs. two-dimensional (2D) online interventions with various stimuli (audiovisual vs. visual only vs. audio only) to assess which interventions were most effective for improved well-being. Additionally, this study examined which groups displayed the highest amount of perceived presence to understand what components are essential when maximizing a person’s subjective feeling of being “in” a new place and if this translated toward therapeutic results. Our data suggests that even though VR participants generally experienced more presence and had similar benefits as 2D groups for increasing positive mood, only participants in the 2D groups had a reduction in negative mood overall with 2D audiovisual participants experiencing the best results. These results contradict past studies which indicate that there could be other psychological and theoretical considerations that may play a role in determining what online experiences are more effective than just examining presence and immersive stimuli. Further research and development into using VR as a tool for improved wellbeing is needed to understand its efficacy in remote and in-person setting.
Open Access
RECASTING COLLEGIATE ESPORTS: INDEPENDENCE AND INTERDEPENDENCE OF UNIVERSITY TWITCH STREAMERS
(2021-10-15) Foxman, Maxwell; Cote, Amanda; Can, Onder; Harris, Brandon; Rahman, Waseq; Hansen, Jared; Fickle, Tara
Open Access
Out of the Cafe and into the Arena
(ROMchip, 2021-07) Can, Onder; Foxman, Maxwell
Open Access
Virtually Real, But Not Quite There: Social and Economic Barriers to Meeting Virtual Reality’s True Potential for Mental Health
(Frontiers Media, 2021-02-17) Pimentel, Daniel; Foxman, Maxwell; Davis, Donna Z.; Markowitz, David M.
Strategies to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, namely quarantine and social distancing protocols, have exposed a troubling paradox: mandated isolation meant to preserve well-being has inadvertently contributed to its decline. Prolonged isolation has been associated with widespread loneliness and diminished mental health, with effects compounded by limited face-to-face access to clinical and social support systems. While remote communication technologies (e.g., video chat) can connect individuals with healthcare providers and social networks, remote technologies might have limited effectiveness in clinical and social contexts. In this review, we articulate the promise of Virtual Reality as a conduit to clinical resources and social connection. Furthermore, we outline various social and economic factors limiting the virtual reality industry’s ability to maximize its potential to address mental health issues brought upon by the pandemic. These barriers are delineated across five dimensions: sociocultural, content, affordability, supply chain, and equitable design. After examining potential short- and long-term solutions to these hurdles, we outline potential avenues for applied and theoretical research seeking to validate these solutions. Through this evaluation we seek to (a) emphasize virtual reality’s capacity to improve mental health by connecting communities to clinical and social support systems, (b) identify socioeconomic barriers preventing users from accessing these systems through virtual reality, and (c) discuss solutions that ensure these systems can be equitably accessed via changes to existing and future virtual reality infrastructures.
Open Access
Virtual reality genres: Comparing preferences in immersive experiences and games
(Association for Computing Machinery, 2020-11) Foxman, Maxwell; Leith, Alex P.; Beyea, David; Klebig, Brian; Ratan, Rabindra; Hua Chen, Vivian Hsueh
Even though virtual reality (VR) shares features with video games, it offers a wider range of experiences. There is currently no cohesive classification for commercial VR offerings. As a first step to account for this deficiency, the work in progress considers the relationship between game genres and users’ ratings and downloads of VR experiences. We found Action, Shooter, and Simulation to be the most frequently downloaded genres; Action and Music/Rhythm the most highly rated; and Simulation and Music/Rhythm to occur at a statistically higher rate in VR compared to non-VR. Finally, we learned that VR experiences are less likely to receive positive ratings than 2D games. The findings can inform developers’ marketing decisions based on demand.
Open Access
Brain-training Games: Play as a Tool for Cognitive Enhancement
(2020) Rahman, Waseq; Foxman, Maxwell
Open Access
Ramon Lobato, Netflix Nations: The Geography of Digital Distribution
(2020) Foxman, Maxwell
Open Access
Punctuated Play: Revealing the Roots of Gamification
(2020) Foxman, Maxwell
Even at the apex of its hype cycle in the 2010s, game studies scholars and designers derided gamification. This article first explores why gamification inspired such vitriol. It finds the incursion of non-game corporations and entities into the field was a threat to those who fought so ardently to legitimize the profession and promote a more playful or ludic 21st century. The article then delves deeper into the literature of play to redefine what occurs when a player engages with a gamified app, such as the social media application Foursquare. It rescripts their activity as ‘punctuated play’, or when the competition, conflict, glory, and other aspects of traditional play pierce a moment but do not necessarily define it.
Open Access
United We Stand: Platforms, Tools and Innovation With the Unity Game Engine
(SAGE Journals, 2019-11-21) Foxman, Maxwell
The skirmish between game engines Unity and Unreal presents a new front in the platformization of cultural production. This article argues that such programs are “platform tools.” They enable amateurs and professionals to not only build content for platforms but also “lock-in” industry ideologies in the ideation, production, implementation, and distribution of digital creative work, resulting in a homogeneity of developers, practices, and products. The Unity engine’s history, features, and place in the game production pipeline makes it a paradigmatic “platform tool.” Findings from 90 interviews with VR enthusiasts show that Unity set the boundaries or “rules” for developers’ everyday activities and, despite enthusiasm about the medium’s potential, compelled them to create content which conformed to popular gaming genres and standards.
Open Access
Mondo Nano: Fun and Games in the World of Digital Matter Book Review
(2019) Foxman, Maxwell
Open Access
Playing with Virtual Reality: Early Adopters of Commercial Immersive Technology
(Columbia University, 2018) Foxman, Maxwell
Open Access
Playing with Virtual Reality: Early Adopters of Commercial Immersive Technology
(First Monday, 2017-01) Foxman, Maxwell
The crisis in the journalism industry, intensified with the popularization of the World Wide Web, warrants radical rethinking of the professional identity of journalists and their role in society. This paper first suggests replacing the Habermasian public sphere with Dutch historian Johan Huizinga’s magic circle of play to describe the relationship between the press and its audience. Within this new model, the writer configures the rules and boundaries in which the reader is free to respond and subvert, an interplay that increasingly shapes both current news production and expectations of the public. This paper then explores play and playful attitudes in newsroom practices and output through semistructured interviews with journalists, game designers and educators. The “Game Team” at the news and entertainment Web site BuzzFeed acts as a primary case study of a group of journalists who make a variety of playful products — from full-fledged games to interactives — which they iterate and improve over time, in response to readers’ feedback.
Open Access
Advertising in Schools
(2016-09-07) Foxman, Maxwell; Mateescu, Alexandra; Bulger, Monica
Open Access
Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Games Coverage and its Network of Ambivalences
(Journal of Games Criticism, 2016-02-03) Foxman, Maxwell Henry; Nieborg, David B.
It's as tough a time as ever for game critics, who seem to be stuck between a rock and a hard place—an industry that acts as gatekeepers to most of the information they cover and an increasingly combative readership. Because of these tensions, an exploratory study was conducted first of the emergence of game criticism and the historical role of critics in creating the conception of gamer identity and, second, the effect of that identity on critics’ self-perception of their profession. We find that throughout the late 1980s and the end of the 20th century the game press was complicit in reinforcing the notion of the hardcore, primarily male “gamer,” while at the same time wrestling with their role as mediators between the industry and audience to which they were beholden. Through a subsequent study of articles and public meta-criticism by prominent figures in the field, we describe a network of ambivalences over the basic elements of their practice—particularly style, content, and format—as well as what motivates their daily work. In order to cope with these ambivalences, game critics, in recommending changes to their craft, rely not on the occupational ideology—or a common set of shared professional values—but instead their personal background and ancillary careers. Finally, after reviewing this network of ambivalences and its effect on games writing, we suggest critics make efforts toward establishing a common critical authority for their field, particularly as their occupation enters the mainstream.
Open Access
The Mainstreaming of US Games Journalism
(2016) Nieborg, David B.; Foxman, Maxwell
Open Access
Play The News: Fun and Games in Digital Journalism
(Columbia Journalism School, 2015) Foxman, Maxwell
More than ever before we’re consuming news in strange contexts; mixed into a stream of holiday photos on Facebook, alongside comedians’ quips on twitter; between Candy Crush and transit directions on our smartphones. In this environment designers can take liberties with the form of the news package and the ways that audiences can interact. But it’s not just users who are invited to experiment with their news: in newsrooms and product development departments, developers and journalists are adopting play as design and authoring process. Maxwell Foxman‘s new Tow Center report, Play The News: Fun and Games in Digital Journalism is a comprehensive documentation of this world.