Gaming Eastern Europe: Production, Distribution and Consumption

This is the first special issue of Studies in Eastern European Cinema that addresses computer game culture within the region of Eastern Europe. The reasons for doing so are twofold. The first has to do with the idea of convergence between industries. The film and game industries are increasingly overlapping, meaning that separating the two on the levels of production and consumption is unproductive. This does not mean that films become computer games, or games become films – in the form of one media product being translated into another as transmedia adaptations. Instead, the relationship between the two industries is much more dynamic; for example, film production is borrowing tools from game production. In virtual production, large studios use computer game engines to render sets while shooting live action scenes, which make shooting faster and more effective to meet the demands of major streaming services. Another example of industry convergence is the fact that computer games are moving closer to immersive forms, where head-mounteddisplays are essential for the ultimate experience of a work, which is often less ludic and more geared toward experience design and performance arts, something that lies at the foundation of cinema. This cross-over illustrates how technological environments are converging to facilitate storytelling on a different level. The second issue that grounds this turn towards games is the fact that computer games are played by large audiences. As more and more film students emerge with gameplay experience in their toolkits, the way we study screen media, including social media and television, needs to address the media ‘next door’, of which the computer game is an important one. The current generation of university students has grown up playing games on a daily basis and are likely to continue this activity in some form. In short, it is unproductive to remain ignorant of developments in computer games while our students are playing games as well as watching films. However, this puts the spotlight on a problematic issue; namely, how we should study games and how is studying games different from studying cinema? Highlighting this here might get some game scholars out of their seats, arguing that game studies has already had this debate in the early 2000s, with Janet Murray and Esben Aarseth as the leading scholars. Some readers would argue that the field of game studies is already past this discussion, having formed its own discipline game studies. However, game studies are still a divided field dependent on which perspective we are looking at the game and indeed dependent on what kind of game is being analysed. It is still the case that many academic divisions ‘claim’ games as a core division – computer science, sociology, linguistics, education, and the arts and humanities. Regional studies, too, have to be attuned to this development, which is something that we hope to reflect through this special issue.