CREATING AND MODIFYING THE GAME CONTENT BY PLAYERS AS AN ACT OF PROSUMERISM

Abstract

Prosumption can be described as an involvement of customers in the process of production. Customers obtain certain benefits related to increasing the degree of customization of the product or service. On the other hand, prosumption minimizes the costs associated with the purchase and/or use of products by consumers by undertaking of certain activities traditionally performed by the company. The primary aim of this paper is to investigate the phenomenon of creating and modifying computer game content by players as an act of prosumerism. Player used a game as primary materials to create some game elements or even producing a completely new one. They make unpaid work on game modification, called by its practitioners as “game modding”. Game modding is a process of changing, adding or removing game code that alters the way the game is played. This process includes many different actions, such as creating characters, houses and gardens in The Sims, changing the appearance of the residents, creating virtual buildings and landscapes in Second Life. Players build their own virtual environment. Creators gather in modding communities in which they sharing created content, advice each other’s, cooperate with other creators. Cooperation facilitates some platforms like Steam, various online forums or video sharing sites like Youtube. Besides players, also companies can take advantages from users’ creativity. They obtain information’s about consumer preferences which can be used e.g. in advertising or future product design. The modding community is a valuable source of innovation and recruitment for the game industry. Game modds can expand period of time when the game is played and consecutively receive high sales revenue. Presented approach is based on literature review.