Tom Brock

• Ph.D.
• Senior Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University

This article applies psychological-sociological accounts of the ‘apophatic’, a form of negative thinking, to examples of gaming practices to conceptualise a new theory of video game consumption. It challenges the prevailing notion that the games consumer is always a ‘cataphatic’ thinker, that is, an activistic, rational-pleasure seeker, and looks t...

In Man, Play and Games, Roger Caillois warns against the 'rationalisation' of play by working life and argues that the professionalisation of competitive games (agôn) will have a negative impact on people and society. In this article, I elaborate on Caillois' argument by suggesting that the professional context of electronic sports (e-Sports) ratio...

This article applies sociological theories of ‘craft’ to computer gaming practices to conceptualise the relationship between play, games, and labour. Using the example of the game Dota 2, as both a competitive esport title and a complex game based around a shared practice, this article examines the conditions under which the play of a computer game...

In this paper we examine the pursuit of celebrity through the live broadcast (‘streaming’) of video games as an expression of an emerging moral economy of contemporary digital capitalism. Live streaming is a novel form overwhelmingly found amongst young people disproportionately harmed by the economic crisis, and we propose that the contraction of...

The consumption of digital games has become increasingly ‘gamblified’ (Gainsbury et al., 2015; Zanescu et al., 2020) in recent years. Due to the changes in media landscape such as the development of new forms of gambling via the Internet and mobile phones, consumers can now play games and gamble in real time and from almost any location (King et al...

Purpose This study aims to examine the cultural and economic circumstances that shape esports consumer agency through case studies of “experiential consumption” (Miles, 2021). Design/methodology/approach A multiple-case study approach (Stake, 2006) is deployed alongside participant observation and document analysis to identify three cases of exper...

This chapter is a compilation of key terms utilized and bolded throughout the Routledge Handbook of Esports, along with other added gaming and esports-related terminology. This chapter can be used as a helpful guide for anyone wanting to know what an esports-related term means, as well as can be employed as an academic resource for scholars to cite...

This chapter offers a brief overview of the “Introduction to Esports” section of the Routledge Handbook of Esports, which includes chapters on Defining and Spelling Esports (1.2), Global History of Esports (1.3), Esports Ecosystems and Stakeholders (1.4), Esports Genres and Games (1.5), Esports Developers, Publishers, and Game Design Considerations...

The aim of this chapter is to stimulate discourse by offering an overview of potential future trends within esports, highlighting what is needed for the industry to thrive. After discussing past predictions on the future of esports, The Future of Sustainable Esports Model is proposed that, if followed, would help the industry grow and prosper. The...

The Routledge Handbook of Esports offers the first fully comprehensive, interdisciplinary study of esports, one of the fastest growing sectors of the contemporary sports and entertainment industries. Global in coverage, the book emphasizes the multifaceted nature of esports and explores the most pressing issues defining the competitive video gaming...

The concept of “fun” is widely used within the game design and game studies literature, and is frequently highlighted as a key component of good game design, as well as a key factor in why people play games. However, it is a term rarely unpacked, and fun in video games remains relatively underresearched, certainly in comparison to other associated...

Welcome to Social Theory is exactly what students want: a lucid and engaging introduction to social theory that carefully uses images, examples and quotations to illustrate new ways of examining contemporary social life. Tom Brock’s comprehensive and accessible style produces an indispensable guide to social theory that examines the major theoretic...

Past esports books focus on specific areas of esports (e.g., esports medicine, esports business/management, esports history, collegiate esports, etc.). A reference source is lacking in the literature that provides a broad overview of esports. The editors on this panel propose to address this gap with the creation of a wide-reaching, interdisciplina...

This article repurposes Campbell’s (2005) concept of ‘the craft consumer’ to generate a new theory of video game consumption, which proposes that we identify the material practices typically associated with craft labour within acts of digital play. We draw on case studies from popular and community-driven video game titles including Dark Souls and...

This article examines how ‘gambling’ secured a central economic and cultural position in the development of modern digital games. We first trace how developers have monetized ‘games’ and ‘play’, from slot machines to PC, console and mobile platforms, before considering the recent controversy over ‘loot boxes’ as an emblematic case study of the ongo...

What concerns us here is how to best make sense of the proliferation of subjectivities under neoliberal circumstances in a way that recognises the role of agency without falling into the trap of voluntarism. This is what we see as the puzzle of identity in neoliberal times. As Gill (2008: 433) has pointed out, those studying neoliberalism have a ri...

Professor Margaret Archer is a leading critical realist and major contemporary social theorist. This edited collection seeks to celebrate the scope and accomplishments of her work, distilling her theoretical and empirical contributions into four sections which capture the essence and trajectory of her research over almost four decades. Long fascina...

This article engages Bhaskar's category of absence and Foucault's notion of problematization in the context of explaining an example of the historical emergence of political activism. Specifically, it considers the emergence of the ?psychiatric survivors? social movement in the UK, with a focus on the ?politics of self-harm?. The politics of self-h...

Explanations of computer game consumption have tended towards a focus on the relationship between play, narrative and its context to explain consumer behaviour. The dominant narrative that underwrites these explanations is that play, through gaming, is often undertaken to escape reality and that games are consumed to help people actualise desires a...

In Man, Play and Games, Roger Caillois warns against the ‘contamination’ of play by reality and argues that the professionalization of competitive games (agôn) will have a negative impact people and society. Examples include rivalry and cheating. Half a century on and there is evidence to suggest that the competitive gaming industry is pushing play...

Forms of populism have long been a component of modern political discourse and systems where democracy relies upon popular legitimacy. There is, however, an uneasy relationship between some widely held views of ‘the people’ and the parties which seek to govern them. Contemporary academic and political discourse on populism often equates these views...

This paper constitutes an extended response to Athanasia Chalari's paper The Causal Impact of Resistance, which suggests that one may derive from internal conversations a causal explanation of resistance. In the context of our engagements with critical realism and digital research into social movements, we review Chalari's main argument, before app...

This paper considers the role and function of Left academics within 'elite' (i.e. Russell Group) universities within the UK. Deploying Marxist theory and critical realism, it analyses the 'dialectical contradictions' experienced in such a role and reflects upon productive strategies for resisting the hegemony of neo-liberalism within those milieus.