TL Taylor: Play as Transformative Work

In this talk, Taylor explores the ways game live streamers are transforming their otherwise private play into public entertainment. Drawing on her research with live streamers, she offers a challenge to current models of IP and fandom, suggesting the work of professional live streamers is not easily captured by non-commercial frameworks nor simple work/play dichotomies.

Co-sponsored by C21, the Serious Play Collaboratory, and the Anthropology Student Union.

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About the Speaker

T.L. Taylor is Professor of Comparative Media Studies (MIT) and co-founder and Director of Research for AnyKey, an organization dedicated to supporting and developing fair and inclusive esports. She is a qualitative sociologist who has focused on internet and game studies for over two decades. Her research explores the interrelations between culture and technology in online leisure environments. Her most recent book, Watch Me Play: Twitch and the Rise of Game Live Streaming (Princeton University Press, 2018) is the first of its kind to chronicle the emerging media space of game live streaming. She is also the author of Raising the Stakes: E-Sports and the Professionalization of Computer Gaming (MIT Press, 2012) and Play Between Worlds: Exploring Online Game Culture (MIT Press, 2006). In 2012 Princeton University published her co-authored book on conducting ethnographic research in online multi-user worlds, Ethnography and Virtual Worlds: A Handbook of Method.