Playing with the Rules: Social and Cultural Aspects of Game Rules in a Console Game Club

In this study of a Swedish console game club I have looked at how the rules of the games are connected to the social and cultural aspects of the context that the games are played in. I have devoted special attention to the game Super Smash Bros. Melee and how different contexts of play have formed around this game, for instance the emergence of a professional smash scene and the polarization of console club members into smashers and anti-smashers. My conclusion is that the idea that rules can play a core role in defining a game without the need to take the situated aspects of play into account is problematic. Rules do not inherently belong to the formal aspects of games. Even at the most fundamental level, rules are influenced by, and affect, the social and cultural aspects of the gaming context. Author Keywords console games, game culture, play context, rules, social interaction, game clubs, game appropriation PERSPECTIVES ON RULES In academic writing on games, rules are usually considered one of the formal aspects of games. According to Salen and Zimmerman [6] this affinity is twofold. First, the rules constitute a game’s innermost form. Using the game of Go as an example, they note that it can be played with different materials and for different purposes but as long as the rules stay the same, we will still recognize it as Go. The second way that rules belong to the formal aspects of games, Salen and Zimmerman say, is the way they are methodical and precise by nature, while aspects of games relating to play and culture “tend to be fuzzy and more difficult to quantify.” According to Salen and Zimmerman, game rules are a very particular kind of rules that, unlike other rules, are separate from ordinary life. [6] Rather than arguing against Salen and Zimmerman, I would like to offer a counter image. Based on a study of a local console game club I will investigate how the social aspects of game-play and the rules of the games are related. By doing this I wish to demonstrate how the concept of rules cannot be placed within a particular perspective such as the formal aspects of games. Instead rules can be viewed from