{"625862":{"#nid":"625862","#data":{"type":"news","title":"LMC Professor Anne Sullivan Awarded Best Paper For Research On Pok\u00e9mon, Let\u0027s Go","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ELMC Assistant Professor Anne Sullivan, together with University of Central Florida Professors Anastasia Salter and Mel Stanfill, was awarded Best Paper for work on \u0026ldquo;But Does Pikachu Love You? Reproductive Labor in Casual Hardcore Games,\u0026rdquo; last week at the Foundations of Digital Games international conference held in San Luis Obispo, California. The paper analyzes the Pok\u0026egrave;mon fandom\u0026rsquo;s reaction to the Nintendo Switch games \u003Cem\u003ELet\u0026rsquo;s Go, Pikachu!\u003C\/em\u003E and its sister game \u003Cem\u003ELet\u0026rsquo;s Go, Eevee! \u003C\/em\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We noticed right away there was a fair deal of negative response by the fandom,\u0026rdquo; Sullivan says, \u0026ldquo;We were interested in exploring that further. At the time, I was playing a lot of \u003Cem\u003ELet\u0026rsquo;s Go\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003Eand really couldn\u0026rsquo;t figure out why someone wouldn\u0026rsquo;t like it.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe reaction following this latest release was especially interesting to the researchers, each long-time franchise fans, considering the fandom\u0026rsquo;s less-than-positive response to its predecessor, the mobile game \u003Cem\u003EPok\u0026eacute;mon, Go!\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E, a couple years before. (Back in 2016, the game went viral among newcomers, making headlines for how players were crowding streets and public places in an effort to \u003Cem\u003Ecatch \u0026lsquo;em all\u003C\/em\u003E. Among native players, however, a different perspective surfaced.)\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;\u003Cem\u003EPok\u0026eacute;mon, Go!\u003C\/em\u003E started this fan shift,\u0026rdquo; Sullivan explains, \u0026ldquo;People [in the fandom] began saying things along the lines of \u0026#39;\u003Cem\u003EOh, this isn\u0026rsquo;t a real Pokemon game.\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026#39; So, that was the environment of the fandom when \u003Cem\u003ELet\u0026rsquo;s Go\u003C\/em\u003E came out.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAnalyzing comments and reviews on \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.metacritic.com\/\u0022\u003EMetacritic\u003C\/a\u003E, an aggregator of\u0026nbsp;media product reviews from leading critics as well as users, the team began the paper\u0026rsquo;s initial research.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s pretty uncommon for the fans to give \u003Cem\u003EPok\u0026eacute;mon\u003C\/em\u003E games a lower score than the professional reviews,\u0026rdquo; Sullivan points out. [Even at the time of this article, the user scores are \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.metacritic.com\/game\/switch\/pokemon-lets-go-pikachu!\u0022\u003Estill significantly lower\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;than the aggregate score from game critics.] \u0026ldquo;As we delved into the fan response more, I was able to better understand the frustration. The game was a definite change from how it has been for the last 20 years.\u0026quot;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;There are two main differences between [\u003Cem\u003ELet\u0026rsquo;s Go\u003C\/em\u003E] and previous core titles from the franchise. First, there were no longer random battles, instead it was much more about exploration and collecting. And second, your \u003Cem\u003EPok\u0026egrave;mon\u003C\/em\u003E companion that you choose at the beginning of the game--whether it\u0026rsquo;s Pikachu and Eevee--is interactive. You can dress it, feed it, and so on.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPatterns began to emerge in their research.\u0026nbsp; \u0026ldquo;We noticed players self-identified as a fan and through this \u0026#39;Fan Identity\u0026#39;, asserted themselves as an authority voice,\u0026rdquo; she continues. \u0026ldquo;This leads to entitlement and creates a pressure, or stress-point, between companies and their fandoms. Fans still insisted this was not a \u0026lsquo;real\u0026rsquo; \u003Cem\u003EPok\u0026eacute;mon\u003C\/em\u003E game, even though the franchise itself came out and said, \u0026lsquo;\u003Cem\u003ENo, this is indeed a valid game\u003C\/em\u003E.\u0026rsquo;\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe award-winning paper examines the dichotomey between \u0026quot;casual\u0026quot; and \u0026quot;hardcore\u0026quot; gaming mentalities, as demonstrated in the user comments, and how the fandom\u0026rsquo;s backlash ultimately represented a resistance to \u0026ldquo;feminized play mechanics.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;From the comments, we pulled out common words like \u0026lsquo;hand-holding\u0026rsquo;, \u0026lsquo;casual\u0026rsquo;, and \u0026lsquo;friendly\u0026rsquo;--all used in a very negative way. Fans were equating \u003Cem\u003Egrinding labor\u003C\/em\u003E with hardcore gaming, and equating \u003Cem\u003Ecaring\u003C\/em\u003E--like feeding and raising, something you\u0026rsquo;d do with the companion--as casual, or reproductive labor.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe award marks Sullivan\u0026rsquo;s first Best Paper, as she continues her work with interactive narratives, games, and more in the Digital Media Department. The full research paper can be read \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/dl.acm.org\/citation.cfm?id=3337739\u0022\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EAnne Sullivan is also head of the Experimental Game Lab at Georgia Tech. More information about her research and publications can be found \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.lmc.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/da38ca82-0cf8-5c78-8f4a-27f68f568f89\u0022\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"LMC Assistant Professor Anne Sullivan was awarded Best Paper for work on \u201cBut Does Pikachu Love You? Reproductive Labor in Casual Hardcore Games.\u201d"}],"uid":"35104","created_gmt":"2019-09-09 17:50:02","changed_gmt":"2019-10-09 16:05:31","author":"mmargarella3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2019-09-09T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2019-09-09T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"625860":{"id":"625860","type":"image","title":"LMC Assistant Professor Anne Sullivan","body":null,"created":"1568050839","gmt_created":"2019-09-09 17:40:39","changed":"1568050839","gmt_changed":"2019-09-09 17:40:39","alt":"LMC Assistant Professor Anne Sullivan","file":{"fid":"238273","name":"Unknown.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Unknown_9.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Unknown_9.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":23114,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Unknown_9.jpeg?itok=Ro2F2EWe"}}},"media_ids":["625860"],"groups":[{"id":"1283","name":"School of Literature, Media, and Communication"}],"categories":[{"id":"143","name":"Digital Media and Entertainment"}],"keywords":[{"id":"181056","name":"School of Literature  Media and Communication"},{"id":"124","name":"Digital Media"},{"id":"14481","name":"Graduate Program in Digital Media"},{"id":"8057","name":"faculty research"},{"id":"103141","name":"Best Paper Award"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}