The fantasy of do what you love and ludic authoritarianism in the videogame industry

Abstract

Like other creative workers, videogame developers believe doing what you love (DWYL) brings success and happiness. Drawing on three years of ethnography in a U.S. based studio, I theorize DWYL as a social fantasy, which glues developers to work despite cruelties. Because developers' attachment to work is not an individual matter of the heart but a powerful relation that is mutually cultivated, desired, and even joyfully dictated, I conceptualize these cruelties through "ludic authoritarianism", redefined as a diffuse form of workplace regime. In this regime, both the management and developers invest in the DWYL fantasy that normalizes overwork, creates success mythologies, institutes vague performance metrics, and cultivates discriminatory production cultures. Moving beyond "love at work brings exploitation" narratives, I show how authoritarianism is not a deviant political form in non-Western contexts but a diffuse and playful culture across elite workplaces in the Global North.