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Development of computer games as a medium and its reflection in specialized and mainstream media
Švelch, Jaroslav ; Kraus, Jiří (advisor) ; Macek, Jakub (referee) ; Šisler, Vít (referee)
This dissertation aims to be a social history of 8-bit computer gaming culture in Czechoslovakia. It focuses mostly on the 1982-1989 period, i.e. from the beginnings of organized computer hobby scene until the end of the so-called "normalization" era. It draws from archival texts, mainly computer club newsletters, and oral history interviews. The resulting corpus is used both to reconstruct the social context surrounding computer game play at the time, and to identify social practices, norms and values connected with computer game playing. Theoretically, the dissertation draws from the social history of media, audience research in the vein of the British cultural studies, and game studies. The dissertation claims that in the earliest days of Czechoslovak computer hobby, the hobbyists were a prime example of active audience. As there was virtually no hardware and software market behind the Iron Curtain, hobbyists had to improvise ways of importing hardware and distributing software, often forming computer clubs to facilitate this. Computer game programming and play were integral parts of hobbyist experimentation. Around 1985, Western commercial games started to enter Czechoslovakia via efficient unauthorized distribution. Computer games have, however, become a hobby of its own a started to spread...
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