Tom Brock
Sociologist, Gamer, Runner
- November 2019 Videogaming as Craft Consumption British Sociological Association Consumption Study Group BSA Meeting Rooms, London.
- November 2019 The Imperative to be Seen: The Moral Economy of Celebrity Video Game Streaming on Twitch.tvCelebrities of Gaming University of Jyväskylä, Finland.
Politics, Culture, and Games
Dr Tom Brock is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Manchester Metropolitan University. His research interests include play, games and social theory. He has authored publications on esports, player skill, failure, player labour and digital games consumption in peer-reviewed journals including, Games and Culture, Journal of Consumer Culture, and Information, Communication and Society. Tom has also published widely on social, political and cultural theory in peer-reviewed journals including, The Sociological Review, Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour and the Journal of Critical Realism. Tom is currently co-editing a Special Issue on ‘Digital Transformations in Gaming and Gambling’ for the Journal of Consumer Culture.
Dr Brock is currently supervising several PhD Students
Recent Publications
- August 2019 (with M. Johnson and M. Carrigan) The Imperative to be Seen: The moral economy of celebrity video game streaming on Twitch.tv First Monday
- May 2018 (with E. Fraser) Is computer gaming a craft? Prehension, Practice, and Puzzle-solving in Gaming Labour. Information, Communication & Society
- 2017 (with M. Carrigan) The Puzzle of Identity in Neoliberal Times Edges of Identity: The Production of Neoliberal Subjectivities, University of Chester Press
Recent Speaking
- August 2019 (with M. Johnson) What do Game Developers Think about Loot Boxes?DiGRA International, Ritsumeikan University Kinugasa Campus, Kyoto, Japan.
- August 2019 (with. M Johnson, J. Reynolds, A. Thorhauge, J. Lee, L. Chiapello and D. Gardner) Panellist on ‘Gaming, Gambling and the New Monetisation of Digital PlayDiGRA International, Ritsumeikan University Kinugasa Campus, Kyoto, Japan.
- August 2019 (with M. Johnson, M. Suitila, W. Partin. D. Cumming) Panellist on ‘Skill, Streaming and Sociality in Contemporary Esports’DiGRA International, Ritsumeikan University Kinugasa Campus, Kyoto, Japan.