Land of a Couple of Dances
Global and Local Influences on Freestyle Play in "Dance Dance Revolution"

"This paper traces successful and unsuccessful attempts to shape the meanings of the video game 'Dance Dance Revolution', specifically with reference to what 'dancing' means in this context, as the game moves between various interested parties - game developers, players, Internet forum participants, and other media producers. Drawing on Actor-Network Theory and the network analyses of Manuel Castells, the paper reconstructs the forces shaping players' stylistic decisions through an analysis of dance game machines and software, and of a single forum thread on DDRFreak.com, a major website in the dance game community. The paper asks who decides how DDR players dance and at what times? Are the decisions about play made in the development meeting, the arcade, competitions, online or around the home console? Globally, how do some regions or groups emerge as experts or leaders in play style?" [Information des Anbieters]