![Page 1: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
game changer:structural folds with cognitive distance
in video game development
david stark
columbia university
![Page 2: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
My research collaborators:
Balazs VedresCo-PI, Central European University
Mathijs de VaanPhD candidate, Columbia University
This project supported by a grantfrom the National Science Foundation.
![Page 3: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
Innovationis recombinationproduced by the
collision of evaluativeprinciples.
![Page 4: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
Innovationat the overlap
![Page 5: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
![Page 6: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
“Structural Folds:Generative Disruption in Overlapping Groups”
Vedres and StarkAm J Soc 2010
![Page 7: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
Innovationat the overlap
Brokerageat the gap
Structural foldStructural hole
![Page 8: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
![Page 9: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
![Page 10: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
![Page 11: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
![Page 12: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
![Page 13: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
This project brings these analytic moments together, combining
attention to structural features
![Page 14: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
A B
This project brings these analytic moments together, combining
attention to structural features
and
attention to cultural practices.
![Page 15: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
Network analysts have tended to assume that cognitive distance mirrors social distance.
We relax that assumption.
![Page 16: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
What matters in explaining creative success?
The diversity of the cognitive/cultural elements
or
the structural folding of group membership?
![Page 17: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
Russian semiotician Yuri Lotman
Semiosphere not as a codeBut as multiplicity of codes
![Page 18: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
A B
Russian semiotician Yuri Lotman
Semiosphere not as a codeBut as multiplicity of codes
![Page 19: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
A B
Russian semiotician Yuri Lotman
Semiosphere not as a codeBut as multiplicity of codes
The more difficult the translationof the non-intersecting, the more valuablethis paradoxical communication becomes.
The tension of two tendencies.
![Page 20: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
A B
![Page 21: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
Data
![Page 22: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
16,507 video games139,727 individuals
Global video game production, 1979-2009
![Page 23: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/23.jpg)
We operationalize cognitive distance and group structure by studying team formation.
How does the history of a team’s makeup shape its creative success?
![Page 24: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/24.jpg)
How to do historical network analysis when the units of analysis are fleeting episodic projects?
![Page 25: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/25.jpg)
It is not the history of the team per se that is of interest. Instead, we gather very detailed data on the histories of the team members.
With these we can reconstruct the cognitive distance and the community memberships for every project team.
![Page 26: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/26.jpg)
![Page 27: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/27.jpg)
![Page 28: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/28.jpg)
![Page 29: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/29.jpg)
![Page 30: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/30.jpg)
![Page 31: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/31.jpg)
For 139,727 individuals in 16,507 production teams across 30 years …
![Page 32: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/32.jpg)
Analysis
![Page 33: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/33.jpg)
Cognitive diversity
Videos games differ in their stylistic elements.
Each game has been coded for the presence or absence of 105 different stylistic (cognitive) elements.
![Page 34: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/34.jpg)
As they move through the project space, individuals are exposed to various cognitive elements…
![Page 35: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/35.jpg)
… allowing us to construct a cognitive profile for every individual
and from these to compute for every team and for all communities within a team a measure of cognitive distance.
![Page 36: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/36.jpg)
Group structure
Videos games differ in their group structure depending on the cohesive ties that are formed as members worked with each other in the past.
Through these cohesive structures members acquire informal codes of work and tacit knowledge of each other.
![Page 37: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/37.jpg)
As they move through the project space, individuals have opportunities to work together with others…
![Page 38: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/38.jpg)
As they move through the project space, individuals have opportunities to work together with others…
![Page 39: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/39.jpg)
… allowing us to reconstruct for every team the distinctive cohesive groups;
to identify the cognitive distance across these groups;
and to identify, in particular, whether these groups are isolated, brokered, or structurally folded.
![Page 40: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/40.jpg)
![Page 41: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/41.jpg)
We then test whether cognitive distance and structural folding contribute to creative success.
We expect to find significant positive effectsfor cognitive folding, i.e., when cognitively distant groups are structurally folded.
![Page 42: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/42.jpg)
Dependent variables
Our dependent variables recognize that cultural products can be innovative without being successful (and vice versa).
Therefore...
![Page 43: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/43.jpg)
Three dependent variables:
1) A project can be innovative; it can be stylistically distinctive.
2) A project can be critically successful.
3) But a project will be a game changer only when it is innovative and critically successful.
![Page 44: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/44.jpg)
Findings
![Page 45: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/45.jpg)
Distinctiveness Critical Success Gamechanger
Team variables Cognitive folding + + Structural folding Brokerage ― Cognitive distance + # of communities
Mean community size + + Member variables # of team members ―
―
# of newbies + + + Games tenure
+ +
Past critical success + + + High performers
+
Awarded member +
+
Control variables included
Yes Yes Yes
![Page 46: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/46.jpg)
Distinctiveness Critical Success Gamechanger
Team variables Cognitive folding + + Structural folding Brokerage ― Cognitive distance + # of communities
Mean community size + + Member variables # of team members ―
―
# of newbies + + + Games tenure
+ +
Past critical success + + + High performers
+
Awarded member +
+
Control variables included
Yes Yes Yes
![Page 47: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/47.jpg)
Distinctiveness Critical Success Gamechanger
Team variables Cognitive folding + + Structural folding Brokerage ― Cognitive distance + # of communities
Mean community size + + Member variables # of team members ―
―
# of newbies + + + Games tenure
+ +
Past critical success + + + High performers
+
Awarded member +
+
Control variables included
Yes Yes Yes
![Page 48: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/48.jpg)
Distinctiveness Critical Success Gamechanger
Team variables Cognitive folding + + Structural folding Brokerage ― Cognitive distance + # of communities
Mean community size + + Member variables # of team members ―
―
# of newbies + + + Games tenure
+ +
Past critical success + + + High performers
+
Awarded member +
+
Control variables included
Yes Yes Yes
![Page 49: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/49.jpg)
Distinctiveness Critical Success Gamechanger
Team variables Cognitive folding + + Structural folding Brokerage ― Cognitive distance + # of communities
Mean community size + + Member variables # of team members ―
―
# of newbies + + + Games tenure
+ +
Past critical success + + + High performers
+
Awarded member +
+
Control variables included
Yes Yes Yes
![Page 50: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/50.jpg)
![Page 51: game changer : structural folds with cognitive distance in video game development](https://reader037.vdocument.in/reader037/viewer/2022110211/5681332b550346895d9a1df5/html5/thumbnails/51.jpg)
The effects of structural folding are compounded when cohesive groups are not only overlapping but also cognitively distant.
Such cognitive folding mobilizes a productive tension of rules, roles, and categories that promotes successful innovation.