TY - JOUR

T1 - From skepticism to celebration: French football’s changing attitudes to videogames

AU - Ervine, Jonathan

PY - 2019/4

Y1 - 2019/4

N2 - France’s major role in shaping the history of international football – both viathe performances of its national teams and its role in organizing the sport– is mirrored by its importance within the development of videogames.However, videogames – like sport – remain an understudied aspect ofFrench culture with French studies. This article explores significant debatesabout the cultural capital of videogames in France that feature contrastingreactions such as skepticism and celebration. It argues that interactionsbetween football and videogames are increasingly blurring the boundarybetween the sport of football and the world of videogames. The world ofe-sports (professional videogaming) will be shown to be a domain whereleading French football teams and politicians are particularly keen toharness the cultural, economic, and political importance of videogames.

AB - France’s major role in shaping the history of international football – both viathe performances of its national teams and its role in organizing the sport– is mirrored by its importance within the development of videogames.However, videogames – like sport – remain an understudied aspect ofFrench culture with French studies. This article explores significant debatesabout the cultural capital of videogames in France that feature contrastingreactions such as skepticism and celebration. It argues that interactionsbetween football and videogames are increasingly blurring the boundarybetween the sport of football and the world of videogames. The world ofe-sports (professional videogaming) will be shown to be a domain whereleading French football teams and politicians are particularly keen toharness the cultural, economic, and political importance of videogames.

U2 - 10.3828/cfc.2019.6

DO - 10.3828/cfc.2019.6

M3 - Article

VL - 44

SP - 101

EP - 119

JO - Contemporary French Civilization

JF - Contemporary French Civilization

SN - 0147-9156

IS - 1

ER -