Adapting the Empty Orchestra: The Performance of Play in Karaoke

Bryan and Tanenbaum's paper, presented at DiGRA 2019, argues that karaoke should be understood as an adaptable social game of performance play rather than a simple entertainment activity. Drawing on more than 600 hours of participant observation across United States venues, the authors position karaoke as a casual simulation game with New Games aesthetics, one that prioritizes sustaining play over competition. Their central thesis holds that karaoke's capacity to be reshaped across contexts stems from its ubiquity, its minimal explicit rules, its flexible implicit social norms, its varied personal player goals, and its multiple modes of play. The authors also note that karaoke has received comparatively little attention within game studies, a gap their work seeks to address.

The analysis finds that explicit rules in most venues are limited largely to sign-up procedures and start and end times, while implicit social norms do most of the shaping. Permitting loud public singing and showing off is generally accepted, whereas booing is discouraged. Within this loose framework, KJs, bars, and communities introduce themes and gamified elements, including holiday nights, decade-themed events, and the "Nerdy Karaoke" at The Geek Easy. Community culture frequently emerges organically and transforms the experience further. The authors connect these practices to music rhythm games and to the theories of Schechner and Caillois on play as performance.

The work further examines how karaoke becomes a vehicle for community-based play. Examples include Trans-Lucent and Furry Karaoke at Executive Suites and Kinky Karaoke at The Sanctuary, where singing serves as a social framework for community engagement and identity expression. Karaoke's loose structure allows it to absorb and be reshaped by these communities' play behaviors. A notable finding is that Kinky Karaoke pauses entirely during a collaring ceremony, demonstrating that the activity remains subordinate to the larger themed event. The authors conclude that this adaptability, rooted in karaoke's ubiquity and minimal explicit rules, offers a useful model for designing community inclusion through identity performance.