What (Meta)Games We Played: Early Gaming Fandoms and the Politics of Childhood in 1980s Japan

The document examines early gaming fandoms in 1980s Japan, focusing on how children and adolescents engaged with emerging digital play norms. It argues that the industry and media initially portrayed child players as uncritical, but their actions, particularly through "metagames," demonstrated conscious and even political engagement. The analysis centers on urawaza (secret techniques, cheats, exploits, glitches, and easter eggs) as a key form of metagame.

Metagames are presented as a space of negotiation between fans and the industry regarding proper gameplay. Examples like the "Nagoya uchi" technique in Space Invaders, urban legends surrounding Xevious, and secret-world tricks in Super Mario Brothers illustrate how players reclaimed agency from predetermined game designs. These fan-created practices functioned as "fan texts," allowing children to assert their cultural concerns within dominant representations.

The paper utilizes the lens of fan studies and draws on existing research on Japanese gaming fandoms to challenge the notion of children's play as merely "childish." It critiques "cultural intermediaries" who pathologized fandoms by equating childhood with a lack of critical capacity. Instead, it posits that the inventiveness of children's metagames showcased agency and critical engagement with gaming. The ultimate conclusion is that childhood was an intersectional factor driving the inherently political nature of play in the early Japanese gaming medium, validating a "fan-atical" approach over the industry's attempts to establish mature authority.