商务传媒学院知识库

With the arrival of the era of digital capitalism, the original collaborative relationship between people and the means of production has been profoundly changed by digitization, and a large number of new occupations have emerged. As one of the typical representatives of digital laborers, game escorts have played a pivotal role in promoting the development of the Internet industry.
This paper focuses on game escorts, and through virtual ethnography research methodology, analyzes in detail the current situation of organizational structure, operation mode, labor process, etc., revealing how game escorts have become digital laborers who drive the development of the industry. At the same time, through the lens of the political economy of communication, it exposes that the labor process of the escorts is controlled from the ideological level and co-controlled by the organization of the escorts and the composition of the consumers, in which the blurring of labor and entertainment, the flexible working hours and workplaces, as well as the bidirectional emotional channeling with the consumers motivate the escorts to voluntarily join and labor, and the control of the organization and the consumers brings the escorts the security and the double-edged sword of drawbacks, and rules for conforming to consumer demands for favorable reviews. Of course, there is also the alienation of self-management of emotional fatigue and the commodification of the individual in the labor process. In addition to this, the communalization of the object of labor and the privatization of the tools of labor combine to create an alienation of the relationship between the worker and the means of production. In the midst of multiple alienation and exploitation, game escorts also exert subjective initiative to establish private domains to exploit platform loopholes, use discourse to attract consumers to place orders through multiple channels, earn more money, reduce the degree of exploitation, and oppose monopoly. However, we also found that there are certain risks in the game escort industry, the lack of laws and regulations related to the game escort industry caused by the suffering can not be said, the invisible labor exploitation has also caused physical and mental damage to the escort, chaotic phenomena triggered stigmatization. Finally, this paper also puts forward suggestions from improving laws and regulations, strengthening platform supervision, awakening the rational consciousness of playmates, and improving the media literacy of netizens to ensure the green and healthy development of the game escort industry.
With the development of the network and the demand of people's socialization, game escort service has been prevalent among young people, and more and more younger players are investing in the escort industry, ignoring the fact of its laborization and commoditization which is concealed by the playfulness. This paper helps to unveil the phenomenon of over-expression of digital laborers under the blindfold, enhance the ability of escorts to think rationally, and promote reflection and development within the industry.