The global API Ecosystem: A deep dive into gaming
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Transcript of The global API Ecosystem: A deep dive into gaming
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Jukka Huhtamäki@jnkka // fi.linkedin.com/in/jukkahuhtamakiTampere University of Technology
Interactive Media and Games SeminarmediaX at Stanford
About this presentation
• This presentation is a revised version of a recent presentation at HICSS 2017:
Huhtamäki, J., Basole, R., Still, K., Russell, M., & Seppänen, M. (2017). Visualizing the Geography of Platform Boundary Resources: The Case of the Global API Ecosystem. Available: http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/41804
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Introduction
What is an API?
4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbVtliFXOOY
What is a mashup?
johnnycashhasbeeneverywhere.com
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Why APIs?
• APIs are replacing “traditional” interfirm relationships
• APIs are lightweight boundary resources that allow for complementors to create value for the focal companies
• APIs are artifacts of both lightweight software development and business strategy
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API ecosystem
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15/01/17 9Biswarup Ganguly, CC BY 3.0
15/01/17 10Code example: Rob M. (2016)
Tesla Model S JSON API:http://docs.timdorr.apiary.io/#
Sector View: Games and APIS
API Ecosystem Global View
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(Evans and Basole, 2016; Basole, 2016)
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(Evans and Basole, 2016; Basole, 2016)
We asked
• What is the structure of global API ecosystem for games?
• Where are APIs located geographically*? • Is the geographical location of a company
less important in the digital age?
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Method
• Data collection using crawling and scraping• Data-driven visual network analytics• Semi-automated data curation process
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Data curation
• 13,366 APIs and 6,271 mashups from ProgrammableWeb
• Using URIs as identifiers, company location lookup using Crunchbase
• Mapping the 6,218 APIs with location data to city-level entrepreneurial regions and global regions
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API Co-use
• Cf. co-citation analysis
Three resulting connections (here regions):
Twitter - Twitter SearchTwitter - Google App EngineTwitter Search - Google App Engine
Geographical global view
1. Where are the APIs available globally?2. How are APIs co-used between regions?
H
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Regions connected on basis of API co-use
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Regions connected on basis of API co-use
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Main category
…
All categories
Deep dive to games and APIs
APIs in Games category: two step egocentric network
30Interactive: http://bit.ly/gameapivis2017
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APIs and mashups
Case Minecraft
Case Minecraft
Minecraft //Value Co-creation(Ramaswamy, 2009; Vargo and Lusch, 2004)
Value co-creation: Augmented virtual reality and bots
https://github.com/PrismarineJS/mineflayer
Minecraft //Value Co-destruction
• Search for “Minecraft spambot”
(Plé and Chumpitaz Cáceres, 2010; Echeverri and Skalen, 2011; Vartiainen and Tuunanen, 2016)
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Sidenote: Games and Metagames
Cf. Boluk & LeMieux (2016):
“From speedrunning and ROM hacking to virtual economies and international e-sports, metagaming has become a dominant form of play, a game design paradigm, and a way of life not only occurring around videogames, but all forms of digital technology.”
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Takeaways
• API ecosystem is highly concentrated to a few regions
• API ecosystem is particularly flexible for actors to offer and consume services
• API co-use is not API usage• Public APIs vs. Private APIs