Areas of Expertise

Sport and eSport management, events management, research, sport philosophy, hotel and hospitality management, entrepreneurship and labour exploitation, professional writing and literature

Teaching Interests

eSport, sport philosophy, ethics, research methods, labour exploitation and entrepreneurship, sport futurism, events management, events financing and production, communications, writing and literature, writing for table-top roleplaying games. 

Research

Chris is currently developing a model of fandom labour exploitation, called the Exploitation Ecosystem (ExEc) Model. The ExEc model aims to deliver an overview of the various pathways by which relatively affluent and educated first world gaming (esports, cosplay and similar) fans get entangled in labour exploitation situations and how they might ultimately exit exploitative arrangements. The ExEc model is particularly relevant to domains that rely heavily on fan passion and third-party content creators for their success, such as the games industry.

Representative Publications

• McCutcheon, C., Hitchens, M., & McEwan, M. (2023). Professional Cosplayer’s Entrepreneurial Identity and Exploitation. In E. Gackstetter-Nichols, A. Lewis, & D. Tomczyk (Eds.), Entrepreneurial Cosplay: Building Identity, Brand and Business Acumen. (1st ed., pp. 33–48). Routledge.
• McCutcheon, C., Hitchens, M., & McEwan, M. (2022). An Exploitation Ecosystem Model for Fan-based Labour in the Games Industry. New Tab DIGRA’22 – Proceedings of the 2022 DIGRA International Conference.
• McCutcheon C., and Hitchens M. (2020) eSport and the exploitation of digital labour. Journal of Fandom Studies, vol 8, no 1, pp. 65-81
• McCutcheon, C. (2019). eSport, work, sport and play: relationships and pathways to a new continuum model (Version 1). New Tab Macquarie University. 
• McCutcheon C., Hitchens M., Drachen A. (2018) eSport vs irlSport. In: Cheok A., Inami M., Romão T. (eds) Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology. ACE 2017. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 10714. Springer, Cham

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy candidate in Computer Science (games fandom labour exploitation & entrepreneurship). Macquarie University, NSW. Graduation date: 2026.
• Master of Research (eSport). Macquarie University, NSW.
• Master of Art (Writing & Literature). Deakin University, VIC.
• Master of Sport Business. Victoria University, VIC.
• Bachelor of Commerce (Info Systems & HRM). Curtin University, WA.

Previous Appointments

Senior Lecturer, Torrens University Australia
Adjunct lecturer, University of Adelaide
Principal, Games and Fandom Enterprise Network