Computer Games And New Media Cultures

This book introduces the critical concepts and debates that are shaping the emerging field of game studies. Exploring games in the context of cultural studies and media studies, it analyses computer games as the most popular contemporary form of new media production and consumption. The book: Argues for the centrality of play in redefining reading, consuming and creating culture Offers detailed research into the political economy of games to generate a model of new media production Examines the dynamics of power in relation to both the production and consumption of computer games This is key reading for students, academics and industry practitioners in the fields of cultural studies, new media, media studies and game studies, as well as human-computer interaction and cyberculture.

Digital gaming is today a significant economic phenomenon as well as being an intrinsic part of a convergent media culture in postmodern societies. Its ubiquity, as well as the sheer volume of hours young people spend gaming, should make it ripe for urgent academic enquiry, yet the subject was a research backwater until the turn of the millennium. Even today, as tens of millions of young people spend their waking hours manipulating avatars and gaming characters on computer screens, the subject is still treated with scepticism in some academic circles. This handbook aims to reflect the relevance and value of studying digital games, now the subject of a growing number of studies, surveys, conferences and publications. As an overview of the current state of research into digital gaming, the 42 papers included in this handbook focus on the social and cultural relevance of gaming. In doing so, they provide an alternative perspective to one-dimensional studies of gaming, whose agendas do not include cultural factors. The contributions, which range from theoretical approaches to empirical studies, cover various topics including analyses of games themselves, the player-game interaction, and the social context of gaming. In addition, the educational aspects of games and gaming are treated in a discrete section. With material on non-commercial gaming trends such as ‘modding’, and a multinational group of authors from eleven nations, the handbook is a vital publication demonstrating that new media cultures are far more complex and diverse than commonly assumed in a debate dominated by concerns over violent content.

This book introduces the critical concepts and debates that are shaping the emerging field of game studies. Exploring games in the context of cultural studies and media studies, it analyses computer games as the most popular contemporary form of new media production and consumption. This is key reading for students, academics and industry practitioners in the fields of cultural studies, new media, media studies and game studies, as well as human-computer interaction and cyberculture.

Video and interactive computer games now constitute an enormous industry that rivals television and film. Moreover, gaming is of growing importance in spheres beyond mere entertainment; games and gaming technology are increasingly applied to other ends, including for educational, political, and military purposes. Perhaps unsurprisingly, therefore, the cultural, social, and economic significance of games and gaming is now profound, and ripe for scholarly scrutiny and study. As research continues to flourish as never before, this major new reference resource from Routledge s Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies series offers a multi-dimensional overview of games and gaming culture and brings together in four volumes the very best foundational and cutting-edge scholarship. Edited by the field s leading scholar, Mark J. P. Wolf, the collection encompasses the socio-cultural, political, and economic dimensions of gaming from a wide variety of perspectives. The materials gathered explore issues of game design and development, provide close analysis of games as cultural artefacts, and address issues of policy, such as those related to race, class, gender, and sexuality. Video Games and Gaming Culture is supplemented by a comprehensive index and includes a full introduction, newly written by the editor. "

This book explores the lifecycle of digital games. Drawing upon a broad range of media studies perspectives with aspects of sociology, social theory, and economics, Aphra Kerr explores this all-pervasive, but under-theorized, aspect of our media environment.

In the course of their increasing sociocultural importance, the academic interest in computer games has been growing considerably in the last years. This profound anthology comprehensibly introduces latest approaches in the central fields of game studies and provides an extensive survey of the contemporary game culture. Internationally renowned media and literature scholars, social scientists, game designers, and artists explore the cultural potential of computer games and present new concepts of researching sociocultural, industrial, and aesthetic aspects of digital entertainment.

In this publication, eighteen scholars examine the increasing role of digital media technologies in identity construction through play. This interdisciplinary collection argues that present-day play and games are not only appropriate metaphors for capturing postmodern human identities, but are in fact the means by which people create their identity.