Game Love

What does love have to do with gaming? As games have grown in complexity, they have increasingly included narratives that seek to engage players with love in a variety of ways. While media attention often focuses on violent emotions and behavior in gaming, love has always been central to the experience. We love to play games, we have titles that we love, and sometimes we love too much or love terrible games for their shortcomings. Love in gaming is rather like love in life—often complicated and frustrating but also exciting and gratifying. This collection of fresh essays explores the meaning and role of love in gaming, describing a number of ways—from coding to cosplay—in which love can be expressed in, for and around games. Investigating how gaming involves love is also key to understanding the growing importance of games and gamers as cultural markers.

His challenge? Make her fall in love with him.Her challenge? Play the player.Until life changes the rules of the game.Maddie Stevens hated Braden Carter on sight. Arrogant, egotistical, and the playboy of the University of California, Berkeley, he's everything her brother Pearce has taught her to despise. So why, when the girls challenge her to play the player, doesn't she say no? She doesn't know either.Braden wanted fiery little Maddie the second he laid eyes on her - and he'd do anything to have her, hence why he's agreed to make her fall in love with him. After all, it's the only way he'll get what he wants. Sex.But, as Braden discovers, there's more to the girl from Brooklyn than he ever imagined - and he can't help but care about the broken girl behind those pretty green eyes.Maddie finds Braden isn't just a walking erection - he actually has feelings. He can be sweet, funny and his good looks don't exactly hurt. That means trouble - but when her brother Pearce turns up in Berkeley begging for her help, she realises Braden and Pearce aren't so alike anymore.And maybe, just maybe, they're exactly what each other needs.

In this “inventive and affecting” historical young adult novel, a black girl and a white boy are pawns in a magical game between Love and Death (Publishers Weekly). Flora and Henry were born a few blocks from each other, innocent of the forces that might keep a white boy and an African American girl apart; years later they meet again and their mutual love of music sparks an even more powerful connection. But what Flora and Henry don’t know is that they are pawns in a game played by the eternal adversaries Love and Death, here brilliantly reimagined as two extremely sympathetic and fascinating characters. Can their hearts and their wills overcome not only their earthly circumstances, but forces that have battled throughout history? In the rainy Seattle of the 1920’s, romance blooms among the jazz clubs, the mansions of the wealthy, and the shanty towns of the poor. But what is more powerful: love? Or death? “Race, class, fate and choice—they join Love and Death to play their parts in Brockenbrough’s haunting and masterfully orchestrated narrative.” —Kirkus Reviews

The game of love -- A leisured class -- Healthy excitement and scientific play -- Real tennis and the scoring system -- The growth of a sporting culture -- On the Riviera -- What's wrong with women? -- A match out of Henry James -- The lonely American -- The four musketeers -- Working-class heroes -- Tennis in Weimar and after -- As a man grows older -- Three women -- This sporting life -- Home from the war -- Gorgeous girls -- Opening play -- Those also excluded -- Tennis meets feminism -- That's entertainment -- Bad behaviour -- Corporate tennis -- Women's power -- Vorsprung durch Technik -- Celebrity stars -- Millennium tennis -- The rhetoric of sport -- Back to the future.

IN STROKE OF LOVE... Kate Paletto runs a volunteer program in Belize for Artists for International Aid, where she deals with self-centered artists who use the program as a means to repair their marred reputations. She loves the country, the people, and what AIA stands for, but too many diva volunteers have turned her off to press-seeking celebrities altogether and left her questioning the value of the volunteer program. When she meets incredibly handsome and charming Sage, he stirs emotions she hasn't felt for ages, even though he represents the things she despises. Laid-back artist Sage Remington escapes his wealthy lifestyle in the Big Apple for a two-week journey of self-discovery to figure out how a guy who has so much can feel so empty. When he meets ultra-organized Kate, who lives her life the way he's always dreamed of living his, the attraction is too hot to ignore, but Sage is there to figure out what's missing in his life, not to find a woman. Every look, and every late-night chat in the romantic jungle brings them closer together, but Sage can barely think past stripping away Kate's misconceptions about him. Kate fights him every step of the way--even though she finds it hard to ignore the strikingly handsome, generous-to-a-fault artist who wants to do nothing more than right the wrongs of the world--and love her to the ends of the earth. **BONUS** Includes the first chapter (sneak peek) of Flames of Love (The Remingtons) STROKE OF LOVE is part of the Love in Bloom series. While STROKE OF LOVE can be read as a stand-alone novel, for even more reading enjoyment you may want to read the entire Love in Bloom series in series order. READ THE FULL LOVE IN BLOOM SERIES: SNOW SISTERS: Sisters in Love, Sisters in Bloom, Sisters in White THE BRADENS (Weston, CO): Lovers at Heart, Destined for Love, Friendship on Fire, Sea of Love, Bursting with Love, Hearts at Play THE BRADENS (Trusty, CO): Taken by Love, Fated for Love, Romancing My Love, Flirting with Love, Dreaming of Love, Crashing into Love THE BRADENS (Peaceful Harbor, MD): Healed by Love (Nate), Surrender My Love Coming Soon - River of Love THE REMINGTONS: Game of Love, Stroke of Love, Flames of Love, Slope of Love, Read, Write, Love Coming Soon - Touched by Love SEASIDE SUMMERS: Seaside Dreams, Seaside Hearts, Seaside Sunsets, Seaside Secrets, Seaside Nights, Seaside Embrace Coming Soon - Seaside Lovers THE RYDERS: Seized by Love Coming Soon - Claimed by Love, Chased by Love

She's earned her position Kate Snyder is at the top of her game. She scored her first national championship at Wolcott University in her undergrad days, and now she's the coaching legend of the #1 college women's basketball team. No one knows the meaning of the phrase "work your way up" better than Kate. So when the university hires a football coach trying to escape scandal—paying him a lot more than she earns—Kate is more than annoyed. He just sailed into his Danny McMillan had hoped for a smooth transition at Wolcott, but the fiery Coach Snyder made that impossible. Every time he and Kate are in a room together, snark and sparks fly. Danny gets her frustration, but her pay grade isn't his problem, right? When Kate and Danny finally see eye to eye, their sparks turn into something even hotter...and they need to figure out if this is more than just a game. Love Games Series: Love Game (Book 1) Play for Keeps (Book 2) Praise for Maggie Wells: "Fun, feisty, and flaming hot."—Epilogue Book Blog for A Will and A Way "Will steal your heart...romance at its finest."—Harlequin Junkies for Going Deep

Amazon Bestselling Author Mickey Miller, brings you the second book of a sexy new duet.We went through all that just to be strangers again.Carter Flynn might love me.But I'm done with him.He may well be the sexiest man I've ever been with, but he has a dark side.It's a hard decision, but I say this relationship is over.Carter begs to differ.I just embrace my new life in New York as a dancer.It goes smoothly until Carter sees me walking home one morning...after I've been out all night at the club with a new man.If we have a happily ever after coming to us, I sure can't see it.The End Game is Book 2 of the Love Games Duet, Mickey Miller's newest steamy contemporary romance series.

A century before Kirby Puckett led the Minnesota Twins to World Series championships, Minnesota was home to countless talented African American baseball players, yet few of them are known to fans today. During the many decades that Major League Baseball and its affiliates imposed a strict policy of segregation, black ballplayers in Minnesota were relegated to a haphazard array of semipro leagues, barnstorming clubs, and loose organizations of all-black teams—many of which are lost to history. They Played for the Love of the Game recovers that history by sharing stories of African American ballplayers in Minnesota, from the 1870s to the 1960s, through photos, artifacts, and spoken histories passed through the generations. Author Frank White’s own father was one of the top catchers in the Twin Cities in his day, a fact that White did not learn until late in life. While the stories tell of denial, hardship, and segregation, they are highlighted by athletes who persevered and were united by their love of the sport.