Rent 9780335213573 | Games Cultures : Computer Games As New Media

Summary Table of Contents Author Biography

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.

Series Editor's Foreword	p. ix
Studying Computer Games	p. 1
What is games culture?	p. 2
Theories of technology	p. 4
Interactivity	p. 5
Spectatorship and the 'problem' of immersion	p. 8
Representation and simulation	p. 10
Consumption/production	p. 13
Technicity	p. 15
Work and play	p. 18
... MOREConclusion	p. 20
Further reading	p. 20
Play, Technology and Culture	p. 22
The ludological turn	p. 22
Play theory history	p. 23
The rules	p. 25
The time and space of play	p. 28
The magic circle and its contexts - seven rhetorics	p. 29
The subject in play	p. 32
The social subject in play	p. 34
Gendering play space	p. 36
Technoplay	p. 38
Ludic cultures and critiques	p. 39
Conclusion	p. 40
Further reading	p. 42
Cultures of Production	p. 43
The Trojan Horse in the digital parlour	p. 43
The economic system	p. 46
The developers	p. 46
The publishers	p. 49
The technologists in the economic system	p. 50
The system of technology	p. 51
Upgrade culture	p. 52
Making it real	p. 53
Game engines	p. 57
The system of culture	p. 59
Conclusion	p. 61
Further reading	p. 62
Networks of Technicity	p. 63
Identity, culture and technology	p. 63
Technicity and hegemony	p. 64
Framing technicity - hackers and cyborgs	p. 65
The hacker ethos and mythos	p. 67
The cyborg - manifesto and manifestations	p. 68
From margin to centre - discourses of dominant technicity	p. 69
Magical things of wonderment	p. 72
Edge as cultural capital	p. 77
Gendering technology	p. 79
The invisible 'others' in cyberculture	p. 80
The 'other' histories of computer gaming cultures	p. 81
Conclusion	p. 82
Further reading	p. 83
Computer Game as Media Text?	p. 84
Can a computer game be treated as a text?	p. 84
Case studies in computer game analysis	p. 86
Computer games as fictional worlds	p. 88
Lara as object and subject	p. 89
Identification, investment and immersion	p. 90
Avatar as 'vehicle'	p. 91
Representation and experience	p. 92
Narrative to navigation	p. 93
Character to capability	p. 96
Representation to ritual	p. 99
Conclusion	p. 101
Further reading	p. 103
Bodies and Machines: Cyborg Subjectivity and Gameplay	p. 104
Flow, immersion and configuration	p. 104
Why the body matters in gameplay	p. 106
Bodies and avatars	p. 107
Why the cyborg? - gameplay as cybernetic	p. 108
The cyborg at the machine	p. 110
The cyborg in the machine	p. 111
Gameplay and technicity	p. 113
Gameplay as cyborg performance	p. 115
Cyborg performances and playful selves	p. 117
Cyborgian heterotopias	p. 118
Conclusion	p. 119
Further reading	p. 122
Interventions and Recuperations?	p. 123
Computer games as co-creative media	p. 123
Aspiration, tributes and tactics	p. 125
Productive paradox - women and Quake	p. 127
From piracy to open systems - configurative practice as brand loyalty?	p. 129
A brief history of modding	p. 131
The age of co-creative media	p. 132
Fan art	p. 135
Mod arts	p. 136
Tactical arts	p. 139
Playing at technicity	p. 141
Conclusion	p. 142
Further reading	p. 143
Glossary Terms	p. 144
References	p. 150
Gameography/Ludography	p. 162
Index	p. 165
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Helen W. Kennedy is Senior Lecturer and MA Award Leader in the School of Cultural Studies, University of the West of England, Bristol.

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