Video Games As Culture

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Video Games as Culture

Author : Daniel Muriel,Garry Crawford
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 194 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2018-03-14
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781317223924

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Video Games as Culture by Daniel Muriel,Garry Crawford Pdf

Video games are becoming culturally dominant. But what does their popularity say about our contemporary society? This book explores video game culture, but in doing so, utilizes video games as a lens through which to understand contemporary social life. Video games are becoming an increasingly central part of our cultural lives, impacting on various aspects of everyday life such as our consumption, communities, and identity formation. Drawing on new and original empirical data – including interviews with gamers, as well as key representatives from the video game industry, media, education, and cultural sector – Video Games as Culture not only considers contemporary video game culture, but also explores how video games provide important insights into the modern nature of digital and participatory culture, patterns of consumption and identity formation, late modernity, and contemporary political rationalities. This book will appeal to undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as postdoctoral researchers, interested in fields such Video Games, Sociology, and Media and Cultural Studies. It will also be useful for those interested in the wider role of culture, technology, and consumption in the transformation of society, identities, and communities.

Cultural Code

Author : Phillip Penix-Tadsen
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 345 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2016-02-12
Category : Games & Activities
ISBN : 9780262034050

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Cultural Code by Phillip Penix-Tadsen Pdf

How culture uses games and how games use culture: an examination of Latin America's gaming practices and the representation of the region's cultures in games. Video games are becoming an ever more ubiquitous element of daily life, played by millions on devices that range from smart phones to desktop computers. An examination of this phenomenon reveals that video games are increasingly being converted into cultural currency. For video game designers, culture is a resource that can be incorporated into games; for players, local gaming practices and specific social contexts can affect their playing experiences. In Cultural Code, Phillip Penix-Tadsen shows how culture uses games and how games use culture, looking at examples related to Latin America. Both static code and subjective play have been shown to contribute to the meaning of games; Penix-Tadsen introduces culture as a third level of creating meaning. Penix-Tadsen focuses first on how culture uses games, looking at the diverse practices of play in Latin America, the ideological and intellectual uses of games, and the creative and economic possibilities opened up by video games in Latin America—the evolution of regional game design and development. Examining how games use culture, Penix-Tadsen discusses in-game cultural representations of Latin America in a range of popular titles (pointing out, for example, appearances of Rio de Janeiro's Christ the Redeemer statue in games from Call of Duty to the tourism-promoting Brasil Quest). He analyzes this through semiotics, the signifying systems of video games and the specific signifiers of Latin American culture; space, how culture is incorporated into different types of game environments; and simulation, the ways that cultural meaning is conveyed procedurally and algorithmically through gameplay mechanics.

The Toxic Meritocracy of Video Games

Author : Christopher A. Paul
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 245 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 2018
Category : Merit (Ethics)
ISBN : 1517900409

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The Toxic Meritocracy of Video Games by Christopher A. Paul Pdf

An avid gamer and sharp media critic explains meritocracy's negative contribution to video game culture--and what can be done about it Video games have brought entertainment, education, and innovation to millions, but gaming also has its dark sides. From the deep-bred misogyny epitomized by GamerGate to the endemic malice of abusive player communities, gamer culture has had serious real-world repercussions, ranging from death threats to sexist industry practices and racist condemnations. In The Toxic Meritocracy of Video Games, new media critic and longtime gamer Christopher A. Paul explains how video games' focus on meritocracy empowers this negative culture. Paul first shows why meritocracy is integral to video-game design, narratives, and values. Games typically valorize skill and technique, and common video-game practices (such as leveling) build meritocratic thinking into the most basic premises. Video games are often assumed to have an even playing field, but they facilitate skill transfer from game to game, allowing certain players a built-in advantage. The Toxic Meritocracy of Video Games identifies deep-seated challenges in the culture of video games--but all is not lost. As Paul argues, similarly meritocratic institutions like professional sports and higher education have found powerful remedies to alleviate their own toxic cultures, including active recruiting and strategies that promote values such as contingency, luck, and serendipity. These can be brought to the gamer universe, Paul contends, ultimately fostering a more diverse, accepting, and self-reflective culture that is not only good for gamers but good for video games as well.

Culture at Play: How Video Games Influence and Replicate Our World

Author : Anonim
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 152 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 2020-11-16
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9789004439788

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Culture at Play: How Video Games Influence and Replicate Our World by Anonim Pdf

What is video game culture? This volume avoids easy answers and deceitful single definitions. Instead, the collected essays included here navigate the messy and exciting waters of video games, of culture, and of the meeting of video games and culture.

Video Games

Author : Arthur Asa Berger
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 119 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 2017-07-28
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781351299947

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Video Games by Arthur Asa Berger Pdf

From their inception, video games quickly became a major new arena of popular entertainment. Beginning with very primitive games, they quickly evolved into interactive animated works, many of which now approach film in terms of their visual excitement. But there are important differences, as Arthur Asa Berger makes clear in this important new work. Films are purely to be viewed, but video involves the player, moving from empathy to immersion, from being spectators to being actively involved in texts. Berger, a renowned scholar of popular culture, explores the cultural significance of the expanding popularity and sophistication of video games and considers the biological and psychoanalytic aspects of this phenomenon.Berger begins by tracing the evolution of video games from simple games like Pong to new, powerfully involving and complex ones like Myst and Half-Life. He notes how this evolution has built the video industry, which includes the hardware (game-playing consoles) and the software (the games themselves), to revenues comparable to the American film industry.

Video Games and American Culture

Author : Aaron A. Toscano
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 163 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2019-12-12
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781793601315

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Video Games and American Culture by Aaron A. Toscano Pdf

Digital media are immersive technologies reflecting behaviors, attitudes, and values. The engrossing, entertaining virtual worlds video games provide are important sites for 21st century research. This book moves beyond assertions that video games cause violence by analyzing the culture that produces such material. While some popular media reinforce the idea that video games lead to violence, this book uses a cultural studies lens to reveal a more complex situation. Video games do not lead to violence, sexism, and chauvinism. Rather, Toscano argues, a violent, sexist, chauvinistic culture reproduces texts that reflect these values. Although video games have a worldwide audience, this book focuses on American culture and how this multi-billion dollar industry entertains us in our leisure time (and sometimes at work), bringing us into virtual environments where we have fun learning, fighting, discovering, and acquiring bragging rights. When politicians and moral crusaders push agendas that claim video games cause a range of social ills from obesity to mass shooting, these perspectives fail to recognize that video games reproduce hegemonic American values. This book, in contrast, focuses on what these highly entertaining cultural products tell us about who we are.

Video Games Around the World

Author : Mark J. P. Wolf
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 715 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2015-05-01
Category : Games & Activities
ISBN : 9780262527163

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Video Games Around the World by Mark J. P. Wolf Pdf

Thirty-nine essays explore the vast diversity of video game history and culture across all the world's continents. Video games have become a global industry, and their history spans dozens of national industries where foreign imports compete with domestic productions, legitimate industry contends with piracy, and national identity faces the global marketplace. This volume describes video game history and culture across every continent, with essays covering areas as disparate and far-flung as Argentina and Thailand, Hungary and Indonesia, Iran and Ireland. Most of the essays are written by natives of the countries they discuss, many of them game designers and founders of game companies, offering distinctively firsthand perspectives. Some of these national histories appear for the first time in English, and some for the first time in any language. Readers will learn, for example, about the rapid growth of mobile games in Africa; how a meat-packing company held the rights to import the Atari VCS 2600 into Mexico; and how the Indonesian MMORPG Nusantara Online reflects that country's cultural history and folklore. Every country or region's unique conditions provide the context that shapes its national industry; for example, the long history of computer science in the United Kingdom and Scandinavia, the problems of piracy in China, the PC Bangs of South Korea, or the Dutch industry's emphasis on serious games. As these essays demonstrate, local innovation and diversification thrive alongside productions and corporations with global aspirations. Africa • Arab World • Argentina • Australia • Austria • Brazil • Canada • China • Colombia • Czech Republic • Finland • France • Germany • Hong Kong • Hungary • India • Indonesia • Iran • Ireland • Italy • Japan • Mexico • The Netherlands • New Zealand • Peru • Poland • Portugal • Russia • Scandinavia • Singapore • South Korea • Spain • Switzerland • Thailand • Turkey • United Kingdom • United States of America • Uruguay • Venezuela

Understanding Video Games

Author : Simon Egenfeldt-Nielsen,Jonas Heide Smith,Susana Pajares Tosca
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 552 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2015-12-07
Category : Games & Activities
ISBN : 9781317533122

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Understanding Video Games by Simon Egenfeldt-Nielsen,Jonas Heide Smith,Susana Pajares Tosca Pdf

Understanding Video Games is a crucial guide for newcomers to video game studies and experienced game scholars alike. This revised and updated third edition of the pioneering text provides a comprehensive introduction to the field of game studies, and highlights changes in the gaming industry, advances in video game scholarship, and recent trends in game design and development—including mobile, casual, educational, and indie gaming. In the third edition of this textbook, students will: Learn the major theories and schools of thought used to study games, including ludology and narratology; Understand the commercial and organizational aspects of the game industry; Trace the history of games, from the board games of ancient Egypt to the rise of mobile gaming; Explore the aesthetics of game design, including rules, graphics, audio, and time; Analyze the narrative strategies and genre approaches used in video games; Consider the debate surrounding the effects of violent video games and the impact of "serious games." Featuring discussion questions, recommended games, a glossary of key terms, and an interactive online video game history timeline, Understanding Video Games provides a valuable resource for anyone interested in examining the ways video games are reshaping entertainment and society.

Independent Videogames

Author : Paolo Ruffino
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 270 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 2020-10-07
Category : Design
ISBN : 9781000201154

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Independent Videogames by Paolo Ruffino Pdf

Independent Videogames investigates the social and cultural implications of contemporary forms of independent video game development. Through a series of case studies and theoretical investigations, it evaluates the significance of such a multi-faceted phenomenon within video game and digital cultures. A diverse team of scholars highlight the specificities of independence within the industry and the culture of digital gaming through case studies and theoretical questions. The chapters focus on labor, gender, distribution models and technologies of production to map the current state of research on independent game development. The authors also identify how the boundaries of independence are becoming opaque in the contemporary game industry – often at the cost of the claims of autonomy, freedom and emancipation that underlie the indie scene. The book ultimately imagines new and better narratives for a less exploitative and more inclusive videogame industry. Systematically mapping the current directions of a phenomenon that is becoming increasingly difficult to define and limit, this book will be a crucial resource for scholars and students of game studies, media history, media industries and independent gaming.

Gaming as Culture

Author : J. Patrick Williams,Sean Q. Hendricks,W. Keith Winkler
Publisher : McFarland
Page : 233 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2014-01-10
Category : Games & Activities
ISBN : 9780786454068

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Gaming as Culture by J. Patrick Williams,Sean Q. Hendricks,W. Keith Winkler Pdf

Since tabletop fantasy role-playing games emerged in the 1970s, fantasy gaming has made a unique contribution to popular culture and perceptions of social realities in America and around the world. This contribution is increasingly apparent as the gaming industry has diversified with the addition of collectible strategy games and other innovative products, as well as the recent advancements in videogame technology. This book presents the most current research in fantasy games and examines the cultural and constructionist dimensions of fantasy gaming as a leisure activity. Each chapter investigates some social or behavioral aspect of fantasy gaming and provides insight into the cultural, linguistic, sociological, and psychological impact of games on both the individual and society. Section I discusses the intersection of fantasy and real-world scenarios and how the construction of a fantasy world is dialectically related to the construction of a gamer's social reality. Because the basic premise of fantasy gaming is the assumption of virtual identities, Section II looks at the relationship between gaming and various aspects of identity. The third and final section examines what the personal experiences of gamers can tell us about how humans experience reality. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Encyclopedia of Video Games: A-L

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2012
Category : Video games
ISBN : 1440878668

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Encyclopedia of Video Games: A-L by Anonim Pdf

This two-volume encyclopedia addresses the key people, companies, regions, games, systems, institutions, technologies, and theoretical concepts in the world of video games, serving as a unique resource for students. The work comprises over 300 entries from 97 contributors, including Ralph Baer and Nolan Bushnell, founders of the video game industry and some of its earliest games and systems. Contributing authors also include founders of institutions, academics with doctoral degrees in relevant fields, and experts in the field of video games.

Video Games and Learning

Author : Kurt Squire
Publisher : Teachers College Press
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 49,5 Mb
Release : 2011-07-09
Category : Education
ISBN : 0807751987

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Video Games and Learning by Kurt Squire Pdf

Can we learn socially and academically valuable concepts and skills from video games? How can we best teach the “gamer generation”? This accessible book describes how educators and curriculum designers can harness the participatory nature of digital media and play. The author presents a comprehensive model of games and learning that integrates analyses of games, game culture, and educational game design. Building on more than 10 years of research, Kurt Squire tells the story of the emerging field of immersive, digitally mediated learning environments (or games) and outlines the future of education. Featuring engaging stories from the author’s experiences as a game researcher, this book: Explores the intersections between commercial game design for entertainment and design-based research conducted in schools. Highlights the importance of social interactions around games at home, at school, and in online communities. Engages readers with a user-friendly presentation, including personal narratives, sidebars, screenshots, and annotations. Offers a forward-looking vision of the changing audience for educational video games.

Video Games and Gaming Culture

Author : Mark J. P. Wolf
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2016
Category : Video games
ISBN : 1138811254

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Video Games and Gaming Culture by Mark J. P. Wolf Pdf

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, this new collection offers a multi-dimensional overview of games and gaming culture and brings together in four volumes the very best foundational and cutting-edge scholarship.

Video Games and the Global South

Author : Phillip Penix-Tadsen
Publisher : Lulu.com
Page : 302 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2019-05-17
Category : Computers
ISBN : 9780359641390

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Video Games and the Global South by Phillip Penix-Tadsen Pdf

Video Games and the Global South redefines games and game culture from south to north, analyzing the cultural impact of video games, the growth of game development and the vitality of game cultures across Africa, the Middle East, Central and South America, the Indian subcontinent, Oceania and Asia.

Video Games and Culture

Author : Carolyn Williams-Noren
Publisher : Referencepoint Press
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2019
Category : Video games
ISBN : 1682825612

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Video Games and Culture by Carolyn Williams-Noren Pdf

Video games have been a part of culture for several decades, affecting the way people interact with each other, watch movies and TV shows, and even speak. Video Games and Culture examines the history of the ways in which video games and culture interact, explores the controversies in this area, and discusses the future advances of video games and culture together.