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Game cultures : computer games as new media / Jon Dovey and Helen W. Kennedy.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextSeries: Issues in cultural and media studiesPublication details: Maidenhead ; New York, N.Y. : Open University Press, 2006.Description: x, 171 p. : ill. ; 24 cmISBN:
  • 9780335213573 (pbk.) :
  • 033521357X (pbk.) :
  • 0335213588 (hbk.) :
Subject(s):
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Copy number Status Date due Barcode
Standard Loan Thurles Library Main Collection 306.46 DOV (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available 30026000003748
Standard Loan Thurles Library Main Collection 306.46 DOV (Browse shelf(Opens below)) 1 Available R19788JKRC

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

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.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [150]-161) and index.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

  • Series Editor's Foreword (p. ix)
  • 1 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)
  • Conclusion (p. 20)
  • Further reading (p. 20)
  • 2 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)
  • 3 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)
  • 4 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)
  • 5 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)
  • 6 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)
  • 7 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)

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Jon Dovey is Reader in Screen Media at the University of Bristol
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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