The Video Game Theory ReaderMark J. P. Wolf, Bernard Perron In the early days of Pong and Pac Man, video games appeared to be little more than an idle pastime. Today, video games make up a multi-billion dollar industry that rivals television and film. The Video Game Theory Reader brings together exciting new work on the many ways video games are reshaping the face of entertainment and our relationship with technology. Drawing upon examples from widely popular games ranging from Space Invaders to Final Fantasy IX and Combat Flight Simulator 2, the contributors discuss the relationship between video games and other media; the shift from third- to first-person games; gamers and the gaming community; and the important sociological, cultural, industrial, and economic issues that surround gaming. The Video Game Theory Reader is the essential introduction to a fascinating and rapidly expanding new field of media studies. |
Contents
Theory by Design | 25 |
Abstraction in the Video Game | 47 |
A Method | 67 |
Postmodern Identity Patterns in Massively | 87 |
Psychoanalysis and the Avatar | 103 |
Video Games Media | 129 |
Corporealized Pleasures | 157 |
Studying Sexuality | 171 |
Video Games and Configurative Performances | 195 |
Introduction to Ludology | 221 |
The Example | 237 |
Interactive Storytelling | 259 |
History Narrative and Temporality in Combat | 275 |
The First Thirty | 303 |
About the Contributors | 327 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Aarseth abstract action activity actor adventure games arcade Atari audience Available online avatar basic body CFS2 character cinema Coleco Telstar computer games create cultural Cybertext defined diegetic electronic elements emotions environment ergodic Espen Aarseth essay example experience explore fictional film first-person first-person shooter function game design Game Studies game world game's gameplay gamer genre goal Gonzalo Frasca graphics Happenings Henry Jenkins heterosexuality identify identity immersion interactive movie interface joystick Ludology ludus Magnavox Odyssey Manovich medium MMORPGs movie games Myst narrative objects onscreen Pac-Man paidia Pearl Harbor perception performance perspective play player possible potential present produced programming representation robots role rules screen Semiotics sense sequence sexuality Sims social space Spacewar story storybuilder storytelling structure temporal term theater theory tion University Press video games Videogames Virilio virtual reality visual York Zidane