The Functions of Role-Playing Games

Download The Functions of Role-Playing Games PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 0786455551
Total Pages : 216 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (864 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Functions of Role-Playing Games by : Sarah Lynne Bowman

Download or read book The Functions of Role-Playing Games written by Sarah Lynne Bowman and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2010-04-13 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study takes an analytical approach to the world of role-playing games, providing a theoretical framework for understanding their psychological and sociological functions. Sometimes dismissed as escapist and potentially dangerous, role-playing actually encourages creativity, self-awareness, group cohesion and "out-of-the-box" thinking. The book also offers a detailed participant-observer ethnography on role-playing games, featuring insightful interviews with 19 participants of table-top, live action and virtual games.

The Creation of Narrative in Tabletop Role-Playing Games

Download The Creation of Narrative in Tabletop Role-Playing Games PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 0786456175
Total Pages : 215 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (864 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Creation of Narrative in Tabletop Role-Playing Games by : Jennifer Grouling Cover

Download or read book The Creation of Narrative in Tabletop Role-Playing Games written by Jennifer Grouling Cover and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-01-10 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite the rise of computer gaming, millions of adults still play face to face role playing games, which rely in part on social interaction to create stories. This work explores tabletop role playing game (TRPG) as a genre separate from computer role playing games. The relationship of TRPGs to other games is examined, as well as the interaction among the tabletop module, computer game, and novel versions of Dungeons & Dragons. Given particular attention are the narrative and linguistic structures of the gaming session, and the ways that players and gamemasters work together to construct narratives. The text also explores wider cultural influences that surround tabletop gamers.

Role-Playing Game Studies

Download Role-Playing Game Studies PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317268318
Total Pages : 484 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (172 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Role-Playing Game Studies by : Sebastian Deterding

Download or read book Role-Playing Game Studies written by Sebastian Deterding and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-04-17 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This handbook collects, for the first time, the state of research on role-playing games (RPGs) across disciplines, cultures, and media in a single, accessible volume. Collaboratively authored by more than 50 key scholars, it traces the history of RPGs, from wargaming precursors to tabletop RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons to the rise of live action role-play and contemporary computer RPG and massively multiplayer online RPG franchises, like Fallout and World of Warcraft. Individual chapters survey the perspectives, concepts, and findings on RPGs from key disciplines, like performance studies, sociology, psychology, education, economics, game design, literary studies, and more. Other chapters integrate insights from RPG studies around broadly significant topics, like transmedia worldbuilding, immersion, transgressive play, or player–character relations. Each chapter includes definitions of key terms and recommended readings to help fans, students, and scholars new to RPG studies find their way into this new interdisciplinary field.

The Postmodern Joy of Role-Playing Games

Download The Postmodern Joy of Role-Playing Games PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 1476631468
Total Pages : 258 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (766 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Postmodern Joy of Role-Playing Games by : René Reinhold Schallegger

Download or read book The Postmodern Joy of Role-Playing Games written by René Reinhold Schallegger and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2018-02-16 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Historian Johan Huizinga once described game playing as the motor of humanity’s cultural development, predating art and literature. Since the late 20th century, Western society has undergone a “ludification,” as the influence of game-playing has grown ever more prevalent. At the same time, new theories of postmodernism have emphasized the importance of interactive, playful behavior. Core concepts of postmodernism are evident in pen-and-paper role-playing, such as Dungeons and Dragons. Exploring the interrelationships among narrative, gameplay, players and society, the author raises questions regarding authority, agency and responsibility, and discusses the social potential of RPGs in the 21st century.

Dangerous Games

Download Dangerous Games PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Univ of California Press
ISBN 13 : 0520284917
Total Pages : 364 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (22 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Dangerous Games by : Joseph Laycock

Download or read book Dangerous Games written by Joseph Laycock and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2015-02-12 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 1980s saw the peak of a moral panic over fantasy role-playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons. A coalition of moral entrepreneurs that included representatives from the Christian Right, the field of psychology, and law enforcement claimed that these games were not only psychologically dangerous but an occult religion masquerading as a game. Dangerous Games explores both the history and the sociological significance of this panic. Fantasy role-playing games do share several functions in common with religion. However, religionÑas a socially constructed world of shared meaningÑcan also be compared to a fantasy role-playing game. In fact, the claims of the moral entrepreneurs, in which they presented themselves as heroes battling a dark conspiracy, often resembled the very games of imagination they condemned as evil. By attacking the imagination, they preserved the taken-for-granted status of their own socially constructed reality. Interpreted in this way, the panic over fantasy-role playing games yields new insights about how humans play and together construct and maintain meaningful worlds. LaycockÕs clear and accessible writing ensures that Dangerous Games will be required reading for those with an interest in religion, popular culture, and social behavior, both in the classroom and beyond.

The Role-Playing Society

Download The Role-Playing Society PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 1476623481
Total Pages : 321 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (766 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Role-Playing Society by : Andrew Byers

Download or read book The Role-Playing Society written by Andrew Byers and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2016-03-01 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the release of Dungeons & Dragons in 1974, role-playing games (RPGs) have spawned a vibrant industry and subculture whose characteristics and player experiences have been well explored. Yet little attention has been devoted to the ways RPGs have shaped society at large over the last four decades. Role-playing games influenced video game design, have been widely represented in film, television and other media, and have made their mark on education, social media, corporate training and the military. This collection of new essays illustrates the broad appeal and impact of RPGs. Topics range from a critical reexamination of the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, to the growing significance of RPGs in education, to the potential for "serious" RPGs to provoke awareness and social change. The contributors discuss the myriad subtle (and not-so-subtle) ways in which the values, concepts and mechanics of RPGs have infiltrated popular culture.

Shared Fantasy

Download Shared Fantasy PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226249441
Total Pages : 298 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (262 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Shared Fantasy by : Gary Alan Fine

Download or read book Shared Fantasy written by Gary Alan Fine and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2002-08-14 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This classic study still provides one of the most acute descriptions available of an often misunderstood subculture: that of fantasy role playing games like Dungeons & Dragons. Gary Alan Fine immerses himself in several different gaming systems, offering insightful details on the nature of the games and the patterns of interaction among players—as well as their reasons for playing.

Roleplaying Games in the Digital Age

Download Roleplaying Games in the Digital Age PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 1476676860
Total Pages : 242 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (766 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Roleplaying Games in the Digital Age by : Stephanie Hedge

Download or read book Roleplaying Games in the Digital Age written by Stephanie Hedge and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2021-02-22 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Digital Age has created massive technological and disciplinary shifts in tabletop role-playing, increasing the appreciation of games like Dungeons & Dragons. Millions tune in to watch and listen to RPG players on podcasts and streaming platforms, while virtual tabletops connect online players. Such shifts elicit new scholarly perspectives. This collection includes essays on the transmedia ecology that has connected analog with digital and audio spaces. Essays explore the boundaries of virtual tabletops and how users engage with a variety of technology to further role-playing. Authors map the growing diversity of the TRPG fandom and detail how players interact with RPG-related podcasts. Interviewed are content creators like Griffin McElroy of The Adventure Zone podcast, Roll20 co-creator Nolan T. Jones, board game designers Nikki Valens and Isaac Childres and fan artists Tracey Alvarez and Alex Schiltz. These essays and interviews expand the academic perspective to reflect the future of role-playing.

The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games

Download The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 0786460091
Total Pages : 238 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (864 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games by : Michael J. Tresca

Download or read book The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games written by Michael J. Tresca and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-01-10 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tracing the evolution of fantasy gaming from its origins in tabletop war and collectible card games to contemporary web-based live action and massive multi-player games, this book examines the archetypes and concepts within the fantasy gaming genre alongside the roles and functions of the game players themselves. Other topics include: how The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings helped shape fantasy gaming through Tolkien’s obsessive attention to detail and virtual world building; the community-based fellowship embraced by players of both play-by-post and persistent browser-based games, despite the fact that these games are fundamentally solo experiences; the origins of gamebooks and interactive fiction; and the evolution of online gaming in terms of technological capabilities, media richness, narrative structure, coding authority, and participant roles.

Gaming as Culture

Download Gaming as Culture PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 0786454067
Total Pages : 232 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (864 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Gaming as Culture by : Sean Q. Hendricks

Download or read book Gaming as Culture written by Sean Q. Hendricks and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-01-10 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Gaming for Classroom-Based Learning: Digital Role Playing as a Motivator of Study

Download Gaming for Classroom-Based Learning: Digital Role Playing as a Motivator of Study PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : IGI Global
ISBN 13 : 1615207147
Total Pages : 358 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (152 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Gaming for Classroom-Based Learning: Digital Role Playing as a Motivator of Study by : Baek, Young Kyun

Download or read book Gaming for Classroom-Based Learning: Digital Role Playing as a Motivator of Study written by Baek, Young Kyun and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2010-05-31 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As part of an international dialogue between researchers in educational technology, this title investigates where games can motivate students to learn and improve their knowledge and skills.

The Elusive Shift

Download The Elusive Shift PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262360942
Total Pages : 332 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (623 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Elusive Shift by : Jon Peterson

Download or read book The Elusive Shift written by Jon Peterson and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2020-12-22 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How the early Dungeons & Dragons community grappled with the nature of role-playing games, theorizing a new game genre. When Dungeon & Dragons made its debut in the mid-1970s, followed shortly thereafter by other, similar tabletop games, it sparked a renaissance in game design and critical thinking about games. D&D is now popularly considered to be the first role-playing game. But in the original rules, the term "role-playing" is nowhere to be found; D&D was marketed as a war game. In The Elusive Shift, Jon Peterson describes how players and scholars in the D&D community began to apply the term to D&D and similar games--and by doing so, established a new genre of games.

Playground Worlds

Download Playground Worlds PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 298 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (321 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Playground Worlds by : Jaakko Stenros

Download or read book Playground Worlds written by Jaakko Stenros and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Beyond Role and Play

Download Beyond Role and Play PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 324 pages
Book Rating : 4.F/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Beyond Role and Play by : Markus Montola

Download or read book Beyond Role and Play written by Markus Montola and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

The Sailor Moon Role-playing Game and Resource Book

Download The Sailor Moon Role-playing Game and Resource Book PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Guelph, Ont. : Guardians of Order
ISBN 13 : 9780968243114
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (431 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Sailor Moon Role-playing Game and Resource Book by : Mark C. MacKinnon

Download or read book The Sailor Moon Role-playing Game and Resource Book written by Mark C. MacKinnon and published by Guelph, Ont. : Guardians of Order. This book was released on 1999 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Welcome to the ultimate English-language guide for one of the most popular Japanese anime shows of all times! Sailor Moon is a hit with boys and girls of all ages, and is watched on Cartoon Network's popular "Toonami" programming block every day by over one million viewers. This book offers a comprehensive Sailor Moon resource and reference section, including episode summaries, character bios, and series analysis in a clear and easy to read format.

Philosophy Through Video Games

Download Philosophy Through Video Games PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 113585968X
Total Pages : 216 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (358 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Philosophy Through Video Games by : Jon Cogburn

Download or read book Philosophy Through Video Games written by Jon Cogburn and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009-09-10 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How can Wii Sports teach us about metaphysics? Can playing World of Warcraft lead to greater self-consciousness? How can we learn about aesthetics, ethics and divine attributes from Zork, Grand Theft Auto, and Civilization? A variety of increasingly sophisticated video games are rapidly overtaking books, films, and television as America's most popular form of media entertainment. It is estimated that by 2011 over 30 percent of US households will own a Wii console - about the same percentage that owned a television in 1953. In Philosophy Through Video Games, Jon Cogburn and Mark Silcox - philosophers with game industry experience - investigate the aesthetic appeal of video games, their effect on our morals, the insights they give us into our understanding of perceptual knowledge, personal identity, artificial intelligence, and the very meaning of life itself, arguing that video games are popular precisely because they engage with longstanding philosophical problems. Topics covered include: * The Problem of the External World * Dualism and Personal Identity * Artificial and Human Intelligence in the Philosophy of Mind * The Idea of Interactive Art * The Moral Effects of Video Games * Games and God's Goodness Games discussed include: Madden Football, Wii Sports, Guitar Hero, World of Warcraft, Sims Online, Second Life, Baldur's Gate, Knights of the Old Republic, Elder Scrolls, Zork, EverQuest Doom, Halo 2, Grand Theft Auto, Civilization, Mortal Kombat, Rome: Total War, Black and White, Aidyn Chronicles

Rules of Play

Download Rules of Play PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 9780262240451
Total Pages : 680 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (44 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Rules of Play by : Katie Salen Tekinbas

Download or read book Rules of Play written by Katie Salen Tekinbas and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2003-09-25 with total page 680 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An impassioned look at games and game design that offers the most ambitious framework for understanding them to date. As pop culture, games are as important as film or television—but game design has yet to develop a theoretical framework or critical vocabulary. In Rules of Play Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman present a much-needed primer for this emerging field. They offer a unified model for looking at all kinds of games, from board games and sports to computer and video games. As active participants in game culture, the authors have written Rules of Play as a catalyst for innovation, filled with new concepts, strategies, and methodologies for creating and understanding games. Building an aesthetics of interactive systems, Salen and Zimmerman define core concepts like "play," "design," and "interactivity." They look at games through a series of eighteen "game design schemas," or conceptual frameworks, including games as systems of emergence and information, as contexts for social play, as a storytelling medium, and as sites of cultural resistance. Written for game scholars, game developers, and interactive designers, Rules of Play is a textbook, reference book, and theoretical guide. It is the first comprehensive attempt to establish a solid theoretical framework for the emerging discipline of game design.