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Dungeons And Dreamers
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Book Synopsis Dungeons and Dreamers by : Brad King
Download or read book Dungeons and Dreamers written by Brad King and published by McGraw-Hill/Osborne Media. This book was released on 2003 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Part I. The rise of digital gaming. Together -- Machines at play -- Building community, building business -- Brave new worlds -- Part II. Networked gaming age. Log on, shoot down -- Homebrewed gamers -- Losing the game -- Part III. The era of gamers. Gamers, interrupted -- Unleashed -- Herding gamers.
Book Synopsis Dungeons and Dreamers by : Brad King
Download or read book Dungeons and Dreamers written by Brad King and published by Etc Press. This book was released on 2014-03 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Before the multibillion computer game industry, there was Dungeons & Dragons, a tabletop game created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson in 1974. D&D captured the attention of a small but influential group of players, many of whom also gravitated to the computer networks that were then appearing on college campuses around the globe. With the subsequent emergence of the personal computer, a generation of geeky storytellers arose that translated communal D&D playing experiences into the virtual world of computer games. The result of that 40-year journey is today's massive global community of players who, through games, have forged very real friendships and built thriving lives in virtual worlds. Dungeons & Dreamers follows the designers, developers, and players who built the virtual games and communities that define today's digital entertainment landscape and explores the nature of what it means to live and thrive in virtual communities.
Book Synopsis Dungeons and Dreamers by : Alex Lidell
Download or read book Dungeons and Dreamers written by Alex Lidell and published by . This book was released on 2019-06-27 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two dark pasts. One bond beyond their control. For a month, Coal has tried to stay away from the beautiful cadet who makes him feel things he shouldn't, each day of separation spiraling him deeper into worsening nightmares. Already on edge, it takes Coal one split second to plunge into violence--and find himself in shackles once more. Lera has finally struck a tentative peace with the stone-cold deputy headmaster--that is, until she disobeys River's direct orders and inserts herself into Coal's troubles. Now, locked away in the academy's dungeon, Lera's darkest memories come to life. And someone else's along with them. As the magical bond between Lera and Coal awakens, there's nowhere to run--and nowhere to hide. DUNGEONS AND DREAMERS is the fifth episode in the GREAT FALLS ACADEMY novella series, featuring the same reverse-harem cast as Alex Lidell's internationally bestselling POWER OF FIVE series. (Reading the POWER OF FIVE novels is not necessary to enjoy GREAT FALLS ACADEMY.)
Book Synopsis Virtually Sacred by : Robert M. Geraci
Download or read book Virtually Sacred written by Robert M. Geraci and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2014-06-13 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Millions of users have taken up residence in virtual worlds, and in those worlds they find opportunities to revisit and rewrite their religious lives. Robert M. Geraci argues that virtual worlds and video games have become a locus for the satisfaction of religious needs, providing many users with devoted communities, opportunities for ethical reflection, a meaningful experience of history and human activity, and a sense of transcendence. Using interviews, surveys, and his own first-hand experience within the virtual worlds, Geraci shows how World of Warcraft and Second Life provide participants with the opportunity to rethink what it means to be religious in the contemporary world. Not all participants use virtual worlds for religious purposes, but many online residents use them to rearrange or replace religious practice as designers and users collaborate in the production of a new spiritual marketplace. Using World of Warcraft and Second Life as case studies, this book shows that many residents now use virtual worlds to re-imagine their traditions and work to restore them to "authentic" sanctity, or else replace religious institutions with virtual communities that provide meaning and purpose to human life. For some online residents, virtual worlds are even keys to a post-human future where technology can help us transcend mortal life. Geraci argues that World of Warcraft and Second Life are "virtually sacred" because they do religious work. They often do such work without regard for-and frequently in conflict with-traditional religious institutions and practices; ultimately they participate in our sacred landscape as outsiders, competitors, and collaborators.
Book Synopsis Dungeons, Dragons, and Digital Denizens by : Gerald A. Voorhees
Download or read book Dungeons, Dragons, and Digital Denizens written by Gerald A. Voorhees and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2012-02-16 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dungeons, Dragons, and Digital Denizens is a collection of scholarly essays that seeks to represent the far-reaching scope and implications of digital role-playing games as both cultural and academic artifacts. As a genre, digital role playing games have undergone constant and radical revision, pushing not only multiple boundaries of game development, but also the playing strategies and experiences of players. Divided into three distinct sections, this premiere volume captures the distinctiveness of different game types, the forms of play they engender and their social and cultural implications. Contributors examine a range of games, from classics like Final Fantasy to blockbusters like World of Warcraft to obscure genre bending titles like Lux Pain. Working from a broad range of disciplines such as ecocritism, rhetoric, performance, gender, and communication, these essays yield insights that enrich the field of game studies and further illuminate the cultural, psychological and philosophical implications of a society that increasingly produces, plays and discourses about role playing games.
Download or read book Slaying the Dragon written by Ben Riggs and published by Jabberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.. This book was released on 2022-07-19 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dungeons & Dragons. It’s the fantasy role-playing game first conceived over fifty years ago by the now-legendary company TSR ,which has enthralled millions of devoted gamers around the world for generations. It’s a test of skill, intelligence, audacity, and survival. But no D&D game ever played could compare to the stunning behind-the-scenes melee for power and dominance that was the true story of TSR. Slaying the Dragon chronicles the rise and fall of TSR (Tactical Studies Rules), how the brilliant and wild minds of the legendary Gary Gygax and his co-creator Dave Arneson gave birth to a game that would capture the imagination of outsiders and underdogs throughout the world. From its humble beginnings in the small town of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin to its emergence as a cultural phenomenon, TSR soon spawned an unlikely empire of games and geekdom—with Dungeons & Dragons leading the way—that was decades ahead of its time, inviting both hyper-devoted fans as well as hysteria surrounding the game’s supposed corrupting influence on America’s youth. TSR was in the news, in the money, and on top of the world. But success soon took its toll, with creative control and rivalries within the firm threatening the stability of TSR. Former allies grew apart personally and professionally, and the formerly fun, freewheeling firm founded by a band of misfits collapsed into a desperate struggle for survival. Despite attempts to grow in a changing market, setbacks and management decisions put TSR in a downward spiral in the 1990s which resulted in the company's death and then resurrection by the most unlikely of saviors. With author access to previously unreleased documents and insider stories, and interviews with former TSR employees and associates who witnessed the high-stakes machinations and maneuvering that would eventually seal the company’s fate, Slaying the Dragon is a fascinating, revealing tale of friends turned enemies, success and failure, and loyalty and betrayal that no roll of the die could predict... "Riggs has written a fascinating and dishy account of the business hits and whistling misses of a band of dreamers, writers, artists, and geeks... A must-read for fighters, magic-users, and even bards -- and everyone else, too." — Brad Ricca, Edgar-nominated author of Mrs. Sherlock Holmes and True Raiders"Far from a fluff piece on a beloved hobby, this book goes behind the GM's screen to take a hard-nosed look at the people and circumstances that first gave rise to D&D, then nearly killed it -- twice. Riggs takes you on a roller-coaster from boom to near bankruptcy, but never loses sight of the individuals involved, the good, the bad, and the geeky." — Marie Brennan, Hugo-Award nominated author of the Memoirs of Lady Trent series
Download or read book Seven Sublimes written by David E. Nye and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2022-05-17 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A reconception of the sublime to include experiences of disaster, war, outer space, virtual reality, and the Anthropocene. We experience the sublime—overwhelming amazement and exhilaration—in at least seven different forms. Gazing from the top of a mountain at a majestic vista is not the same thing as looking at a city from the observation deck of a skyscraper; looking at images constructed from Hubble Space Telescope data is not the same as living through a powerful earthquake. The varieties of sublime experience have increased during the last two centuries, and we need an expanded terminology to distinguish between them. In this book, David Nye delineates seven forms of the sublime: natural, technological, disastrous, martial, intangible, digital, and environmental, which express seven different relationships to space, time, and identity. These forms of the sublime can be experienced at historic sites, ruins, cities, national parks, or on the computer screen. We find them in beautiful landscapes and gigantic dams, in battle and on battlefields, in images of black holes and microscopic particles. The older forms are tangible, when we are physically present and our senses are fully engaged; increasingly, others are intangible, mediated through technology. Nye examines each of the seven sublimes, framed by philosophy but focused on historical examples.
Book Synopsis Virtual Ascendance by : Devin C. Griffiths
Download or read book Virtual Ascendance written by Devin C. Griffiths and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2013-09-19 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Video gaming is wildly popular and getting even more so as interfaces and devices improve. This popular account of the rise of gaming offers insight into its popularity and place in our culture as well as the impact it has on our daily lives – from the doctor’s office to the family room sofa.
Download or read book Quests written by Jeff Howard and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2022-04-24 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Combining theory and practice, this updated new edition provides a complete overview of how to create deep and meaningful quests for games. It uses the Unity game engine in conjunction with Fungus and other free plugins to provide an accessible entry into quest design. The book begins with an introduction to the theory and history of quests in games, before covering four theoretical components of quests: their spaces, objects, actors, and challenges. Each chapter also includes a practical section, with accompanying exercises and suggestions for the use of specific technologies for four crucial aspects of quest design: • level design • quest item creation • NPC and dialogue construction • scripting This book will be of great interest to all game designers looking to create new, innovative quests in their games. It will also appeal to new media researchers, as well as humanities scholars in the fields of mythology and depth-psychology that want to bring computer-assisted instruction into their classroom in an innovative way. The companion website includes lecture and workshop slides, and can be accessed at: www.designingquests.com
Book Synopsis Online Games, Social Narratives by : Esther MacCallum-Stewart
Download or read book Online Games, Social Narratives written by Esther MacCallum-Stewart and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-06-13 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The study of online gaming is changing. It is no longer enough to analyse one type of online community in order to understand the plethora of players who take part in online worlds and the behaviours they exhibit. MacCallum-Stewart studies the different ways in which online games create social environments and how players choose to interpret these. These games vary from the immensely popular social networking games on Facebook such as Farmville to Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games to "Free to Play" online gaming and console communities such as players of Xbox Live and PS3 games. Each chapter deals with a different aspect of social gaming online, breaking down when games are social and what narrative devices make them so. This cross-disciplinary study will appeal to those interested in cyberculture, the evolution of gaming technology, and sociologies of media.
Book Synopsis An Introduction to Game Studies by : Frans Mäyrä
Download or read book An Introduction to Game Studies written by Frans Mäyrä and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2008-02-18 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Introduction to Game Studies is the first introductory textbook for students of game studies. It provides a conceptual overview of the cultural, social and economic significance of computer and video games and traces the history of game culture and the emergence of game studies as a field of research. Key concepts and theories are illustrated with discussion of games taken from different historical phases of game culture. Progressing from the simple, yet engaging gameplay of Pong and text-based adventure games to the complex virtual worlds of contemporary online games, the book guides students towards analytical appreciation and critical engagement with gaming and game studies. Students will learn to: - Understand and analyse different aspects of phenomena we recognise as ′game′ and play′ - Identify the key developments in digital game design through discussion of action in games of the 1970s, fiction and adventure in games of the 1980s, three-dimensionality in games of the 1990s, and social aspects of gameplay in contemporary online games - Understand games as dynamic systems of meaning-making - Interpret the context of games as ′culture′ and subculture - Analyse the relationship between technology and interactivity and between ′game′ and ′reality′ - Situate games within the context of digital culture and the information society With further reading suggestions, images, exercises, online resources and a whole chapter devoted to preparing students to do their own game studies project, An Introduction to Game Studies is the complete toolkit for all students pursuing the study of games. The companion website at www.sagepub.co.uk/mayra contains slides and assignments that are suitable for self-study as well as for classroom use. Students will also benefit from online resources at www.gamestudiesbook.net, which will be regularly blogged and updated by the author. Professor Frans Mäyrä is a Professor of Games Studies and Digital Culture at the Hypermedia Laboratory in the University of Tampere, Finland.
Download or read book Vintage Games 2.0 written by Matt Barton and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2019-05-08 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Super Mario Bros. Doom. Minecraft. It’s hard to imagine what life would be like today without video games, a creative industry that now towers over Hollywood in terms of both financial and cultural impact. The video game industry caters to everyone, with games in every genre for every conceivable electronic device--from dedicated PC gaming rigs and consoles to handhelds, mobile phones, and tablets. Successful games are produced by mega-corporations, independent studios, and even lone developers working with nothing but free tools. Some may still believe that video games are mere diversions for children, but today’s games offer sophisticated and wondrously immersive experiences that no other media can hope to match. Vintage Games 2.0 tells the story of the ultimate storytelling medium, from early examples such as Spacewar! and Pong to the mind blowing console and PC titles of today. Written in a smart and engaging style, this updated 2nd edition is far more than just a survey of the classics. Informed by hundreds of in-depth personal interviews with designers, publishers, marketers, and artists--not to mention the author’s own lifelong experience as a gamer--Vintage Games 2.0 uncovers the remarkable feats of intellectual genius, but also the inspiring personal struggles of the world’s most brilliant and celebrated game designers--figures like Shigeru Miyamoto, Will Wright, and Roberta Williams. Ideal for both beginners and professionals, Vintage Games 2.0 offers an entertaining and inspiring account of video game’s history and meteoric rise from niche market to global phenomenon. Credit for the cover belongs to Thor Thorvaldson.
Book Synopsis Before the Crash by : Mark J. P. Wolf
Download or read book Before the Crash written by Mark J. P. Wolf and published by Wayne State University Press. This book was released on 2012-06-15 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contributors examine the early days of video game history before the industry crash of 1983 that ended the medium’s golden age. Following the first appearance of arcade video games in 1971 and home video game systems in 1972, the commercial video game market was exuberant with fast-paced innovation and profit. New games, gaming systems, and technologies flooded into the market until around 1983, when sales of home game systems dropped, thousands of arcades closed, and major video game makers suffered steep losses or left the market altogether. In Before the Crash: Early Video Game History, editor Mark J. P. Wolf assembles essays that examine the fleeting golden age of video games, an era sometimes overlooked for older games’ lack of availability or their perceived "primitiveness" when compared to contemporary video games. In twelve chapters, contributors consider much of what was going on during the pre-crash era: arcade games, home game consoles, home computer games, handheld games, and even early online games. The technologies of early video games are investigated, as well as the cultural context of the early period—from aesthetic, economic, industrial, and legal perspectives. Since the video game industry and culture got their start and found their form in this era, these years shaped much of what video games would come to be. This volume of early history, then, not only helps readers to understand the pre-crash era, but also reveals much about the present state of the industry. Before the Crash will give readers a thorough overview of the early days of video games along with a sense of the optimism, enthusiasm, and excitement of those times. Students and teachers of media studies will enjoy this compelling volume.
Book Synopsis The Year’s Work in Medievalism, 2011 by : Edward L. Risden
Download or read book The Year’s Work in Medievalism, 2011 written by Edward L. Risden and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2012-12-20 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Year's Work in Medievalism includes vetted essays from the Studies in Medievalism--now International Society for the Study of Medievalism--annual conference and from submissions to the editor throughout the year. The current volume includes a range of topics from medievalism in literature and art to the neomedievalism of movies and games. It includes these scholarly contributions: E. L. Risden, Introductory Letter from the Editor Gwendolyn Morgan, Recollections of Medievalism Richard Utz, Them Philologists: Philological Practices and Their Discontents from Nietzsche to Cerquiglini Clare Simmons, Really Ancient Druids in British Medievalist Drama Karl Fugelso, Neomedievalisms in Tom Phillips' Commedia Illustrations Jason Fisher, Some Contributions to Middle-earth Lexicography: Hapax Legomena in The Lord of the Rings Simon Roffey, The World of Warcraft: A Medievalist Perspective William Hodapp, Arthur, Beowulf, Robin Hood, and Hollywood's Desire for Origins M. J. Toswell, The Arthurian Landscapes of Guy Gavriel Kay
Book Synopsis The Digital Hand by : James W. Cortada
Download or read book The Digital Hand written by James W. Cortada and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2005-11-03 with total page 646 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Digital Hand, Volume 2, is a historical survey of how computers and telecommunications have been deployed in over a dozen industries in the financial, telecommunications, media and entertainment sectors over the past half century. It is past of a sweeping three-volume description of how management in some forty industries embraced the computer and changed the American economy. Computers have fundamentally changed the nature of work in America. However it is difficult to grasp the full extent of these changes and their implications for the future of business. To begin the long process of understanding the effects of computing in American business, we need to know the history of how computers were first used, by whom and why. In this, the second volume of The Digital Hand, James W. Cortada combines detailed analysis with narrative history to provide a broad overview of computing's and telecomunications' role in over a dozen industries, ranging from Old Economy sectors like finance and publishing to New Economy sectors like digital photography and video games. He also devotes considerable attention to the rapidly changing media and entertainment industries which are now some of the most technologically advanced in the American economy. Beginning in 1950, when commercial applications of digital technology began to appear, Cortada examines the ways different industries adopted new technologies, as well as the ways their innovative applications influenced other industries and the US economy as a whole. He builds on the surveys presented in the first volume of the series, which examined sixteen manufacturing, process, transportation, wholesale and retail industries. In addition to this account, of computers' impact on industries, Cortada also demonstrates how industries themselves influenced the nature of digital technology. Managers, historians and others interested in the history of modern business will appreciate this historical analysis of digital technology's many roles and future possibilities in an wide array of industries. The Digital Hand provides a detailed picture of what the infrastructure of the Information Age really looks like and how we got there.
Book Synopsis Escape Emeralda by : Bill H. Ritchie
Download or read book Escape Emeralda written by Bill H. Ritchie and published by Ritchie's Perfect Press. This book was released on 2023-11-30 with total page 879 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: My life, from my birthday to the last decade of 1900s, is a spectrum of events both good and bad as I follow T. S. Elliot’s lines, “We shall not cease from exploration, And the end of all our exploring, Will be to arrive where we started, And know the place for the first time.” Growing up on my father’s farm, there was plenty of exploration, but I never went back to the farm. Far from it! My explorations took me where no teacher in my main field, which is printmaking, had gone because I was hired at 24 by a major research university where its campus services gave me a head start exploring electronic arts and computers, I could blend with teaching printmaking. Ironically, while these brought opportunities, there were hidden limitations. In the 1980s I gambled our home to take us on a vast sabbatical research project for the university. We returned to find the school corrupt, and so it ended my career. Fortunately, I married well. My high school sweetheart, Lynda, stayed with me even on my wayward ventures. In addition she brought two fine daughters to our lives. And had it not been for her ability to restore our property, my exploring would have ended forever. Because, when the art school closed its door, others opened. Everything I learned in nineteen years at the UW prepared me to continue privately. By 1990, I was on cloud nine and the Internet was within my grasp. These are the words from one of two volumes I illustrated with a thousand pictures. What autobiography of a teaching artist’s life would be complete without pictures? Not only my art, but my students’, and from collaborations with diverse artists, crafts people, designers, and writers. Plus QR codes! It is for anyone who loves a good read about teaching art as I was known for in Seattle, but also about an old professor’s family, friends, art patrons, and former students who made it possible. It continues in Volume 2. Volume 1 takes this farmboy to the approach of the information superhighway.
Download or read book Porn & Pong written by Damon Brown and published by Feral House. This book was released on 2008 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores, for the first time, how pornography and video games have influenced the world's sexual mores and technological compulsions on a massive scale. The first Atari systems and their phallic joysticks sold by the millions, reality TV skyrocketed at the same time The Sims took off and the surgically-endowed Pamela Anderson was outshone by only one other woman: Lara Croft. Porn & Pong examines how politics, hidden agendas and financial pressure affect the controversial art forms of gaming and pornography.
