The Meaning Of Video Games

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The Meaning of Video Games

Author : Steven E. Jones
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1135902178
Total Pages : 338 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (359 download)

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Book Synopsis The Meaning of Video Games by : Steven E. Jones

Download or read book The Meaning of Video Games written by Steven E. Jones and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2008-04-11 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Meaning of Video Games takes a textual studies approach to an increasingly important form of expression in today’s culture. It begins by assuming that video games are meaningful–not just as sociological or economic or cultural evidence, but in their own right, as cultural expressions worthy of scholarly attention. In this way, this book makes a contribution to the study of video games, but it also aims to enrich textual studies. Early video game studies scholars were quick to point out that a game should never be reduced to merely its "story" or narrative content and they rightly insist on the importance of studying games as games. But here Steven E. Jones demonstrates that textual studies–which grows historically out of ancient questions of textual recension, multiple versions, production, reproduction, and reception–can fruitfully be applied to the study of video games. Citing specific examples such as Myst and Lost, Katamari Damacy, Halo, Façade, Nintendo’s Wii, and Will Wright’s Spore, the book explores the ways in which textual studies concepts–authorial intention, textual variability and performance, the paratext, publishing history and the social text–can shed light on video games as more than formal systems. It treats video games as cultural forms of expression that are received as they are played, out in the world, where their meanings get made.

Well Played 1.0

Author : Drew Davidson
Publisher : Lulu.com
ISBN 13 : 0557069750
Total Pages : 444 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (57 download)

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Book Synopsis Well Played 1.0 by : Drew Davidson

Download or read book Well Played 1.0 written by Drew Davidson and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2009-01-01 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Video games can be "well played" in two senses. On the one hand, well played is to games as well read is to books. On the other hand, well played as in well done. This book is full of in-depth close readings of video games that parse out the various meanings to be found in the experience of playing a game. 22 contributors (developers, scholars, reviewers and bloggers) look at video games through both senses of "well played." The goal is to help develop and define a literacy of games as well as a sense of their value as an experience. Video games are a complex medium that merits careful interpretation and insightful analysis

The Psychology of Video Games

Author : Celia Hodent
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000194760
Total Pages : 110 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (1 download)

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Book Synopsis The Psychology of Video Games by : Celia Hodent

Download or read book The Psychology of Video Games written by Celia Hodent and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-10-07 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What impact can video games have on us as players? How does psychology influence video game creation? Why do some games become cultural phenomena? The Psychology of Video Games introduces the curious reader to the relationship between psychology and video games from the perspective of both game makers and players. Assuming no specialist knowledge, this concise, approachable guide is a starter book for anyone intrigued by what makes video games engaging and what is their psychological impact on gamers. It digests the research exploring the benefits gaming can have on players in relation to education and healthcare, considers the concerns over potential negative impacts such as pathological gaming, and concludes with some ethics considerations. With gaming being one of the most popular forms of entertainment today, The Psychology of Video Games shows the importance of understanding the human brain and its mental processes to foster ethical and inclusive video games.

How to Talk about Videogames

Author : Ian Bogost
Publisher : U of Minnesota Press
ISBN 13 : 1452949875
Total Pages : 200 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (529 download)

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Book Synopsis How to Talk about Videogames by : Ian Bogost

Download or read book How to Talk about Videogames written by Ian Bogost and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2015-11-15 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Videogames! Aren’t they the medium of the twenty-first century? The new cinema? The apotheosis of art and entertainment, the realization of Wagnerian gesamtkunstwerk? The final victory of interaction over passivity? No, probably not. Games are part art and part appliance, part tableau and part toaster. In How to Talk about Videogames, leading critic Ian Bogost explores this paradox more thoroughly than any other author to date. Delving into popular, familiar games like Flappy Bird, Mirror’s Edge, Mario Kart, Scribblenauts, Ms. Pac-Man, FarmVille, Candy Crush Saga, Bully, Medal of Honor, Madden NFL, and more, Bogost posits that videogames are as much like appliances as they are like art and media. We don’t watch or read games like we do films and novels and paintings, nor do we perform them like we might dance or play football or Frisbee. Rather, we do something in-between with games. Games are devices we operate, so game critique is both serious cultural currency and self-parody. It is about figuring out what it means that a game works the way it does and then treating the way it works as if it were reasonable, when we know it isn’t. Noting that the term games criticism once struck him as preposterous, Bogost observes that the idea, taken too seriously, risks balkanizing games writing from the rest of culture, severing it from the “rivers and fields” that sustain it. As essential as it is, he calls for its pursuit to unfold in this spirit: “God save us from a future of games critics, gnawing on scraps like the zombies that fester in our objects of study.”

Cultural Code

Author : Phillip Penix-Tadsen
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262034050
Total Pages : 345 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (62 download)

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Book Synopsis Cultural Code by : Phillip Penix-Tadsen

Download or read book Cultural Code written by Phillip Penix-Tadsen and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2016-02-12 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. Second Edition

Author : James Paul Gee
Publisher : Macmillan
ISBN 13 : 1466886420
Total Pages : 233 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (668 download)

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Book Synopsis What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. Second Edition by : James Paul Gee

Download or read book What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. Second Edition written by James Paul Gee and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2014-12-02 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cognitive Development in a Digital Age James Paul Gee begins his classic book with "I want to talk about video games–yes, even violent video games–and say some positive things about them." With this simple but explosive statement, one of America's most well-respected educators looks seriously at the good that can come from playing video games. This revised edition expands beyond mere gaming, introducing readers to fresh perspectives based on games like World of Warcraft and Half-Life 2. It delves deeper into cognitive development, discussing how video games can shape our understanding of the world. An undisputed must-read for those interested in the intersection of education, technology, and pop culture, What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy challenges traditional norms, examines the educational potential of video games, and opens up a discussion on the far-reaching impacts of this ubiquitous aspect of modern life.

The Art of Videogames

Author : Grant Tavinor
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 9781444310184
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (11 download)

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Book Synopsis The Art of Videogames by : Grant Tavinor

Download or read book The Art of Videogames written by Grant Tavinor and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2009-11-19 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Art of Videogames explores how philosophy of the artstheories developed to address traditional art works can also beapplied to videogames. Presents a unique philosophical approach to the art ofvideogaming, situating videogames in the framework of analyticphilosophy of the arts Explores how philosophical theories developed to addresstraditional art works can also be applied to videogames Written for a broad audience of both philosophers and videogameenthusiasts by a philosopher who is also an avid gamer Discusses the relationship between games and earlier artisticand entertainment media, how videogames allow for interactivefiction, the role of game narrative, and the moral status ofviolent events depicted in videogame worlds Argues that videogames do indeed qualify as a new and excitingform of representational art

Gaming the Past

Author : Jeremiah McCall
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1136832092
Total Pages : 198 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (368 download)

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Book Synopsis Gaming the Past by : Jeremiah McCall

Download or read book Gaming the Past written by Jeremiah McCall and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-06-17 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite the growing number of books designed to radically reconsider the educational value of video games as powerful learning tools, there are very few practical guidelines conveniently available for prospective history and social studies teachers who actually want to use these teaching and learning tools in their classes. As the games and learning field continues to grow in importance, Gaming the Past provides social studies teachers and teacher educators help in implementing this unique and engaging new pedagogy. This book focuses on specific examples to help social studies educators effectively use computer simulation games to teach critical thinking and historical analysis. Chapters cover the core parts of conceiving, planning, designing, and implementing simulation based lessons. Additional topics covered include: Talking to colleagues, administrators, parents, and students about the theoretical and practical educational value of using historical simulation games. Selecting simulation games that are aligned to curricular goals Determining hardware and software requirements, purchasing software, and preparing a learning environment incorporating simulations Planning lessons and implementing instructional strategies Identifying and avoiding common pitfalls Developing activities and assessments for use with simulation games that facilitate the interpretation and creation of established and new media Also included are sample unit and lesson plans and worksheets as well as suggestions for further reading. The book ends with brief profiles of the majority of historical simulation games currently available from commercial vendors and freely on the Internet.

Philosophy Through Video Games

Author : Jon Cogburn
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 113585968X
Total Pages : 368 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (358 download)

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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 368 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

How to Do Things with Videogames

Author : Ian Bogost
Publisher : U of Minnesota Press
ISBN 13 : 145293312X
Total Pages : 194 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (529 download)

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Book Synopsis How to Do Things with Videogames by : Ian Bogost

Download or read book How to Do Things with Videogames written by Ian Bogost and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2011-08-05 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years, computer games have moved from the margins of popular culture to its center. Reviews of new games and profiles of game designers now regularly appear in the New York Times and the New Yorker, and sales figures for games are reported alongside those of books, music, and movies. They are increasingly used for purposes other than entertainment, yet debates about videogames still fork along one of two paths: accusations of debasement through violence and isolation or defensive paeans to their potential as serious cultural works. In How to Do Things with Videogames, Ian Bogost contends that such generalizations obscure the limitless possibilities offered by the medium’s ability to create complex simulated realities. Bogost, a leading scholar of videogames and an award-winning game designer, explores the many ways computer games are used today: documenting important historical and cultural events; educating both children and adults; promoting commercial products; and serving as platforms for art, pornography, exercise, relaxation, pranks, and politics. Examining these applications in a series of short, inviting, and provocative essays, he argues that together they make the medium broader, richer, and more relevant to a wider audience. Bogost concludes that as videogames become ever more enmeshed with contemporary life, the idea of gamers as social identities will become obsolete, giving rise to gaming by the masses. But until games are understood to have valid applications across the cultural spectrum, their true potential will remain unrealized. How to Do Things with Videogames offers a fresh starting point to more fully consider games’ progress today and promise for the future.

Against Flow

Author : Braxton Soderman
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262045508
Total Pages : 329 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (62 download)

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Book Synopsis Against Flow by : Braxton Soderman

Download or read book Against Flow written by Braxton Soderman and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2021-04-13 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A critical discussion of the experience and theory of flow (as conceptualized by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi) in video games. Flow--as conceptualized by the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi--describes an experience of "being in the zone," of intense absorption in an activity. It is a central concept in the study of video games, although often applied somewhat uncritically. In Against Flow, Braxton Soderman takes a step back and offers a critical assessment of flow's historical, theoretical, political, and ideological contexts in relation to video games. With close readings of games that implement and represent flow, Soderman not only evaluates the concept of flow in terms of video games but also presents a general critique of flow and its sibling, play.

A Play of Bodies

Author : Brendan Keogh
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262345447
Total Pages : 249 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (623 download)

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Book Synopsis A Play of Bodies by : Brendan Keogh

Download or read book A Play of Bodies written by Brendan Keogh and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2018-04-06 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An investigation of the embodied engagement between the playing body and the videogame: how player and game incorporate each other. Our bodies engage with videogames in complex and fascinating ways. Through an entanglement of eyes-on-screens, ears-at-speakers, and muscles-against-interfaces, we experience games with our senses. But, as Brendan Keogh argues in A Play of Bodies, this corporal engagement goes both ways; as we touch the videogame, it touches back, augmenting the very senses with which we perceive. Keogh investigates this merging of actual and virtual bodies and worlds, asking how our embodied sense of perception constitutes, and becomes constituted by, the phenomenon of videogame play. In short, how do we perceive videogames? Keogh works toward formulating a phenomenology of videogame experience, focusing on what happens in the embodied engagement between the playing body and the videogame, and anchoring his analysis in an eclectic series of games that range from mainstream to niche titles. Considering smartphone videogames, he proposes a notion of co-attentiveness to understand how players can feel present in a virtual world without forgetting that they are touching a screen in the actual world. He discusses the somatic basis of videogame play, whether games involve vigorous physical movement or quietly sitting on a couch with a controller; the sometimes overlooked visual and audible pleasures of videogame experience; and modes of temporality represented by character death, failure, and repetition. Finally, he considers two metaphorical characters: the “hacker,” representing the hegemonic, masculine gamers concerned with control and configuration; and the “cyborg,” less concerned with control than with embodiment and incorporation.

Sports Videogames

Author : Mia Consalvo
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1136191992
Total Pages : 318 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (361 download)

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Book Synopsis Sports Videogames by : Mia Consalvo

Download or read book Sports Videogames written by Mia Consalvo and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-07-18 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Pong to Madden NFL to Wii Fit, Sports Videogames argues for the multiple ways that sports videogames—alongside televised and physical sports—impact one another, and how players and viewers make sense of these multiple forms of play and information in their daily lives. Through case studies, ethnographic explorations, interviews and surveys, and by analyzing games, players, and the sports media industry, contributors from a wide variety of disciplines demonstrate the depth and complexity of games that were once considered simply sports simulations. Contributors also tackle key topics including the rise of online play and its implications for access to games, as well as how regulations surrounding player likenesses present challenges to the industry. Whether you’re a scholar or a gamer, Sports Videogames offers a grounded, theory-building approach to how millions make sense of videogames today.

Mazes in Videogames

Author : Alison Gazzard
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 0786492929
Total Pages : 191 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (864 download)

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Book Synopsis Mazes in Videogames by : Alison Gazzard

Download or read book Mazes in Videogames written by Alison Gazzard and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2013-04-17 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the text adventures of Zork, to the arcade game of Pac-Man, to the corridors of Doom, and on to the city streets of Grand Theft Auto IV, the maze has often been used as a space to trap and confuse players in their navigation of gameworlds. However, the maze as a construction on the landscape has a long history before the invention of the videogame. By examining the change in the maze from the landscapes of open spaces and closed gardens through to the screen of the videogame, both mazes and labyrinths are discussed in terms of historical reference, alongside the author's personal experiences of walking and playing these structures. This book shows how our cultural experiences of real world maze landscapes may have changed, and how we negotiate videogame worlds along the various paths and meanings they so often create for us.

Violence | Perception | Video Games

Author : Federico Alvarez Igarzábal
Publisher : transcript Verlag
ISBN 13 : 3839450519
Total Pages : 231 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (394 download)

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Book Synopsis Violence | Perception | Video Games by : Federico Alvarez Igarzábal

Download or read book Violence | Perception | Video Games written by Federico Alvarez Igarzábal and published by transcript Verlag. This book was released on 2019-11-30 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume compiles papers from the Young Academics Workshop at the Clash of Realities conferences of 2017 and 2018. The 2017 workshop - Perceiving Video Games - explored the video game medium by focusing on perception and meaning-making processes. The 2018 workshop - Reframing the Violence and Video Games Debate - transcended misleading claims that link video games and violent behavior by offering a range of fresh topical perspectives. From BA students to postdoctoral researchers, the young academics of this anthology stem from a spectrum of backgrounds, including game studies, game design, and phenomenology. This volume also features an entry by renowned psychologist Christopher J. Ferguson.

The Brawler's Encyclopedia

Author : Jason R. Rich
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1510757481
Total Pages : 306 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (17 download)

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Book Synopsis The Brawler's Encyclopedia by : Jason R. Rich

Download or read book The Brawler's Encyclopedia written by Jason R. Rich and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2019-11-05 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Must-Own Insider's Guide to the Gaming Sensation! Brawl Stars is one of the latest real-time multiplayer gaming phenomena to captivate players all over the world. Players team up in threes to navigate mazes, shoot at enemies, and collect colorful gem stones. In order to triumph, players must react quickly, aim precisely, and develop strategy to perform well in each three-minute match. To keep the game interesting, Brawl Stars offers several unique game play modes, each focusing on a different primary challenge. With the valuable tips in this illustrated, information-packed guide, gamers will be better equipped to: Develop strategies for success at each different level Master the various playing arenas (mazes) and snag more wins Take advantage of the unique features of each gameplay mode The Brawler’s Encyclopedia will introduce young readers to this exciting and challenging game. This full-color how-to guide includes hundreds of full-color screenshots showcasing some of the more collectible skins that can be unlocked or purchase and explaining all aspects of the game in a way that appeals to newbs and experienced gamers.

Gamelife

Author : Michael W. Clune
Publisher : Macmillan + ORM
ISBN 13 : 0374713170
Total Pages : 173 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (747 download)

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Book Synopsis Gamelife by : Michael W. Clune

Download or read book Gamelife written by Michael W. Clune and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2015-09-15 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In telling the story of his youth through seven computer games, critically acclaimed author Michael W. Clune (White Out) captures the part of childhood we live alone. You have been awakened. Floppy disk inserted, computer turned on, a whirring, and then this sentence, followed by a blinking cursor. So begins Suspended, the first computer game to obsess seven-year-old Michael, to worm into his head and change his sense of reality. Thirty years later he will write: "Computer games have taught me the things you can't learn from people." Gamelife is the memoir of a childhood transformed by technology. Afternoons spent gazing at pixelated maps and mazes train Michael's eyes for the uncanny side of 1980s suburban Illinois. A game about pirates yields clues to the drama of cafeteria politics and locker-room hazing. And in the year of his parents' divorce, a spaceflight simulator opens a hole in reality.