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
Introduction | 1 |
1 Theory by Design | 25 |
2 Abstraction in the Video Game | 47 |
A Method for Analyzing 3D Video Games | 67 |
Postmodern Identity Patterns in Massively Multiplayer Online RolePlaying Games | 87 |
Psychoanalysis and the Avatar | 103 |
Video Games Media and Embodied Experiences | 129 |
Corporealized Pleasures in Video Games | 157 |
Introduction to Ludology | 221 |
The Example of Interactive Movies | 237 |
12 Interactive Storytelling | 259 |
History Narrative and Temporality in Combat Flight Simulator 2 | 275 |
Home Video Game Systems The First Thirty Years 19722001 | 303 |
| 315 | |
About the Contributors | 327 |
| 333 | |
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Aarseth abstract action activity actor adventure games Aporia arcade Atari audience Available online avatar basic body CFS2 character cinema Coleco Telstar complex computer games concept create cultural Cybertext defined diegetic drama 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 heterosexuality identify identity immersion interactive movie interface Ludology ludus Magnavox Odyssey Manovich medium MMORPGs movie games Myst narrative objects one’s onscreen Pac-Man paidia perception performance perspective play player possible potential present Press produced programming Radofin representation robots role rules screen sense sequence sexuality Sims simulation social space Spacewar Steven Poole story storybuilder storytelling structure temporal term theater theory there’s tion University video games Virilio virtual reality visual Zidane