ABSTRACT

Video games challenge our notions of identity, creativity, and moral value, and provide a powerful new avenue for teaching and learning. This book is a rich and provocative guide to the role of interactive media in cultural learning. It searches for specific ways to interpret video games in the context of human experience and in the field of humanities research. The author shows how video games have become a powerful form of political, ethical, and religious discourse, and how they have already influenced the way we teach, learn, and create. He discusses the major trends in game design, the public controversies surrounding video games, and the predominant critical positions in game criticism. The book speaks to all educators, scholars, and thinking persons who seek a fuller understanding of this significant and video games cultural phenomenon.

part I|57 pages

Poetics

chapter 1|18 pages

Videogames and Storytelling

chapter 2|17 pages

Videogame Aesthetics

chapter 3|20 pages

Videogames and Film

part II|56 pages

Rhetoric

chapter 5|17 pages

The Ethics of Videogames

chapter 6|16 pages

Religion and Myth in Videogames

part III|56 pages

Pedagogy

chapter 7|19 pages

Videogames, History, and Education

chapter 8|19 pages

Identity and community in Virtual Worlds

chapter 9|16 pages

Modding, Education, and Art