ABSTRACT

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.

chapter |24 pages

Introduction

chapter |22 pages

Theory by Design

chapter |19 pages

Abstraction in the Video Game

chapter |20 pages

Immersion, Engagement, and Presence

A Method for Analyzing 3-D Video Games

chapter |16 pages

Hyperidentities

Postmodern Identity Patterns in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games

chapter |25 pages

Playing at Being

Psychoanalysis and the Avatar

chapter |27 pages

Stories for Eye, Ear, and Muscles

Video Games, Media, and Embodied Experiences

chapter |14 pages

As We Become Machines

Corporealized Pleasures in Video Games

chapter |24 pages

Hot Dates and Fairy-Tale Romances

Studying Sexuality in Video Games

chapter |15 pages

Simulation versus Narrative

Introduction to Ludology

chapter |22 pages

From Gamers to Players and Gameplayers

The Example of Interactive Movies

chapter |15 pages

Interactive Storytelling

chapter |27 pages

Gametime

History, Narrative, and Temporality in Combat Flight Simulator 2