ABSTRACT

In the past decade, digital games have become a widely accepted form of media entertainment, moving from the traditional 'core gamer' community into the mainstream media market.

With millions of people now enjoying gaming as interactive entertainment there has been a huge increase in interest in social multiplayer gaming activities. However, despite the explosive growth in the field over the past decade, many aspects of social gaming still remain unexplored, especially from a media and communication studies perspective.

Multiplayer: Social Aspects of Digital Gaming is the first edited volume of its kind that takes a closer look at the various forms of human interaction in and around digital games, providing an overview of debates, past and present.

The book is divided into five sections that explore the following areas:

  • Social Aspects of Digital Gaming
  • Social Interactions in Virtual Worlds
  • Online Gaming
  • Co-located and Console Gaming
  • Risks and Challenges of Social Gaming

This engaging interdisciplinary book will appeal to upper level students, postgrads and researchers in games research, specifically those focusing on new media and digital games, as well as researchers in media studies and mass communication.

part I|46 pages

Social Aspects of Digital Gaming

chapter 1|7 pages

Introduction

Multiplayer Gaming as Social Media Entertainment

chapter 2|13 pages

Design Principles

Use and Misuse

chapter 3|24 pages

(Multiplayer) Gaming Around the Globe?

A Comparison of Gamer Surveys in Four Countries

part II|50 pages

Social Interaction in Virtual Worlds

chapter 4|9 pages

Methodology of Measuring Social Immersion in Online Role-Playing Games

Exemplary Experimental Research on Social Interactions in Virtual Worlds

chapter 5|12 pages

Happy Together?

A Gender-Comparative Study into Social Practices in Digital Gaming

chapter 6|15 pages

Player-Centered Game Design

Expectations and Perceptions of Social Interaction in RPGs and FPSs as Predictors of Rich Game Experience

chapter 7|12 pages

Analyzing AI in NPCs

An Analysis of Twelve Games

part III|48 pages

Online Gaming

chapter 8|12 pages

Party Animal or Dinner for One

Are Online Gamers Socially Inept?

chapter 9|13 pages

“There Is No Place Like Home”

The Potential of Commercial Online Gaming Platforms to Become Third Places

part IV|48 pages

Co-Located and Console Gaming

chapter 12|15 pages

Get Together

Console Playing as a Group Experience

chapter 13|10 pages

Family and Games

Digital Game Playing in the Social Context of the Family

chapter 14|11 pages

Playing to Win?

Measuring the Correlation Between Biometric Responses and Social Interaction in Co-Located Social Gaming

chapter 15|10 pages

Anything But Speechless

Face-to-Face-Communication During Co-Located Gaming

part V|50 pages

Risks and Challenges of Social Gaming

chapter 17|11 pages

Living in a Virtual World?

An Excessive Gamer Typology

chapter 18|13 pages

Friendship Quality Matters for Multiplayer Gamers

The Role of Online and Real-Life Friendship Quality in the Relationship Between Game Addiction and Psychological Well-Being in a Sample of Adolescent Online Gamers

chapter 19|8 pages

Isolated Violence, Isolated Players, Isolated Aggression

The Social Realism of Experimental Research on Digital Games and Aggression

chapter 20|9 pages

Self-Discrepancy and MMORPGs

Testing the Moderating Effects of Avatar Identification and Pathological Gaming in World of Warcraft