Formation of Gaming Culture

Graeme Kirkpatrick is Professor in Media Arts, Aesthetics and Narration at the University of Skövde, Sweden. His Aesthetic Theory and the Video Game (2011) was recently listed by Edge magazine as one that should be in every gamer's library, while his Computer Games and the Social Imaginary (2013) was described in New Media & Society as 'one of the finest books to date on the subject of digital games'. His first book, Critical Technology (2004), won the 2005 Philip Abrams Memorial Prize from the British Sociological Association.

• Introduction 1. Approaches To Gaming's Field 2. Studying The Magazines 3. Getting A Feel For The Games 4. Game Addicted Freaks 5. Wimps, YOBS And Game Busters Conclusion: Gaming's Field And Game Studies

“The book would be suitable as an assigned reading in courses on game studies and media studies. For magazine teachers and scholars, it offers an interesting theoretical consideration about the role magazines play in tackling the initial indeterminacy surrounding the introduction of new artefacts and technologies and interpreting their symbolic significance for mass audiences.” (Stephanie Williams- Turkowski, Journal of Magazine Media, Vol. 19 (1), 2019)"In the well-known story, the computer game industry 'crashed' in 1982-1983. This important book tells us that this did not happen outside the US. Instead, the lively UK computer game scene continued unabated, and Kirkpatrick shows how it gave rise to both the language and attitudes of today's computer game culture." - Jesper Juul, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Denmark"This piece is unique. It finally enables us to understand how the notions of 'gamer' and 'gaming' became established. A future videogame history textbook.' - Veli-Matti Karhulahti, University of Turku, Finland