Gaming as Culture

J. Patrick Williams is an assistant professor of Sociology at Arkansas State University. Sean Q. Hendricks is a lecturer and research consultant at the University of Georgia. W. Keith Winkler studied Anthropology and English at Emory University and International Business at Georgia State University. He is an adjunct faculty member at Murray State University in Kentucky.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgments      Introduction: Fantasy Games, Gaming Cultures, and Social Life      I. SOCIAL REALITY1. The Role-Playing Game and the Game of Role-Playing: The Ludic Self and Everyday Life      2. Incorporative Discourse Strategies in Tabletop Fantasy Role-Playing Gaming      3. Social Events and Roles in Magic: A Semiotic Analysis      II. IDENTITY4. Consumption and Authenticity in the Collectible Strategy Games Subculture      5. Desktop Conquistadors: Negotiating American Manhood in the Digital Fantasy Role-Playing Game      6. Playing with Identity: Unconscious Desire and Role-Playing Games      7. The Business and the Culture of Gaming      III. EXPERIENCE8. Online Gaming and the Interactional Self: Identity Interplay in Situated Practice      9. Invoking the Avatar: Gaming Skills as Cultural and Out-of-Game Capital      10. Vicarious Experience: Staying There Connected With and Through Our Own and Other Characters      About the Contributors      Index

“perfect...studious and detailed”—Midwest Book Review; “impressive...superb...insightful perspectives”—Journal of Popular Culture; “this book presents the most current research in fantasy games”—New Books in the Communications Library.