Social Exclusion, Power, and Video Game Play

New Research in Digital Media and Technology

Inbunden, Engelska, 2012

AvDavid G. Embrick,Talmadge J. Wright,Andras Lukacs

1 889 kr

Beställningsvara. Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar. Fri frakt för medlemmar vid köp för minst 249 kr.

While many books and articles are emerging on the new area of game studies and the application of computer games to learning, therapeutic, military, and entertainment environments, few have attempted to contextualize the importance of virtual play within a broader social, cultural, and political environment that raises the question of the significance of work, play, power, and inequalities in the modern world. Studies tend to concentrate on the content of virtual games, but few have questioned how power is produced or reproduced by publishers, gamers, or even social media; how social exclusion (based on race, class, or gender) in the virtual environment is reproduced from the real world; and how actors are able to use new media to transcend their fears, anxieties, prejudices, and assumptions. The articles presented by the contributors in this volume represent cutting-edge research in the area of critical game play with the hope of drawing attention to the need for more studies that are both sociological and critical.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2012-03-01
Mått158 x 232 x 27 mm
Vikt590 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor282
FörlagBloomsbury Publishing Plc
ISBN9780739138601

Tillhör följande kategorier

Sociologi inom Samhalle och politik
Medievetenskap inom Samhalle och politik
Kulturvetenskap inom Samhalle och politik
Naturvetenskap:allmänt inom Naturvetenskap och teknik

Part I. IntroductionChapter 1: Introduction to Social Exclusion, Power and Video Game PlayDavid G. Embrick, J. Talmadge Wright and Andras LukacsPart II. Social-Psychological Implications of Virtual PlayChapter 2: Marking the Territory: Grand Theft Auto IV as a Playground for MasculinitiesElena BertozziChapter 3: Discursive Engagements in World of Warcraft: A Semiotic Analysis of Player RelationshipsElizabeth ErkenBrackChapter 4: The Intermediate Ego – The Location of the Mind at PlayVanessa LongChapter 5: Producing the Social in Virtual RealmsJ. Talmadge WrightPart III. Social Inequalities in Video Game Spaces: Race, Gender, and Virtual PlayChapter 6: Racism in Gaming: Connecting Extremist and Mainstream Expressions of White SupremacyJessie Daniels and Nick LaLoneChapter 7: Worlds of Whiteness: Race and Character Creation in Online GamesDavid DietrichChapter 8: Gendered Pleasures: The Wii, Embodiment and Technological DesireAdrienne MassanariChapter 9: Sincere Fictions of Whiteness in Virtual Worlds: How Fantasy Massively Multiplayer Online Games Perpetuate Colorblind, White Supremacist IdeologyJoel Ritsema and Bhoomi ThakoreChapter 10: The Goddess Paradox: Hyper-resonance Shaping Gender Experiences in MMORPGsZek Cypress ValkyriePart IV. Game Fans Speak OutChapter 11: To Play is to Design: An Analysis of Player/Designer Interactions in World of WarcraftSean C. DuncanChapter 12: Western Otaku: Games Crossing CulturesMia ConsalvoChapter 13: Beyond the Virtual Realm: Fallout fans, Producers, and the Troublesome Issue of Ownership in Videogame FandomR.M. MilnerPart V. Summary and ConclusionsChapter 14: ConclusionAndras Lukacs, David G. Embrick, and J. Talmadge Wright

As an increasingly popular pastime, video gaming is big business. Well-founded claims of gaming's economic and social importance still begin the many academic books appearing now on the subject--including the book under review--suggesting that video gaming's legitimacy as a research topic is still a source of anxiety. Most work in this burgeoning field is devoted to games as objects--their genres, aesthetics, and technologies. In contrast, this collection of essays investigates the gamers--their motivations, habits, and interactions. Embrick, Wright, and Lukacs (all, Loyola Univ., Chicago) are, respectively, sociologists (Embrick and Wright) and an informatics specialist. They organize the 12 main essays, most by young scholars, into sections that look at "social-psychological implications," "social inequalities" (e.g., gender), and "game fans." Though they have different disciplinary backgrounds, the contributors share a focus on players' social construction--as group actors in World of Warcraft, as individual consciousnesses, as concerned consumers. The power and social exclusion discussed in the text takes place in the worlds of gaming. Thinking about the relation of those ludic politics to the more painful ones of the real world is left largely to the reader. Summing Up: Recommended.