Video Games as Culture

Daniel Muriel is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Lecturer at the Leisure Studies Institute, University of Deusto, Bilbao, Spain.Garry Crawford is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Salford, Manchester, UK.

• Preface and Acknowledgements1. Introduction: Contemporary Culture through the Lens of Video Games2. The Emergence and Consolidation of Video Games as Culture3. Video Games and Agency within Neoliberalism and Participatory Culture4. Video Games as Experience5. Video Games beyond Escapism: Empathy and Identification6. Video Gamers and (Post-)Identity7. Conclusion: This Is Not a Video Game, Or Is It?

"There are only few works that aim for a comprehensive mapping of what games as a culture are, and how their complex social and cultural realities should be studied, as a whole. Daniel Muriel and Garry Crawford have done so, analyzing both games, players, associated practices, and the broad range of socio-cultural developments that contribute to the ongoing ludification of society. Ambitious, lucid, and well-informed, this book is an excellent guide to the field, and will no doubt inspire future work."Frans Mäyrä, Professor of Information Studies and Interactive Media, University of Tampere"This book provides an insightful and accessible contribution to our understanding of video games as culture. However, its most impressive achievement is that it cogently shows how the study of video games can be used to explore broader social and cultural processes, including identity, agency, community, and consumption in contemporary digital societies. Muriel and Crawford have written a book that transcends its topic, and deserves to be read widely".Aphra Kerr, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Maynooth University"The monograph’s strongest suit is its ability to draw connections between games and wider society, ethnographic research and (poststructuralist) theory, sociology, and game studies. This is also the point at which the study may not only appeal to undergraduate students and those new to the topic, but also to senior researchers to whom the rise of video game culture will hardly be news."Theresa Krampe, International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (Giessen)