Kirkpatrick Computer Games and the Social Imaginary

1. Auflage 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7456-7190-1
Verlag: John Wiley & Sons
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 248 Seiten, E-Book

Reihe: DMS - Digital Media and Society

In this compelling book, Graeme Kirkpatrick argues that computergames have fundamentally altered the relation of self and societyin the digital age.
Tracing the origins of gaming to the revival of play in the1960s counter culture, Computer Games and the SocialImaginary describes how the energies of that movementtransformed computer technology from something ugly andmachine-like into a world of colour and 'fun'. In theprocess, play with computers became computer gaming - a newcultural practice with its own values.
From the late 1980s gaming became a resource for people to drawupon as they faced the challenges of life in a new, globalizingdigital economy. Gamer identity furnishes a revivified capitalismwith compliant and 'streamlined' workers, but at timesgaming culture also challenges the corporations that control gameproduction.
Analysing topics such as the links between technology and power,the formation of gaming culture and the subjective impact of playwith computer games, this insightful text will be of great interestto students and scholars of digital media, games studies and theinformation society.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Kirkpatrick, Graeme

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter one: Computer games in social theory
1. Gaming and the social imaginary
2. The gamer as a 'streamlined self'
3. Social theory and critique
Chapter two: Lineages of the computer game
1. The revival of play
2. Technology and the dialectic of invention
3. Artistic critique and the transformation of computing
Chapter three: The formation of gaming culture
1. From games as technology to the discovery of'gameplay'
2. The 'authentic' gamer
3. Gaming's constitutive ambivalence
Chapter four: Technology and power
1. Organising an industry
2. Globalisation and cultures of production
3. Technology, power and resistance
Chapter five: The phenakisticon
1. MMPGs in recognition-theoretic perspective
2. The limitations of engineered sociability
3. Gamification and the diminution of gameplay
Chapter six: Aesthetics and politics
1. The aesthetic dimension
2. Art, play and critique
3. Critical gaming?
Notes
References
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Graeme Kirkpatrick is senior lecturer in sociology at the University of Manchester.