Understanding Video Games: The Essential Introduction

✍ Scribed by Simon Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Jonas Heide Smith, Susana Pajares Tosca

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2024
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 429
• Edition: 5
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

The fifth edition of this pioneering textbook takes video game studies into the next decade, highlighting changes in mobile, social, and casual gaming.

This book introduces students to both the major theories used to analyze games, such as ludology and narratology, and the commercial and organizational aspects of the game industry. Drawing from historical and contemporary examples, this student-friendly text also explores the aesthetics of games, evaluates the cultural position of video games, and considers the potential effects of both violent and "serious" games. This new edition includes updates to the history, statistics, and developments in the vast game studies landscape throughout. The book has been expanded with additional theory, research, and insights from scholars around the world, making it more inclusive and broadening its global perspective.

Extensively illustrated and featuring discussion questions, a glossary of key terms, and a detailed video game history timeline, Understanding Video Games, Fifth Edition is an indispensable resource for anyone interested in examining the ways video games are reshaping entertainment, education, and society.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
About the Reader
Structure of the Book
The Larger Questions
1 Studying Video Games
Who Studies Video Games?
How Do You Study Video Games?
Types of Analysis
Schools of Thought
2 The Game Industry
The Size of the Game Industry
The Structure of the Big Game Industry
The Development Process
Roles in Game Development
3 What Is a Game?
General Models for Understanding Games
The Issue of Genre
4 History
A Brief Pre-History of Video Games
Does History Matter?
A History of Video Games
The 1970s
The 1980s
The 1990s
The 2000s
The 2010s and Beyond
Perspectives
5 Video Game Aesthetics
Rules
Geography and Representation
Number of Players
Games Without Boundaries
6 Video Games in Culture
The Cultural Position of Video Games
The Players
7 Narrative
Storytelling
Reception—The Player’s Experience of a Story
A Brief History of Literary Theory and Video Games
Transmedia Games
Final Remarks
8 Serious Games and Gamification—When Entertainment Is Not Enough
Overview and Thematic Areas
Games-for-Change
Games-for-Health
News Games
Political Games
Advertainment
Two Research Domains
Serious Games
Gamification—Conquering the World, One Point at A Time
Final Remarks
9 Video Games and Risks
Two Research Perspectives
The Active Media Perspective
The Active User Perspective
Other Questions
Final Remarks
10 The Future of Game Studies
Video Game Timeline
Glossary
Games Cited
Bibliography
Index