Computer Games and the Social Imaginary (eBook)

Graeme Kirkpatrick (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF | EPUB

2013 | 1. Auflage
248 Seiten
John Wiley & Sons (Verlag)
978-0-7456-7895-5 (ISBN)

Infos

In this compelling book, Graeme Kirkpatrick argues that computer
games have fundamentally altered the relation of self and society
in the digital age.

Tracing the origins of gaming to the revival of play in the
1960s counter culture, Computer Games and the Social
Imaginary describes how the energies of that movement
transformed computer technology from something ugly and
machine-like into a world of colour and 'fun'. In the
process, play with computers became computer gaming - a new
cultural practice with its own values.

From the late 1980s gaming became a resource for people to draw
upon as they faced the challenges of life in a new, globalizing
digital economy. Gamer identity furnishes a revivified capitalism
with compliant and 'streamlined' workers, but at times
gaming culture also challenges the corporations that control game
production.

Analysing topics such as the links between technology and power,
the formation of gaming culture and the subjective impact of play
with computer games, this insightful text will be of great interest
to students and scholars of digital media, games studies and the
information society.

Autor

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

Inhalt

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

Rezensionen

"It is well researched, well argued, and one of the finest books to
date on the subject of digital games."

New Media and Society

"The classic studies of games argue that play mirrors social life.
But what kind of story must theory tell when society begins to
resemble a game? This is the argument of Graeme Kirkpatrick's
brilliant new book, Computer Games and the Social Imaginary.
Drawing on recent social theory and an original analysis of the
social role of aesthetics, Kirkpatrick makes a major contribution
to our understanding of both games and society."

Andrew Feenberg, Simon Fraser University

"A rich and ambitious attempt to situate computer games relative to
the transformation of capitalism over the last four decades.
Kirkpatrick's thesis - which effortlessly combines sophisticated
readings of the history of microcomputing and games with social and
cultural theory - is nuanced, fresh and powerful. When I finished,
I wanted to begin all over again."

Melanie Swalwell, Flinders University

"Kirkpatrick's discussion of the social significance of
computer games is very thought provoking, and provides a valuable
inclusion to the field of media and game studies."

Christian Dewar, University of South Australia

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 30.10.2013
• Reihe/Serie: DMS - Digital Media and Society
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Informatik ► Weitere Themen ► Computerspiele
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Kommunikation / Medien ► Medienwissenschaft
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie
• Schlagworte: Communication & Media Studies • Computerspiel • Cultural Studies • Digital Culture & the Information Age • Digitale Kultur im Informationszeitalter • Kommunikation u. Medienforschung • Kulturwissenschaften • Media Studies • Medienforschung
• ISBN-10: 0-7456-7895-5 / 0745678955
• ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-7895-5 / 9780745678955