Computer Games: Text, Narrative and PlayComputer games are one of the most exciting and rapidly evolving media of our time. Revenues from console and computer games have now overtaken those from Hollywood movies; and online gaming is one of the fastest-growing areas of the internet. Games are no longer just kids' stuff: the majority of players are now adults, and the market is constantly broadening. The visual style of games has become increasingly sophisticated, and the complexities of game-play are ever more challenging. Meanwhile, the iconography and generic forms of games are increasingly influencing a whole range of other media, from films and television to books and toys. This book provides a systematic, comprehensive introduction to the analysis of computer and video games. It introduces key concepts and approaches drawn from literary, film and media theory in an accessible and concrete manner; and it tests their use and relevance by applying them to a small but representative selection of role-playing and action-adventure games. It combines methods of textual analysis and audience research, showing how the combination of such methods can give a more complete picture of these playable texts and the fan cultures they generate. Clearly written and engaging, it will be a key text for students in the field and for all those with an interest in taking games seriously. |
Contents
Studying Computer Games | 1 |
Defining Game Genres | 14 |
Games and Narrative | 30 |
Play and Pleasure | 45 |
Space Navigation and Affect | 59 |
Playing Roles | 72 |
Online Fandom | 88 |
Motivation and Online Gaming | 103 |
Agency in and around Play | 133 |
Film Adaptation and Computer Games | 149 |
Games and Gender | 162 |
Doing Game Analysis | 179 |
Notes | 191 |
195 | |
References | 197 |
208 | |
Other editions - View all
Computer Games: Text, Narrative and Play Diane Carr,David Buckingham,Andrew Burn,Gareth Schott Limited preview - 2014 |
Computer Games: Text, Narrative and Play Diane Carr,David Buckingham,Andrew Burn,Gareth Schott No preview available - 2006 |
Common terms and phrases
Aarseth action adventure game activity analysis Anarchy Online argue aspects audience avatar Baldur's Gate chapter character characterization Cloud Cloud Strife computer games console context cutscenes developers dialogue Diarmid discussion Dungeons & Dragons elements engagement example experience explore fiction film Final Fantasy VII focus function game designers game engine game genres Game Studies game system game text game world game's gameplay gamers games industry gaming culture gender girls Gorion horror immersion instance interactive involves Japanese kind ludic male manga manipulation means modes monsters motivations Mudokon narrator Nirvano Non-Player Characters Oddworld Oddworld Inhabitants offer on-screen online games options particular perspective Planescape Torment player pleasures potential protagonist reader relation relationship Role Playing Games RPGs screen Sephiroth Silent Hill skills social semiotic specific story strategy structures teammates theory Thing tion tradition Video Games visual walkthrough women