Computer games as a sociocultural phenomenon: games without frontiers, war without tears

Abstract

Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors Introduction A.Jahn-Sudmann & R.Stockmann PART 1: GAME DESIGN AND AESTHETICS The Aesthetic Vocabulary of Video Games J.Van Dreunen Can Games Get Real? A Closer Look at 'Documentary' Digital Games I.Bogost & C.Poremba Emotional Design of Computer Games and Fiction Films D.C.Rusch 'Applied Game Theory': Innovation, Diversity, Experimentation in Contemporary Game Design H.Jenkins & K.Squire PART 2: SPACE AND TIME There and Back Again: Reuse, Signifiers, and Consistency in Created Game Spaces P.Berger Another Bricolage in the Wall: Deleuze and Teenage Alienation J.P.Cain PART 3: WAR AND VIOLENCE Programming Violence: Language and the Making of Interactive Media C.Herbst Impotence and Agency: Computer Games as a Post-9/11 Battlefield H.Lowood S(t)imulating War: From Early Films to Military Games D.Rentfrow PART 4: ETHICS AND MORALITY Player in Fabula. Ethics of Interaction as Semiotic Negotiation Between Authorship and Readership M.Maietti 'Moral Management': Dealing with Moral Concerns to Maintain Enjoyment of Violent Video Games C.Klimmt, H.Schmid, A.Nosper, T.Hartmann & P.Vorderer Beyond Good and Evil: The Inhuman Ethics of Redemption and Bloodlines W.Slocombe PART 5: POLITICS AND IDEOLOGY Preconscious Apocalypse. The Failure of Capitalism in Computer Games S.O.Cavalcanti Borders and Bodies in City of Heroes: (Re)imaging American Identity Post 9/11 N.Marshall Anti-PC Games. Exploring Articulations of the Politically Incorrect in GTA San Andreas A.Jahn-Sudmann & R.Stockmann Strip-Shift-Impose-Recycle-Overload-Spill-Breakout-Abuse. Artists' (Mis-)Appropriations of Shooter Games M.Engeli PART 6: COMPUTER GAME PLAY(ERS) AND CULTURAL IDENTITIES Presence-Play: The Hauntology of the Computer Game D.Lockwood & T.Richards Negotiating Online Computer Games in East Asia: Manufacturing Asian MMORPGs and Marketing 'Asianness' D.Chan Teenage Girls 'Play House' - The Cyber-drama of the Sims L.Dyson Cited Computer Games References Index