This book explores patterns of gameplay and sociality afforded by online gaming. Bringing together essays from leading and emerging academics, this book explores key issues in understanding online gaming, including: patterns of play, legality, production, identity, gamer communities, communication, social exclusion and inclusion, and considers future directions in online gaming.

There is little question of the social, cultural and economic importance of video games in the world today, with gaming now rivalling the movie and music sectors as a major leisure industry and pastime. The significance of video games within our everyday lives has certainly been increased and shaped by new technologies and gaming patterns, including the rise of home-based games consoles, advances in mobile telephone technology, the rise in more 'sociable' forms of gaming, and of course the advent of the Internet. This book explores the opportunities, challenges and patterns of gameplay and sociality afforded by the Internet and online gaming. Bringing together a series of original essays from both leading and emerging academics in the field of game studies, many of which employ new empirical work and innovative theoretical approaches to gaming, this book considers key issues crucial to our understanding of online gaming and associated social relations, including: patterns of play, legal and copyright issues, player production, identity construction, gamer communities, communication, patterns of social exclusion and inclusion around religion, gender and disability, and future directions in online gaming.

This book explores gaming culture, focusing on competent players and excessive use. Addressing the contested question of whether addiction is possible in relation to computer games - specifically online gaming - A World of Excesses demonstrates that excessive playing does not necessarily have detrimental effects, and that there are important contextual elements that influence what consequences playing has for the players. Based on new empirical studies, including in-depth interviews and virtual ethnography, and drawing on material from international game related sites, this book examines the reasons for which gaming can occupy such a central place in people's lives, to the point of excess. As such, it will be of interest to sociologists and psychologists working in the fields of cultural and media studies, the sociology of leisure, information technology and addiction.

The Economics of Online Gaming covers basic economic concepts, unique economic issues, and general economic themes. This book is made from the connections that the author saw when he compared his experience inside a video game with what he learned through a formal study of economic theory. Set in the Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) of Eternal Lands, it follows the true story of Mr. Mind, a gamer who builds a business inside the game world that he calls RICH. This business grows from a small start-up to an unregulated natural monopoly that abuses its market power by intentionally losing money to drive competitors out of business. RICH becomes so influential that it breaks the market process with a unique case of regulatory capture. Through this story, the book demonstrates how economic thinking is absorbed by experimenting inside an online video game. The Economics of Online Gaming covers basic economic concepts, unique economic issues, and general economic themes. Each of these topics begins with the context of a story and continues with an explanation of the economic theory behind it, finishing with a relevant real-world connection. It supports economic theory in an emotional way that cannot be shared through math or charts or graphs. Appendix B provides a comprehensive outline of ideas for teaching and discussion in each chapter.

Fully revised and updated this essential resource, Internet Gaming Law, for legal professionals and business executives in the field of internet gaming. The valuable book covers a multitude of new challenges to government, and regulatory agencies that deal with gambling legislation, and much more. This newly updated Edition has expanded coverage on the impact of state, federal, and international laws on traditional forms of online gambling including: ycasinos ylotteries ybingo ysports betting ysweepstakes ygames of skill yday-trading.

A cultural history of digital gameplay that investigates a wide range of player behavior, including cheating, and its relationship to the game industry. The widely varying experiences of players of digital games challenge the notions that there is only one correct way to play a game. Some players routinely use cheat codes, consult strategy guides, or buy and sell in-game accounts, while others consider any or all of these practices off limits. Meanwhile, the game industry works to constrain certain readings or activities and promote certain ways of playing. In Cheating, Mia Consalvo investigates how players choose to play games, and what happens when they can't always play the way they'd like. She explores a broad range of player behavior, including cheating (alone and in groups), examines the varying ways that players and industry define cheating, describes how the game industry itself has helped systematize cheating, and studies online cheating in context in an online ethnography of Final Fantasy XI. She develops the concept of "gaming capital" as a key way to understand individuals' interaction with games, information about games, the game industry, and other players. Consalvo provides a cultural history of cheating in videogames, looking at how the packaging and selling of such cheat-enablers as cheat books, GameSharks, and mod chips created a cheat industry. She investigates how players themselves define cheating and how their playing choices can be understood, with particular attention to online cheating. Finally, she examines the growth of the peripheral game industries that produce information about games rather than actual games. Digital games are spaces for play and experimentation; the way we use and think about digital games, Consalvo argues, is crucially important and reflects ethical choices in gameplay and elsewhere.

In the past decade, digital games have become a widely accepted form of media entertainment, moving from the traditional 'core gamer' community into the mainstream media market. With millions of people now enjoying gaming as interactive entertainment there has been a huge increase in interest in social multiplayer gaming activities. However, despite the explosive growth in the field over the past decade, many aspects of social gaming still remain unexplored, especially from a media and communication studies perspective. Multiplayer: Social Aspects of Digital Gaming is the first edited volume of its kind that takes a closer look at the various forms of human interaction in and around digital games, providing an overview of debates, past and present. The book is divided into five sections that explore the following areas: Social Aspects of Digital Gaming Social Interactions in Virtual Worlds Online Gaming Co-located and Console Gaming Risks and Challenges of Social Gaming This engaging interdisciplinary book will appeal to upper level students, postgrads and researchers in games research, specifically those focusing on new media and digital games, as well as researchers in media studies and mass communication.

This innovative text examines videogames and gaming from the point of view of discourse analysis. In particular, it studies two major aspects of videogame-related communication: the ways in which videogames and their makers convey meanings to their audiences, and the ways in which gamers, industry professionals, journalists and other stakeholders talk about games. In doing so, the book offers systematic analyses of games as artefacts and activities, and the discourses surrounding them. Focal areas explored in this book include: - Aspects of videogame textuality and how games relate to other texts - the formation of lexical terms and use of metaphor in the language of gaming - Gamer slang and 'buddylects' - The construction of game worlds and their rules, of gamer identities and communities - Dominant discourse patterns among gamers and how they relate to the nature of gaming - The multimodal language of games and gaming - The ways in which ideologies of race, gender, media effects and language are constructed Informed by the very latest scholarship and illustrated with topical examples throughout, The Language of Gaming is ideal for students of applied linguistics, videogame studies and media studies who are seeking a wide-ranging introduction to the field.

An impassioned look at games and game design that offers the most ambitious framework for understanding them to date. As pop culture, games are as important as film or television—but game design has yet to develop a theoretical framework or critical vocabulary. In Rules of Play Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman present a much-needed primer for this emerging field. They offer a unified model for looking at all kinds of games, from board games and sports to computer and video games. As active participants in game culture, the authors have written Rules of Play as a catalyst for innovation, filled with new concepts, strategies, and methodologies for creating and understanding games. Building an aesthetics of interactive systems, Salen and Zimmerman define core concepts like "play," "design," and "interactivity." They look at games through a series of eighteen "game design schemas," or conceptual frameworks, including games as systems of emergence and information, as contexts for social play, as a storytelling medium, and as sites of cultural resistance. Written for game scholars, game developers, and interactive designers, Rules of Play is a textbook, reference book, and theoretical guide. It is the first comprehensive attempt to establish a solid theoretical framework for the emerging discipline of game design.

What impact can video games have on us as players? How does psychology influence video game creation? Why do some games become cultural phenomena? The Psychology of Video Games introduces the curious reader to the relationship between psychology and video games from the perspective of both game makers and players. Assuming no specialist knowledge, this concise, approachable guide is a starter book for anyone intrigued by what makes video games engaging and what is their psychological impact on gamers. It digests the research exploring the benefits gaming can have on players in relation to education and healthcare, considers the concerns over potential negative impacts such as pathological gaming, and concludes with some ethics considerations. With gaming being one of the most popular forms of entertainment today, The Psychology of Video Games shows the importance of understanding the human brain and its mental processes to foster ethical and inclusive video games.