Gaming The World

Author : Andrei S. Markovits
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691162034
Total Pages : 361 pages
Book Rating : 4.34/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Gaming the World written by Andrei S. Markovits and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2013-12 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The globalizing influence of professional sports Professional sports today have truly become a global force, a common language that anyone, regardless of their nationality, can understand. Yet sports also remain distinctly local, with regional teams and the fiercely loyal local fans that follow them. This book examines the twenty-first-century phenomenon of global sports, in which professional teams and their players have become agents of globalization while at the same time fostering deep-seated and antagonistic local allegiances and spawning new forms of cultural conflict and prejudice. Andrei Markovits and Lars Rensmann take readers into the exciting global sports scene, showing how soccer, football, baseball, basketball, and hockey have given rise to a collective identity among millions of predominantly male fans in the United States, Europe, and around the rest of the world. They trace how these global—and globalizing—sports emerged from local pastimes in America, Britain, and Canada over the course of the twentieth century, and how regionalism continues to exert its divisive influence in new and potentially explosive ways. Markovits and Rensmann explore the complex interplay between the global and the local in sports today, demonstrating how sports have opened new avenues for dialogue and shared interest internationally even as they reinforce old antagonisms and create new ones. Gaming the World reveals the pervasive influence of sports on our daily lives, making all of us citizens of an increasingly cosmopolitan world while affirming our local, regional, and national identities.

Author : Lisa Owings
Publisher : Millbrook Press
ISBN 13 : 1728410487
Total Pages : 24 pages
Book Rating : 4.87/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The World of Esports written by Lisa Owings and published by Millbrook Press. This book was released on 2020-08-01 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With huge prize pools, skilled players, and huge tournaments, it's no wonder esports are making a splash around the globe. Readers of this high/low book will learn all about the biggest games, the best players, and the devoted fans defining esports.

Author : Heather E. Schwartz
Publisher : Lerner Publications
ISBN 13 : 1541511980
Total Pages : 36 pages
Book Rating : 4.89/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The World of Minecraft written by Heather E. Schwartz and published by Lerner Publications. This book was released on 2018 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do you know where the inventor of Minecraft got the idea for the game? Explore the history and culture surrounding the Minecraft games, books, and toys. Have fun as you learn strategies for playing the game along with fascinating facts!

Author : Jon Peterson
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780615642048
Total Pages : 698 pages
Book Rating : 4.47/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Playing at the World written by Jon Peterson and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 698 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explore the conceptual origins of wargames and role-playing games in this unprecedented history of simulating the real and the impossible. From a vast survey of primary sources ranging from eighteenth-century strategists to modern hobbyists, Playing at the World distills the story of how gamers first decided fictional battles with boards and dice, and how they moved from simulating wars to simulating people. The invention of role-playing games serves as a touchstone for exploring the ways that the literary concept of character, the lure of fantastic adventure and the principles of gaming combined into the signature cultural innovation of the late twentieth century.

Author : Mark J. P. Wolf
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262527162
Total Pages : 715 pages
Book Rating : 4.63/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Video Games Around the World written by Mark J. P. Wolf and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2015-05-01 with total page 715 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thirty-nine essays explore the vast diversity of video game history and culture across all the world's continents. Video games have become a global industry, and their history spans dozens of national industries where foreign imports compete with domestic productions, legitimate industry contends with piracy, and national identity faces the global marketplace. This volume describes video game history and culture across every continent, with essays covering areas as disparate and far-flung as Argentina and Thailand, Hungary and Indonesia, Iran and Ireland. Most of the essays are written by natives of the countries they discuss, many of them game designers and founders of game companies, offering distinctively firsthand perspectives. Some of these national histories appear for the first time in English, and some for the first time in any language. Readers will learn, for example, about the rapid growth of mobile games in Africa; how a meat-packing company held the rights to import the Atari VCS 2600 into Mexico; and how the Indonesian MMORPG Nusantara Online reflects that country's cultural history and folklore. Every country or region's unique conditions provide the context that shapes its national industry; for example, the long history of computer science in the United Kingdom and Scandinavia, the problems of piracy in China, the PC Bangs of South Korea, or the Dutch industry's emphasis on serious games. As these essays demonstrate, local innovation and diversification thrive alongside productions and corporations with global aspirations. Africa • Arab World • Argentina • Australia • Austria • Brazil • Canada • China • Colombia • Czech Republic • Finland • France • Germany • Hong Kong • Hungary • India • Indonesia • Iran • Ireland • Italy • Japan • Mexico • The Netherlands • New Zealand • Peru • Poland • Portugal • Russia • Scandinavia • Singapore • South Korea • Spain • Switzerland • Thailand • Turkey • United Kingdom • United States of America • Uruguay • Venezuela

Author : Jane McGonigal
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1101475498
Total Pages : 416 pages
Book Rating : 4.92/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Reality Is Broken written by Jane McGonigal and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2011-01-20 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “McGonigal is a clear, methodical writer, and her ideas are well argued. Assertions are backed by countless psychological studies.” —The Boston Globe “Powerful and provocative . . . McGonigal makes a persuasive case that games have a lot to teach us about how to make our lives, and the world, better.” —San Jose Mercury News “Jane McGonigal's insights have the elegant, compact, deadly simplicity of plutonium, and the same explosive force.” —Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother A visionary game designer reveals how we can harness the power of games to boost global happiness. With 174 million gamers in the United States alone, we now live in a world where every generation will be a gamer generation. But why, Jane McGonigal asks, should games be used for escapist entertainment alone? In this groundbreaking book, she shows how we can leverage the power of games to fix what is wrong with the real world-from social problems like depression and obesity to global issues like poverty and climate change-and introduces us to cutting-edge games that are already changing the business, education, and nonprofit worlds. Written for gamers and non-gamers alike, Reality Is Broken shows that the future will belong to those who can understand, design, and play games. Jane McGonigal is also the author of SuperBetter: A Revolutionary Approach to Getting Stronger, Happier, Braver and More Resilient.

Author : Jim Rossignol
Publisher : University of Michigan Press
ISBN 13 : 0472116355
Total Pages : 225 pages
Book Rating : 4.55/5 ( download)

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Download or read book This Gaming Life written by Jim Rossignol and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2008-05-29 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In May 2000 I was fired from my job as a reporter on a finance newsletter because of an obsession with a video game. It was the best thing that ever happened to me.” So begins this story of personal redemption through the unlikely medium of electronic games. Quake, World of Warcraft, Eve Online, and other online games not only offered author Jim Rossignol an excellent escape from the tedium of office life. They also provided him with a diverse global community and a job—as a games journalist. Part personal history, part travel narrative, part philosophical reflection on the meaning of play, This Gaming Life describes Rossignol’s encounters in three cities: London, Seoul, and Reykjavik. From his days as a Quake genius in London’s increasingly corporate gaming culture; to Korea, where gaming is a high-stakes televised national sport; to Iceland, the home of his ultimate obsession, the idiosyncratic and beguiling Eve Online, Rossignol introduces us to a vivid and largely undocumented world of gaming lives. Torn between unabashed optimism about the future of games and lingering doubts about whether they are just a waste of time, This Gaming Life also raises important questions about this new and vital cultural form. Should we celebrate the “serious” educational, social, and cultural value of games, as academics and journalists are beginning to do? Or do these high-minded justifications simply perpetuate the stereotype of games as a lesser form of fun? In this beautifully written, richly detailed, and inspiring book, Rossignol brings these abstract questions to life, immersing us in a vibrant landscape of gaming experiences. “We need more writers like Jim Rossignol, writers who are intimately familiar with gaming, conversant in the latest research surrounding games, and able to write cogently and interestingly about the experience of playing as well as the deeper significance of games.” —Chris Baker, Wired “This Gaming Life is a fascinating and eye-opening look into the real human impact of gaming culture. Traveling the globe and drawing anecdotes from many walks of life, Rossignol takes us beyond the media hype and into the lives of real people whose lives have been changed by gaming. The results may surprise you.” —Raph Koster, game designer and author of A Theory of Fun for Game Design “Is obsessive video gaming a character flaw? In This Gaming Life, Jim Rossignol answers with an emphatic ‘no,’ and offers a passionate and engaging defense of what is too often considered a ‘bad habit’ or ‘guilty pleasure.’” —Joshua Davis, author of The Underdog “This is a wonderfully literate look at gaming cultures, which you don't have to be a gamer to enjoy. The Korea section blew my mind.” —John Seabrook, New Yorker staff writer and author of Flash of Genius and Other True Stories of Invention digitalculturebooks is an imprint of the University of Michigan Press and the Scholarly Publishing Office of the University of Michigan Library dedicated to publishing innovative and accessible work exploring new media and their impact on society, culture, and scholarly communication. Visit the website at www.digitalculture.org.

Author : Asi Burak
Publisher : Macmillan + ORM
ISBN 13 : 1250089344
Total Pages : 237 pages
Book Rating : 4.42/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Power Play written by Asi Burak and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2017-01-31 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The phenomenal growth of gaming has inspired plenty of hand-wringing since its inception--from the press, politicians, parents, and everyone else concerned with its effect on our brains, bodies, and hearts. But what if games could be good, not only for individuals but for the world? In Power Play, Asi Burak and Laura Parker explore how video games are now pioneering innovative social change around the world. As the former executive director and now chairman of Games for Change, Asi Burak has spent the last ten years supporting and promoting the use of video games for social good, in collaboration with leading organizations like the White House, NASA, World Bank, and The United Nations. The games for change movement has introduced millions of players to meaningful experiences around everything from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the US Constitution. Power Play looks to the future of games as a global movement. Asi Burak and Laura Parker profile the luminaries behind some of the movement's most iconic games, including former Supreme Court judge Sandra Day O’Connor and Pulitzer-Prize winning authors Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. They also explore the promise of virtual reality to address social and political issues with unprecedented immersion, and see what the next generation of game makers have in store for the future.

Author : Buffy Silverman
Publisher : Lerner Publications
ISBN 13 : 151248315X
Total Pages : 36 pages
Book Rating : 4.54/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The World of Mario Bros. written by Buffy Silverman and published by Lerner Publications. This book was released on 2018 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Mario Bros. franchise includes hundreds of games, TV shows, movies, and other adaptations. Learn about the history behind the popular game, and discover the influence it's had on popular culture.

Author : T. L. Taylor
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262250543
Total Pages : 206 pages
Book Rating : 4.42/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Play Between Worlds written by T. L. Taylor and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2009-02-13 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study of Everquest that provides a snapshot of multiplayer gaming culture, questions the truism that computer games are isolating and alienating, and offers insights into broader issues of work and play, gender identity, technology, and commercial culture. In Play Between Worlds, T. L. Taylor examines multiplayer gaming life as it is lived on the borders, in the gaps—as players slip in and out of complex social networks that cross online and offline space. Taylor questions the common assumption that playing computer games is an isolating and alienating activity indulged in by solitary teenage boys. Massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs), in which thousands of players participate in a virtual game world in real time, are in fact actively designed for sociability. Games like the popular Everquest, she argues, are fundamentally social spaces. Taylor's detailed look at Everquest offers a snapshot of multiplayer culture. Drawing on her own experience as an Everquest player (as a female Gnome Necromancer)—including her attendance at an Everquest Fan Faire, with its blurring of online—and offline life—and extensive research, Taylor not only shows us something about games but raises broader cultural issues. She considers "power gamers," who play in ways that seem closer to work, and examines our underlying notions of what constitutes play—and why play sometimes feels like work and may even be painful, repetitive, and boring. She looks at the women who play Everquest and finds they don't fit the narrow stereotype of women gamers, which may cast into doubt our standardized and preconceived ideas of femininity. And she explores the questions of who owns game space—what happens when emergent player culture confronts the major corporation behind the game.