This book explores how after 20 years of existence, virtual world games have evolved: the social landscapes within digital worlds have become rigid and commodified, and "play" and "fun" have become rational and mechanical products.
Twenty million people worldwide play Massively Multi-Player Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs). Online role-playing gaming is no longer an activity of a tiny niche community. World of Warcraft—the most popular game within the genre—is more than a decade old. As technology has advanced and MMORPGs became exponentially more popular, gaming culture has evolved dramatically over the last 20 years. Game Worlds Get Real: How Who We Are Online Became Who We Are Offline presents a compelling insider's examination of how adventuring through virtual worlds has transformed the meaning of play for millions of gamers.
The book provides a historical review of earlier incarnations of virtual world games and culture in the late 1990s, covering the early years of popular games like EverQuest, to the soaring popularity of World of Warcraft, to the current era of the genre and its more general gaming climate. Author Zek Valkyrie—a researcher in the areas of gaming culture, digital communities, gender, sexualities, and visual sociology as well as an avid gamer himself—explores the evolution of the meaning of "play" in the virtual game world, explains how changes in game design have reduced opportunities for social experimentation, and identifies how player types such as the gender switcher, the cybersexual, the explorer, and the trial-and-error player have been left behind in the interest of social and informational transparency.
- 256 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Frameworks and Realities
- 2 Gamer Identity Politics
- 3 Rationalization of Play
- 4 Stigma and Gamer Communities
- 5 Digital Consumption
- 6 Pixel Profiteers
- 7 Gender Authenticity
- 8 Goddess Paradox
- 9 Cybersexuality
- 10 Gamer Masculinity
- Epilogue
- Notes
- Index
- About the Author
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Yes, you can access Game Worlds Get Real by Zek Valkyrie in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Art & Popular Culture. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.