The convergence of military strategy and mathematics in war games, from medieval to modern times.For centuries, both mathematical and military thinkers have used game-like scenarios to test their visions of mastering a complex world through symbolic operations. By the end of World War I, mathematical and military discourse in Germany simultaneously discovered the game as a productive concept. M…
Miguel Sicart looks at the ethical component in many computer games, including how players may engage their ethical values in gameplay and the implications for game design.OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.
Here, Nitsche introduces five analytical layers - rule-based space, mediated space, fictional space, play space, and social space - and uses them in the analyses of games that range from early classics to recent titles.OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.
The Nintendo Wii, introduced in 2006, helped usher in a moment of retro-reinvention in video game play. This hugely popular console system, codenamed Revolution during development, signaled a turn away from fully immersive, time-consuming MMORPGs or forty-hour FPS games and back toward family fun in the living room. Players using the wireless motion-sensitive controller (the Wii Remote, or "Wii…
Understanding games as systems, with complex interactions of game elements and rules.Gaming the System demonstrates the nature of games as systems, how game designers need to think in terms of complex interactions of game elements and rules, and how to identify systems concepts in the design process. The activities use Gamestar Mechanic, an online game design environment with a systems thinking…
Thirty-nine essays explore the vast diversity of video game history and culture across all the world's continents.OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.
In the 1987 Nintendo Entertainment System videogame Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, a character famously declared: I AM ERROR. Puzzled players assumed that this cryptic mesage was a programming flaw, but it was actually a clumsy Japanese-English translation of "My Name is Error," a benign programmer's joke. In I AM ERROR Nathan Altice explores the complex material histories of the Nintendo Ent…
How games can make a real-world difference in communities when city leaders tap into the power of play for local impact. In 2016, city officials were surprised when Pok?emon GO brought millions of players out into the public space, blending digital participation with the physical. Yet for local control and empowerment, a new framework is needed to guide the power of mixed reality and pervasive …
Many parents worry about the influence of video games on their children's lives. The game console may help to prepare children for participation in the digital world, but at the same time it socializes boys into misogyny and excludes girls from all but the most objectified positions. The new "girls' games" movement has addressed these concerns. The contributors to From Barbie to Mortal Kombat e…
"Competitive video and computer game play is nothing new: the documentary King of Kong memorably portrays a Donkey Kong player's attempts to achieve the all-time highest score; the television show Starcade (1982--1984) featured competitions among arcade game players; and first-person shooter games of the 1990s became multiplayer through network play. A new development in the world of digital ga…