Understanding Video Games. The Essential Introduction

Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
	About the Reader
	Structure of the Book
	The Larger Questions
1 Studying Video Games
	Who Studies Video Games?
	How Do You Study Video Games?
	Types of Analysis
	Schools of Thought
2 The Game Industry
	The Size of the Game Industry
	The Structure of the Big Game Industry
	The Development Process
	Roles in Game Development
3 What Is a Game?
	General Models for Understanding Games
	The Issue of Genre
4 History
	A Brief Pre-History of Video Games
	Does History Matter?
	A History of Video Games
	The 1970s
	The 1980s
	The 1990s
	The 2000s
	The 2010s and Beyond
	Perspectives
5 Video Game Aesthetics
	Rules
	Geography and Representation
	Number of Players
	Games Without Boundaries
6 Video Games in Culture
	The Cultural Position of Video Games
	The Players
7 Narrative
	Storytelling
	Reception—The Player’s Experience of a Story
	A Brief History of Literary Theory and Video Games
	Transmedia Games
	Final Remarks
8 Serious Games and Gamification—When Entertainment Is Not Enough
	Overview and Thematic Areas
	Games-for-Change
	Games-for-Health
	News Games
	Political Games
	Advertainment
	Two Research Domains
	Serious Games
	Gamification—Conquering the World, One Point at A Time
	Final Remarks
9 Video Games and Risks
	Two Research Perspectives
	The Active Media Perspective
	The Active User Perspective
	Other Questions
	Final Remarks
10 The Future of Game Studies
Video Game Timeline
Glossary
Games Cited
Bibliography
Index