Each essay provides a lively and succinct summary of its target area, quickly bringing the reader up-to-date on the pertinent issues surrounding each aspect of the field, including references for further reading. Together, they provide an overview of the present state of game studies that will undoubtedly prove invaluable to student, scholar, and designer alike.

Table of Contents

• Figures
• Contributors
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• PART I Technological Aspects
• 1 Artifact - OLLI SOTAMAA
• 2 Artificial Intelligence - ROBIN JOHNSON
• 3 Controllers - SHEILA C. MURPHY
• 4 Emulation - SIMON DOR
• 5 Interface - VINCENT MAUGER
• 6 Platforms - BOBBY SCHWEIZER
• 7 Resolution - MARK J. P. WOLF
• PART II Formal Aspects
• 8 Art and Aesthetics - GRANT TAVINOR
• 9 Color - SIMON NIEDENTHAL
• 10 Conventions - BERNARD PERRON
• 11 Game Design - RICHARD ROUSE III
• 12 Dimensionality - JOHN SHARP
• 13 Levels - MARTIN PICARD
• 14 Perspective - JOHN SHARP
• 15 Sound - MARK GRIMSHAW
• 16 Worlds - MARK J. P. WOLF
• PART III Playfulness Aspects
• 17 Casualness - JULIA G. RAZ
• 18 Challenge - ROBERT FURZE
• 19 Cheating - MIA CONSALVO
• 20 Competition/Cooperation - EMMA WITKOWSKI
• 21 Conflict - MARKO SIITONEN
• 22 Interactivity - LORI LANDAY
• 23 Ludology - ESPEN AARSETH
• 24 Objectives - LOUIS-MARTIN GUAY
• 25 Players/Gamers - FRÉDÉRIC CLÉMENT
• 26 Repetition - CHRISTOPHER HANSON
• 27 Single-Player/Multiplayer - DANIEL JOSEPH AND LEE KNUTTILA
• PART IV Generic Aspects
• 28 Action - DOMINIC ARSENAULT
• 29 Adventure - CLARA FERNÁNDEZ-VARA
• 30 Role-playing - ANDREW BURN
• 31 Shooting - GERALD VOORHEES
• 32 Simulation - SETH GIDDINGS
• 33 Sports - ANDREW BAERG
• 34 Strategy - SIMON DOR
• PART V Cultural Aspects
• 35 Convergence - ROBERT ALAN BROOKEY
• 36 Culture - FRANS MÄYRÄ
• 37 Cut-scenes - RUNE KLEVJER
• 38 Death - KARIN WENZ
• 39 Education - RICHARD E. FERDIG
• 40 Media Ecology - KEVIN SCHUT
• 41 Research - DAVID MYERS
• 42 Retrogaming - MICHAEL THOMASSON
• 43 Violence - PETER KRAPP
• PART VI Sociological Aspects
• 44 Characters - JESSICA ALDRED
• 45 Community - CARLY A. KOCUREK
• 46 Femininity - CARRIE HEETER
• 47 Masculinity - MICHAEL Z. NEWMAN AND JOHN VANDERHOEF
• 48 Performance - MICHAEL NITSCHE
• 49 Race - ANNA EVERETT
• 50 Sociology - ANDRAS LUKACS
• PART VII Philosophical Aspects
• 51 Cognition - ANDREAS GREGERSEN
• 52 Emergence - JORIS DORMANS
• 53 Fiction - GRANT TAVINOR
• 54 Ideology - MARK HAYSE
• 55 Immersion - CARL THERRIEN
• 56 Meaning - CHRISTOPHER A. PAUL
• 57 Ethics - MARK HAYSE
• 58 Narratology - DOMINIC ARSENAULT
• 59 Ontology - ESPEN AARSETH
• 60 Transcendence - MARK HAYSE