Computer Games and the Social Imaginary (Paperback)

Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter one: Computer games in social theory
1. Gaming and the social imaginary
2. The gamer as a ‘streamlined self’
3. Social theory and critique
Chapter two: Lineages of the computer game
1. The revival of play
2. Technology and the dialectic of invention
3. Artistic critique and the transformation of computing
Chapter three: The formation of gaming culture
1. From games as technology to the discovery of ‘gameplay’
2. The ‘authentic’ gamer
3. Gaming’s constitutive ambivalence
Chapter four: Technology and power
1. Organising an industry
2. Globalisation and cultures of production
3. Technology, power and resistance
Chapter five: The phenakisticon
1. MMPGs in recognition-theoretic perspective
2. The limitations of engineered sociability
3. Gamification and the diminution of gameplay
Chapter six: Aesthetics and politics
1. The aesthetic dimension
2. Art, play and critique
3. Critical gaming?
Notes
References
Index