Mia Consalvo

Gaining Advantage in Videogames

Cheating

The cross-cultural interactions of Japanese videogames and the West, from DIY localization by fans to corporate strategies of "Japaneseness."

Japan's Videogames in Global Contexts

Atari to Zelda

A cultural history of digital gameplay that investigates a wide range of player behavior, including cheating, and its relationship to the game industry.

Charles Ess

The Handbook of Internet Studies brings together scholars from a variety of fields to explore the profound shift that has occurred in how we communicate and experience our world as we have moved from the industrial era into the age of digital media. Presents a wide range of original essays by established scholars in everything from online ethics to ways in which indigenous peoples now use the Internet Looks at the role of the internet in modern societies, and the continuing development of internet studies as an academic field Explores Internet studies through history, society, culture, and the future of online media Provides introductory frameworks to ground and orientate the student, while also providing more experienced scholars with a convenient and comprehensive overview of the latest trends and critical directions in the many areas of Internet research

The Handbook of Internet Studies

Jeremy Hunsinger

Klaus Bruhn Jensen

Monica Murero

John Logie

Nancy Baym

Internet Research Annual offers a selection of the best work presented at the first three conferences of the Association of Internet Researchers, and provides a useful overview of the cutting-edge in Internet studies. Established scholars and new researchers address issues such as communities on/off line, the Internet as a methodological tool and space for research, and the places, politics, and policies of the Internet, creating a volume that comprehensively covers the field of Internet research. Also included are a brief history of the organization, a list of previously published papers from the conferences, and works by several of the keynote speakers including Phil Agre, Barbara Warnick, Bill Dutton, Sheizaf Rafaeli, Susan Herring, Robin Mansell, and much more.

Selected Papers from the Association of Internet Researchers Conferences 2000-2002, Volume 1

Internet Research Annual

"In Cheating, Mia Consalvo investigates how players choose to play games and what happens when they can't always play the way they'd like. She explores a broad range of player behavior, including cheating (alone and in groups); examines the varying ways that players and industry define cheating; describes how the game industry itself has helped systematize cheating; and studies online cheating in context in an online ethnography of Final Fantasy XI."--Jacket.

Matthew Allen

This collection brings together the most interesting and outstanding papers from the Internet Research Conference held in Toronto in 2003. Taken individually, each paper makes an important contribution to the emerging field of Internet research, but the collection as a whole presents key perspectives on the most significant directions in the field. In particular, the papers discuss how we must now consider the relationship of Internet-based activities to those «offline», rather than concentrating exclusively on the virtual. Papers advance important ideas and present research findings in relation to information theory, the Internet at home, theorizing time and the Internet, online activism, the digital divide, and more. This annual, the second in the series, demonstrates the vibrant and diverse nature of Internet scholarship fostered by the Association of Internet Researchers.

The cross-cultural interactions of Japanese videogames and the West, from DIY localization by fans to corporate strategies of “Japaneseness.” In the early days of arcades and Nintendo, many players didn't recognize Japanese games as coming from Japan; they were simply new and interesting games to play. But since then, fans, media, and the games industry have thought further about the “Japaneseness” of particular games. Game developers try to decide whether a game's Japaneseness is a selling point or stumbling block; critics try to determine what elements in a game express its Japaneseness—cultural motifs or technical markers. Games were “localized,” subjected to sociocultural and technical tinkering. In this book, Mia Consalvo looks at what happens when Japanese games travel outside Japan, and how they are played, thought about, and transformed by individuals, companies, and groups in the West. Consalvo begins with players, first exploring North American players' interest in Japanese games (and Japanese culture in general) and then investigating players' DIY localization of games, in the form of ROM hacking and fan translating. She analyzes several Japanese games released in North America and looks in detail at the Japanese game company Square Enix. She examines indie and corporate localization work, and the rise of the professional culture broker. Finally, she compares different approaches to Japaneseness in games sold in the West and considers how Japanese games have influenced Western games developers. Her account reveals surprising cross-cultural interactions between Japanese games and Western game developers and players, between Japaneseness and the market.

Christopher A. Paul

How we talk about games as real or not-real, and how that shapes what games are made and who is invited to play them. In videogame criticism, the worst insult might be “That's not a real game!” For example, “That's not a real game, it's on Facebook!” and “That's not a real game, it's a walking simulator!” But how do people judge what is a real game and what is not—what features establish a game's gameness? In this engaging book, Mia Consalvo and Christopher Paul examine the debates about the realness or not-realness of videogames and find that these discussions shape what games get made and who is invited to play them. Consalvo and Paul look at three main areas often viewed as determining a game's legitimacy: the game's pedigree (its developer), the content of the game itself, and the game's payment structure. They find, among other things, that even developers with a track record are viewed with suspicion if their games are on suspect platforms. They investigate game elements that are potentially troublesome for a game's gameness, including genres, visual aesthetics, platform, and perceived difficulty. And they explore payment models, particularly free-to-play—held by some to be a marker of illegitimacy. Finally, they examine the debate around such so-called walking simulators as Dear Esther and Gone Home. And finally, they consider what purpose is served by labeling certain games “real."

What's Legitimate and What's Not in Contemporary Videogames

Real Games

Konstantin Mitgutsch

Abe Stein

From Pong to Madden NFL to Wii Fit, Sports Videogames argues for the multiple ways that sports videogames—alongside televised and physical sports—impact one another, and how players and viewers make sense of these multiple forms of play and information in their daily lives. Through case studies, ethnographic explorations, interviews and surveys, and by analyzing games, players, and the sports media industry, contributors from a wide variety of disciplines demonstrate the depth and complexity of games that were once considered simply sports simulations. Contributors also tackle key topics including the rise of online play and its implications for access to games, as well as how regulations surrounding player likenesses present challenges to the industry. Whether you’re a scholar or a gamer, Sports Videogames offers a grounded, theory-building approach to how millions make sense of videogames today.

Mia Consalvo

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