Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Chronology -- Part I Poetics -- Chapter 1 Videogames and Storytelling -- Riddles, Rules, and Role-Playing -- Narrative and Simulation -- Character, Identity, and Sympathy -- Narrative and the Digital Divide -- Chapter 2 Videogame Aesthetics -- Abstraction, Representation, and Motion -- Perspective, Dimension, and Presence -- Videogames and the Art World -- The Problem of Videogame Criticism -- Chapter 3 Videogames and Film -- Hollywood and the Videogame Industry -- Film-Game Franchising and Transmedia Storytelling -- Homage, Parody, and Machinima -- Media Convergence and Media Criticism -- Part II Rhetoric -- Chapter 4 Politics, Persuasion, and Propaganda in Videogames -- Videogames and Public Controversy -- Activist Games -- Propaganda Games -- The Rhetoric of Interactivity -- Chapter 5 The Ethics of Videogames -- Games and Ethical Reinforcement -- Games of Choice and Consequence -- Fantasy and Ethical Evasion -- Ethics in the Magic Circle -- Chapter 6 Religion and Myth in Videogames -- Play and Prayer -- Evangelical Games -- Magic, Mythopoesis, and Messianism -- Virtuality and Spirituality -- Part III Pedagogy -- Chapter 7 Videogames, History, and Education -- Edutainment -- Role-Playing Games and History -- Strategy Games and History -- Developing a Counterfactual Pedagogy -- Chapter 8 Identity and Community in Virtual Worlds -- The Avatar and the Liquid Self -- Synthetic Education -- Law and the Synthetic Social Contract -- Cooperation, Diversity, and Consumerism -- Chapter 9 Modding, Education, and Art -- Mods and the Videogame Industry -- Mods in Education -- Using the Aurora Toolkit -- Living Art -- Notes -- Glossary -- Videogames Bibliography -- Bibliography -- Index -- About the Author.

Video games challenge our notions of identity, creativity, and moral value, and provide a powerful new avenue for teaching and learning. This book is a rich and provocative guide to the role of interactive media in cultural learning. It searches for specific ways to interpret video games in the context of human experience and in the field of humanities research. The author shows how video games have become a powerful form of political, ethical, and religious discourse, and how they have already influenced the way we teach, learn, and create. He discusses the major trends in game design, the public controversies surrounding video games, and the predominant critical positions in game criticism. The book speaks to all educators, scholars, and thinking persons who seek a fuller understanding of this significant and video games cultural phenomenon.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2018. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.