The reason for the literature spree of the recent days is my planning of the two courses ↵on computergames and online-communities I will teach during the upcoming term. In the wake of that I updated, ‘enhanced’, and reformatted my ↵online bibliography. Now it’s laid out more clearly, I guess. Prey on it—that’s why it is online. … Continue reading
↑BUDKA, PHILIPP AND ↑MANFRED KREMSER. 2004. “↑CyberAnthropology—Anthropology of CyberCulture” [.pdf | 715KB], in Contemporary issues in socio-cultural anthropology: Perspectives and research activities from Austria edited by S. Khittel, B. Plankensteiner and M. Six-Hohenbalken (eds.), pp. 213-226. Vienna: Loecker. abstract: This article investigates the historical development, the major theories and the ethnographic domains of an anthropology of cyberculture. In doing so, the authors use Arturo Escobar’s influential paper on cyberanthropology, written in 1994, and connect potential research questions posed in this text with research projects recently conducted at the Viennese Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology. The authors conclude that the … Continue reading
↑SMITH, JONAS HEIDE. 2002. ↑Computer game research 101: A brief introduction to the literature. ↑Game Research, December 2002. abstract: A few years ago there wasn’t much to talk about. Now, however, computer game research is booming resulting in common terminology, competing paradigms and serious discussion on the subjects of games and gaming. This article attempts to provide an introduction to the field of computer game research. … Continue reading
↑MORRIS, SUE. 2004. ↑Co-creative media: Online multiplayer computer game culture. ↑Scan: Journal of media arts culture ↑1(1). abstract: As a new and emerging research area, computer games demand the development of new theoretical frameworks for research and analysis. In addition to the specific requirements of a new medium, the advent and rapidly rising popularity of multiplayer computer gaming creates further challenges for researchers when the text under analysis forms a locus for human interaction – structuring and mediating communication between large numbers of people, and spawning social practices and identifications within a cultural economy extending beyond the game itself. While … Continue reading
AU, WAGNER JAMES. 2002. ↑Triumph of the mod: Player-created additions to computer games aren’t a hobby anymore—they’re the lifeblood of the industry. ↑Salon.com. 16 April 2002. … Continue reading
↑JANSZ, JEROEN AND LONNEKE MARTENS. 2005. ↑Gaming at a LAN event: the social context of playing video games. [.pdf | 235KB] ↑new media & society ↑7(↑3):333-355. abstract: An exploratory survey was undertaken about the appeal of playing video games at a Local Area Network (LAN) event where personal computers are linked in order to play both face-to-face and online. First, we wanted to know who the visitors of a LAN event were, because there is hardly any research available about this class of gamers. Second, we wanted to know why they participated in a LAN event. The survey showed that … Continue reading
STAUN, HARALD. 2006. ↑Letzter Level. ↑Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, 19.02.2006, Nr. 7:30. via entry at 2R … Continue reading
↑SWALWELL, MELANIE. 2004. ↑The history and development of lan groups: An australasian case study. [.pdf | 160KB] ↑Proceedings of the ↑Other Players Conference, Center for Computer Games Research, IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark. 6-8 December 2004. abstract: Few research projects have inquired into Lanning, the practice where gamers play multiplayer games with and against each other, usually over purpose built local area networks (LAN), or Lans (the exceptions are Swalwell, 2003; Jansz). Lan gaming is not only an important precursor to newer forms of networked gaming; it is also an evolving form of gaming in its own right. This paper … Continue reading
gamemodding as post-industrial unwaged work ↑POSTIGO, HECTOR R. 2003. ↑From Pong to Planet Quake: Post-industrial transitions from leisure to work [.pdf | 88KB]. ↑Information, Communication & Society ↑6(4):593–607. abstract: In the closing weeks of 2002, video games were featured in various popular American news publications and media outlets such as Wired, Entertainment Weekly, Newsweek and Time Magazine. It is becoming increasingly apparent that video games are no longer child’s play, but rather that they are poised to become a major entertainment form for the twenty-first century. Social analysts and media scholars must begin to formulate an understanding of this emerging … Continue reading
↑Gamer br [46:50min | .avi | 147.3MB] by Pedro Bayeux and Flavio Soares is a Brazilian documentary about the game scene around here. It gives voice to gamers, producers, lanhouse owners, journalists, psychologists, anthropologists, politicians, government representatives and game enthusiasts about questions as professional gaming, market, ‘addiction’, piracy, policies of incentive, censorship and the so discussed ‘violence’ in games. [my emphasis] And finally it builds up to a very sensible discussion of ‘the virtual’. All in all I take Gamer br to be a kind of ethnological documentary. Just for the flavor, here are some snippets from the English … Continue reading