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October's Subject of the Month
Games and Gaming
Selector: Luke Kurfess
“It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this.” - The Legend of Zelda
History of Games and Games in Culture
Games have been around for the entirety of human history, in some form or another. They help us connect, practice skills, and have fun. This guide is meant as a beginning resource into the study and creation of games, incuding the history of gaming, with a focus on the more recent developement of videogames. You can find an article on the history of videogames from the Smithsonian Institution here! For more history on gaming in general, check out the other tabbed resources in this box and below.
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Fifty Key Video Games
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ISBN: 9781003199205Publication Date: 2022-07-26This volume examines fifty of the most important video games that have contributed significantly to the history, development, or culture of the medium, providing an overview of video games from their beginning to the present day. -
Understanding Video Games
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ISBN: 9780429431791Publication Date: 2019-09-11From Pong to virtual reality, Understanding Video Games, 4th Edition, takes video game studies into the next decade of the twenty-first century, highlighting changes in the area, including mobile, social, and casual gaming. -
The Video Games Textbook
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ISBN: 9781003315759Publication Date: 2023-06-13The Video Games Textbook takes the history of video games to the next level. Coverage includes every major video game console, handheld system, and game-changing personal computer, as well as a look at the business, technology, and people behind the games. -
Perspectives on the European Videogame
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ISBN: 9789048550623Publication Date: 2021-11-27This book proposes an inquiry into European videogames, including both analyses of transnational aspects of European production and close readings of national specificities. It offers a kaleidoscope of European videogame culture, focusing on the analysis of European works and creators but also addressing contextual aspects and placing videogames within a wider sociocultural and philosophical ground. -
Playing at War
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ISBN: 9780807183472Publication Date: 2024-09-19Playing at War offers an innovative focus on Civil War video games as significant sites of memory creation, distortion, and evolution in popular culture. With fifteen essays by historians, the collection analyzes the emergence and popularity of video games that topically engage the period surrounding the American Civil War, from the earliest console games developed in the 1980s through the web-based games of the twenty-first century, including popular titles such as Red Dead Redemption 2 and War of Rights. -
Playing American
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ISBN: 9783111317755Publication Date: 2023-10-04Playing American proposes an analytic focus on open-world videogames' "ambient operations" and traces practices of "playing American" through the stages of videogame development, gameplay, and reception. Three case studies - concentrating on the Grand Theft Auto, Watch Dogs, and Red Dead Redemption franchises, respectively - highlight different figurations of "playing American." -
The Playful Undead and Video Games
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ISBN: 9781315179490Publication Date: 2019-07-17This book explores the central role of the zombie in contemporary popular culture as they appear in video games. Moving beyond traditional explanations of their enduring appeal – that they embody an aesthetic that combines horror with a mindless target; that lower age ratings for zombie games widen the market; or that Artificial Intelligence routines for zombies are easier to develop – the book provides a multidisciplinary and comprehensive look at this cultural phenomenon. -
Players Unleashed!
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ISBN: 9789048511983Publication Date: 2012-07-15In Players Unleashed!--the first study of its kind--Tanja Sihvonen provides a fascinating examination of modding, tracing its evolution and detailing its impact on The Sims and the game industry as a whole. Along the way, Sihvonen shares insights into specific modifications and the cultural contexts from which they emerge.
Crash Course, a creator of free educational videos, carries a series on gaming in history, found here. The first in the series can be found above.
The Story of The Oregon Trail by the YouTube channel Gaming Historian is one of many videos hosted on their channel explaining some of the early history of games. Check out more of their content here.
Check out the podcast episode below from the Video Game History Foundation: "Episode 134: Preservation Work Inside the University of Michigan Library Computer and Video Game Archive", taking a look at video game preservation at the University of Michigan.
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(Re)Playing (with) Video game History: Moving beyond RetrogamingThis article will argue that the current literature on retrogaming as a practice and the retrogamer as a subject has been lacking in fully describing the variety of practices and subjects that engage with old games. Based on data collected by interviewing nine self-described Danish retrogamers, three motivations for engaging with old games, besides nostalgia, are identified. These motivations are typologized into three player types: amateur archaeologists, amateur art historians, and techno-historians. Following the analysis, it will be argued that retrogaming might be an imprecise term to encompass the many different ways that individuals engage with old games. The concepts historical play and nostalgic play are presented to alleviate this.
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Still Playing With the Past: History, Historians, And Digital GamesPlaying with the Past: Digital Games and the Simulation of History, edited by Matthew Wilhelm Kapell and Andrew B. R. Elliott, was a significant publication in the establishment of historical (digital) game studies, a field that has since continued to grow. This review essay notes some of the key interventions made by the edited collection and its scope in accounting for the complexities of digital historical games. It also reflects on what the book represented at the early stages of the discipline and the ways in which scholarly approaches have developed (or not) in the decade since its publication.
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Playing with the Past: Digital Games and the Simulation of HistoryThis article focuses on how board and digital games use media from the past to establish themselves as trustworthy sources.
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Daily life and Cultural Appropriation in Early Bronze Age Canaan: Games and Gaming in a Domestic Neighbourhood at Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath, IsraelDiscussions on daily life in Early Bronze Age society in the southern Levant often focus on subsistence or ritual phenomena, while aspects relating to entertainment and leisure are rarely discussed. This paper presents evidence for gaming behaviour, in the form of game boards and game pieces, that were recovered in the excavations of the Early Bronze Age (early to mid-3rd millennium bce) residential neighbourhood at Tell e-âfi/Gath, Israel.
Videogame Historical, Research, and Professional Organizations
The Video Game History Foundation, which recently unveiled a physical and digital library for video game history, is a "non-profit organization dedicated to preserving, celebrating, and teaching the history of video games".
You can access their digital library here and their digital archive here, and there main webpage here. The library holds materials including development materials, magazines, artwork, ephemera, and others related to the history of video games. Their mission is focused on the inclusion of everyone and every story in the work of the library and foundation, for open access to video game history, and for immediate action to be taken to save video game history. The library and archives generally do not hold or provide access to video games themselves due to copyright laws.
The National Videogame Museum located in Frisco, Texas, is a museum with a mission to "To preserve the history of the videogame industry by archiving physical artifacts, information, and the stories behind its creation". You can visit their website here.
The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) is an international association and the world's largest nonprofit dedicated to serving people who create games. Who can find out more about them and their mission here.
The University of Michigan's Computer and Video Game Archive mission is stated as: "The Computer and Video Game Archive (CVGA) acquires, maintains, and makes available an extensive collection of video games, consoles, board games, and more, from the 1970s to today." Both U of M and guest visitors can make an appointment to visit the archive to play physical games and to view their materials. Their website can be found here.
eBooks on Games
Jump in to selected eBook titles on games and gaming below~
Books on Games in Print
For players/readers who enjoy analog: a selection of print books~
Databases
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Communication and Mass Media Complete This link opens in a new windowCommunication & Mass Media Complete provides quality research solution in areas related to communication and mass media. CMMC incorporates the content of CommSearch (formerly produced by the National Communication Association) and Mass Media Articles Index (formerly produced by Penn State) along with numerous other journals in communication, mass media, and other closely-related fields of study to create a research and reference resource encompassing the breadth of the communication discipline.
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IEEE Xplore This link opens in a new windowProvides full-text access to IEEE transactions, IEEE and IEE journals, magazines, and conference proceedings published since 1988, and all current IEEE standards brings additional search and access features to IEEE/IEE electronic library users.
Online Games and Game Resources
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Print and Play games - ALA Games and Gaming Round TableA directory of free games, including many print and play titles that you can print and assemble at home! Many are card or dice games, and include strategy, RPG, party, and many other genres of games.
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Internet Archive's Internet ArcadeFrom the website: "The Internet Arcade is a web-based library of arcade (coin-operated) video games from the 1970s through to the 1990s, emulated in JSMAME, part of the JSMESS software package.
Containing hundreds of games ranging through many different genres and styles, the Arcade provides research, comparison, and entertainment in the realm of the Video Game Arcade." -
Itch.ioItch.io is a website created to host indie games and support indie game developers. Some games are paid, but many are free to play. It also hosts a number of tabletop RPGS, comics, books, and game assets.
Serious and Learning Games
Check out the video above from Grendel Games to learn more about gamification, game-based learning, and serious games.
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Comparison of Gamification, Game-Based Learning, and Serious Games in Medical Education: A Scientometrics AnalysisGames in education aims to enhance human motivation and performance in a given activity. Gamificationexperts and health researchers are still unsure about the status of progress of game for health. So, to fill in this gap, the present study aimed to analyze scientific productions to identify production trends, subject areas, countries, institutes, and authors in these three areas on gamification, game-based learning, and serious games in medical education, as well as to determine coauthorship patterns.
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Effects of Meaningful Choices in Serious Games for Meaningful LearningThis action research study examines how meaningful choice design affects the overall meaningful learning experience of a virtual reality educational serious game. An intervention was developed to teach hazard detection in mines and was tested by mining engineering postgraduate students at the local tertiary institution. The study's findings revealed that meaningful choice design significantly improved the overall learning experience.
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Balancing learning and enjoyment in serious games: Kerbal Space Program and the Communication Mediation ModelWhen designed well, serious games can support effective learning. This study used the communication mediation model to examine the process and outcomes of playing serious games, in this case, the science-themed game, Kerbal Space Program. During a 4-h research session, 241 undergraduate students played through the game's tutorial missions and completed surveys to measure variables of interest.
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Representing Conflicts in Games
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ISBN: 9781003297406Publication Date: 2022-12-30This book offers an overview of how conflicts are represented and enacted in games, in a variety of genres and game systems. Games are a cultural form apt at representing real world conflicts, and this edited volume highlights the intrinsic connection between games and conflict through a set of theoretical and empirical studies. It interrogates the nature and use of conflicts as a fundamental aspect of game design, and how a wide variety of conflicts can be represented in digital and analogue games. -
Serious Games in Personalized Learning
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ISBN: 9781003042709Publication Date: 2021-07-12Serious Games in Personalized Learning investigates game-based teaching and learning at a time when learning and training systems are increasingly integrating serious games, machine-learning artificial intelligence models, and adaptive technologies. Game-based education provides rare data for measuring, assessing, and evaluating not just a game’s effectiveness but the acquisition of information and knowledge that a student may gain through playing a learning game. -
Game-Based Learning, Gamification in Education and Serious Games
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ISBN: 9783036538105Publication Date: 2022The aim of this book is to present and discuss new advances in serious games to show how they could enhance the effectiveness and outreach of education, advertising, social awareness, health, policies, etc. We present their use in structured learning activities, not only with a focus on game-based learning, but also on the use of game elements and game design techniques to gamify the learning process. -
Meaningful Game Design: The Methodology and Psychology of Tabletop Games
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ISBN: 9781003319511Publication Date: 2023This book provides readers with the tools and methods with which to create effective tabletop games. It covers the design and development process thoroughly, guiding readers through the necessary mechanics, messages, and motivations of games that must be understood in order to build successful tabletop games, including serious educational games for teaching or training.
Game Creation! Tools and Engines
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TwineTwine is an open-source tool for creating nonlinear, interactive stories. It requires no coding knowlege, although code may be used. Any games created in Twine may be used commercially by the creator.
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DefoldDefold is a free, cross-platform game editor and engine used to create 2D and 3D games.
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Godot EngineA free, open-source game development engine for 2D and 3D projects, as well as XR. Projects can work across game platforms.
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Ren'PyRen'Py is a free visual novel game engine that allows users to adapt words, images, and sounds to create a visual novel and life simulation games. Ren'Py is open source and free for commercial use, and based on the Python programming language.
Wayne State University Press
Wayne State University Press is a distinctive urban publisher committed to supporting the core research, teaching, and service mission of WSU by generating high-quality scholarly and general-interest books of global importance. Through its publishing program, the Press disseminates research, advances education, and serves the local community while expanding the international reputation of the Press and the University.
The two books below are examples of texts available in the Game Studies section of the press (They are also available to check out at the library for free!). Media Studies also contains more books on similar subjects.
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Parables of the Posthuman
by Jonathan Boulter. Publication Date: October 2015
Parables of the Posthuman approaches the experience of gaming by asking: What does it mean for the player to enter the machinic "world" of the game? What forms of subjectivity does the game offer to the player? What happens to consciousness itself when one plays? To this end, Boulter analyzes the experience of particular role-playing video games, including Fallout 3, Half-Life 2, BioShock, Crysis 2, and Metal Gear Solid 4. -
Before the Crash
by Mark J. P. Wolf. Publication Date: June 2012
In twelve chapters, contributors consider much of what was going on during the pre-crash era: arcade games, home game consoles, home computer games, handheld games, and even early online games. The technologies of early video games are investigated, as well as the cultural context of the early period—from aesthetic, economic, industrial, and legal perspectives.
Journal Articles
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“Video Games Were My First Safe Space”: Queer Gaming in the Animal Crossing New Horizons LGBTIQA+ CommunityThis article analyses LGBTIQA+ playing experiences of Animal Crossing New Horizons (ACNH). It first surveys LGBTIQA+ players of ACNH, with questions regarding ways of playing, identity, community, and fanfiction practices. It also analyses LGBTIQA+ ACNH YouTube videos, divided into three main categories: design, gaming, and fanfiction.
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Queer Gender Identities and VideogamesThis narrative literature review discusses peer-reviewed research articles connecting queer gender identities and videogames. Its main purpose is to describe directions of research on connections between queer gender identities and videogames, and to indicate gaps and missing connections in existing studies.
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The Virtual Census 2.0: A Continued Investigation on the Representations of Gender, Race, and Age in VideogamesThis study revisits the original four research questions of Williams et al.’s “The Virtual Census: Representations of Gender, Race and Age in Video Games” to investigate if mainstream videogame representations have changed over time. In addition, this study expands on the original by including a fifth question examining the intersection of representations within videogames.
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Gamifying History: Designing and Implementing a Game-Based Learning Course Design FrameworkThis paper analyzes the development and implementation of a game-based learning course design framework. Drawing inspiration from task-based learning, the framework is structured around four core gamified elements: narrative assignment design; learner discovery; team-based collaboration and competition; and choice through quests. The intended goal of implementing this framework is to improve learner engagement and foster greater learner investment in the course.
Journals
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Analog Game StudiesFrom the publisher: Analog Game Studies is a journal dedicated to the academic and popular study of games containing a substantial analog component. We are a volunteer-run, open access publication that caters to a combined academic and popular audience, with stakeholders in education, industry, and gaming communities.
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Board Game Studies JournalFrom the publisher: BGSJ – Board Game Studies Journal is a single peer-reviewed journal for historical and systematic research on board games. Its object is to provide a forum for board games research from all academic disciplines in order to further our understanding of the development and distribution of board games within an interdisciplinary academic context.
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Games and CultureFrom the publisher: Games and Culture peer-reviewed and published quarterly, is an international journal that promotes innovative theoretical and empirical research about games and culture within interactive media.
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Journal of Games CriticismFrom the publisher: The Journal of Games Criticism is a non-profit, peer-reviewed game studies journal that strives to connect the conversations between traditional academics and popular game critics. The journal strives to be a producer of feed-forward approaches to video games criticism with a focus on influencing gamer culture, the design and writing of video games, and the social understanding video games and video game criticism.
Games in Fiction through MeL
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Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
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ISBN: 9780593321201Publication Date: 2022-07-05Sam and Sadie--two college friends, often in love, but never lovers--become creative partners in a dazzling and intricately imagined world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality. -
Kingdom Keepers (Kingdom Keepers)
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ISBN: 9781423123118Publication Date: 2009-09-01In this fantastical thriller, five young teens tapped as models for theme park "guides" find themselves pitted against Disney villains and witches that threaten both the future of Walt Disney World and the stability of the world outside its walls. -
The Midnight Game
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ISBN: 9780593705568Publication Date: 2024-07-02Told from multiple points of view, six strangers brought together by a horror message board, decide to play The Midnight Game only to discover the stakes are far higher than they ever imagined as they confront the reality that their lives are in grave danger -
A Game of Noctis
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ISBN: 9781665930192Publication Date: 2024-04-09Pia Paro questions the system she once believed in and joins the Seafoxes, a ragtag team of players seeking to win the deadly Noctis games, to save her grandfather -
Cat + Gamer Volume 1
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ISBN: 9781506727417Publication Date: 2022-05-24Riko, a twenty-nine-year-old office worker with an obsession for video games, finds her quiet life upended when she takes in a stray cat! Having no experience with pets, Riko uses lessons drawn from video games to guide her in cat care, while her cute companion tries to understand Riko's behavior through a cat's worldview.
