Game Worlds Get Real: How Who We Are Online Became Who We Are Offline - Hardcover

$110.16

Game Worlds Get Real: How Who We Are Online Became Who We Are Offline - Hardcover

Name: Game Worlds Get Real: How Who We Are Online Became Who We Are Offline - Hardcover
Brand: BooksCloud
SKU: 9781440851285
Price: 110.16 USD
Availability: InStock

by Zek Valkyrie

$110.16

Book Overview

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by Zek Valkyrie (Author)

This book explores how after 20 years of existence, virtual world games have evolved: the social landscapes within digital worlds have become rigid and commodified, and "play" and "fun" have become rational and mechanical products.

Twenty million people worldwide play Massively Multi-Player Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs). Online role-playing gaming is no longer an activity of a tiny niche community. World of Warcraft--the most popular game within the genre--is more than a decade old. As technology has advanced and MMORPGs became exponentially more popular, gaming culture has evolved dramatically over the last 20 years. Game Worlds Get Real: How Who We Are Online Became Who We Are Offline presents a compelling insider's examination of how adventuring through virtual worlds has transformed the meaning of play for millions of gamers.

The book provides a historical review of earlier incarnations of virtual world games and culture in the late 1990s, covering the early years of popular games like EverQuest, to the soaring popularity of World of Warcraft, to the current era of the genre and its more general gaming climate. Author Zek Valkyrie--a researcher in the areas of gaming culture, digital communities, gender, sexualities, and visual sociology as well as an avid gamer himself--explores the evolution of the meaning of "play" in the virtual game world, explains how changes in game design have reduced opportunities for social experimentation, and identifies how player types such as the gender switcher, the cybersexual, the explorer, and the trial-and-error player have been left behind in the interest of social and informational transparency.

Author Biography

Zek Valkyrie, PhD, is an instructor of sociology at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (UCCS).

Number of Pages: 256

Dimensions: 1 x 9.3 x 6.2 IN

Publication Date: July 14, 2017

ISBN	9781440851285
Author	Zek Valkyrie
Publisher	Praeger
Genre	Gaming, Education, and Arts
Format	Hardcover
Published	July 2017
Language	ENG- English
Pages	256
Weight	1.0 lb
Target Audience	Adults
Print Size	Standard Print