New media students, teachers, and professionals have long needed acomprehensive scholarly treatment of digital games that deals with the history, design, reception, and aesthetics of games along with their social and culturalcontext. The Handbook of Computer Game Studies fills this need with a definitivelook at the subject from a broad range of perspectives. Contributors come fromcognitive science and artificial intelligence, developmental, social, and clinicalpsychology, history, film, theater, and literary studies, cultural studies, andphilosophy as well as game design and development. The text includes both scholarlyarticles and journalism from such well-known voices as Douglas Rushkoff, SherryTurkle, Henry Jenkins, Katie Salen, Eric Zimmerman, and others.Part I considers the"prehistory" of computer games (including slot machines and pinball machines), thedevelopment of computer games themselves, and the future of mobile gaming. Thechapters in part II describe game development from the designer's point of view, including the design of play elements, an analysis of screenwriting, and game-basedlearning. Part III reviews empirical research on the psychological effects ofcomputer games, and includes a discussion of the use of computer games in clinicaland educational settings. Part IV considers the aesthetics of games in comparison tofilm and literature, and part V discusses the effect of computer games on culturalidentity, including gender and ethnicity. Finally, part VI looks at the relation ofcomputer games to social behavior, considering, among other matters, the inadequacyof laboratory experiments linking games and aggression and the different modes ofparticipation in computer game culture.
New media students, teachers, and professionals have long needed acomprehensive scholarly treatment of digital games that deals with the history, design, reception, and aesthetics…