New media students, teachers, and professionals have long needed a comprehensive scholarly treatment of digital games that deals with the history, design, reception, and aesthetics of games along with their social and cultural context. The Handbook of Computer Game Studies fills this need with a definitive look at the subject from a broad range of perspectives. Contributors come from cognitive science and artificial intelligence, developmental, social, and clinical psychology, history, film, theater, and literary studies, cultural studies, and philosophy as well as game design and development. The text includes both scholarly articles and journalism from such well-known voices as Douglas Rushkoff, Sherry Turkle, Henry Jenkins, Katie Salen, Eric Zimmerman, and others.
Contributors consider the “prehistory” of computer games and the development of computer games themselves; game development from the designer’s point of view; empirical research on the psychological effects of computer games, including the use of computer games in clinical and educational settings; the aesthetics of games in comparison to film and literature; the effect of computer games on cultural identity, including gender and ethnicity; the relation of computer games to social behavior, including, among other matters, the inadequacy of laboratory experiments linking games and aggression and the different modes of participation in computer game culture.
About the Editors
Joost Raessens is Professor of Media Theory, Department of Media and Culture Studies, in the Faculty of Humanities, Utrecht University
Jeffrey Goldstein is Affiliated Researcher at the Research Institute for History and Culture, in the Faculty of Humanities, Utrecht University.