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Thanks to modern technology, we are now living in an age of multiplatform fictional worlds, as television, film, the Internet, graphic novels, toys and more facilitate the creation of diverse yet compact imaginary universes, which are often recognisable as brands and exhibit well-defined identities. This volume, situated at the cutting edge of media theory, explores this phenomenon from both theoretical and practical perspectives, uncovering how the construction of these worlds influences our own determination of values and meaning in contemporary society.

Mass media --- Social aspects. --- Imaginary places in mass media. --- Storytelling in mass media. --- Transmedia, World Building, Convergenge.

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Forty original contributions on games and gaming culture What does Pokémon Go tell us about globalization? What does Tetris teach us about rules? Is feminism boosted or bashed by Kim Kardashian: Hollywood? How does BioShock Infinite help us navigate world-building?From arcades to Atari, and phone apps to virtual reality headsets, video games have been at the epicenter of our ever-evolving technological reality. Unlike other media technologies, video games demand engagement like no other, which begs the question—what is the role that video games play in our lives, from our homes, to our phones, and on global culture writ large? How to Play Video Games brings together forty original essays from today’s leading scholars on video game culture, writing about the games they know best and what they mean in broader social and cultural contexts. Read about avatars in Grand Theft Auto V, or music in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. See how Age of Empires taught a generation about postcolonialism, and how Borderlands exposes the seedy underbelly of capitalism. These essays suggest that understanding video games in a critical context provides a new way to engage in contemporary culture. They are a must read for fans and students of the medium.

Video games --- Popular culture. --- Social aspects. --- Design. --- Moral and ethical aspects. --- Age of Empires. --- Authorship. --- Avatar. --- BioShock Infinite. --- Bioshock. --- Borderlands. --- Capitalism. --- Casual game. --- Civilization. --- Clash Royale. --- Colonialism. --- Conquest. --- Cookie Clicker. --- Donkey Kong. --- Don’t Starve. --- Empathy. --- Environmental storytelling. --- Ethics. --- FIFA. --- Fatherhood. --- Feminism. --- Feminist game studies. --- First-person shooter. --- Free-to-play. --- Game Dev Tycoon. --- Game criticism. --- Game design. --- Game developers. --- Game industry. --- Game studies. --- Gameplay. --- Gaming capital. --- Gender. --- Grand Theft Auto. --- Heterosexual masculinity. --- Hideo Kojima. --- Immersion. --- Imperialism. --- Independent games. --- Indies. --- Interactivity. --- Inventory. --- Jonathan Blow. --- Ken Levine. --- Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. --- LGBTQ. --- Labor. --- Legend of Zelda. --- Leisure Suit Larry. --- Lucas Pope. --- Magic circle. --- Masculinity. --- Media studies. --- Metal Gear. --- Mobile game. --- Monetization. --- Morality. --- NBA 2K16. --- Narrative. --- Naughty Dog games. --- Nintendo. --- PaRappa the Rapper. --- Papers, Please. --- Planescape Torment. --- Player character. --- Point-and-click adventure. --- Post-apocalyptic. --- Postcolonial. --- Puzzle games. --- QGCon. --- Queer gaming. --- Queerness and Games Conference. --- RPG. --- Race. --- Real-time strategy. --- Realism. --- Role-playing game. --- Shigeru Miyamoto. --- Sid Meier. --- Sierra Online. --- Simulation. --- Sniper Elite III. --- Sound. --- Spike Lee. --- Sports video games. --- Strategy. --- Super Mario Bros. --- Temporality. --- Tetris. --- The Last of Us. --- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. --- User-created content. --- User-generated content. --- World-building.