Online Gaming in Context The Social and Cultural Significance of Online Games

摘要

Online Gaming in Context succeeds quite well at its stated goal: to compile cutting-edge perspectives on the often-ignored area of video game studies. To study online gaming is to study a multifaceted, ever changing, and impossible-to-generalize subject matter, but the editors of this collection accomplish this feat by collecting and connecting interdisciplinary scholarship around the cultural meanings of computers and gaming. Editors, however, did miss a few things—the most notable of which is a lack of focus on the subset of online gaming that occurs on consoles. While online PC gaming is certainly important and has traditionally dominated what online gaming refers to, console gaming represents ten times the actual games sales on PC, according to the Entertainment Software Association's 2011 "Essential Facts" report, and it should not be overlooked as it is in this work. Still, this book succeeds nicely in advancing understanding of PC online gaming, from World of Warcraft to Facebook games like Farmville or Mafia Wars.