Virtual Ascendance
Video Games and the Remaking of Reality
by Devin C. Griffiths
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Pub Date Sep 30 2013 | Archive Date Oct 08 2013
Description
From
school lunchrooms to the White House press room, video games are an
integral part of our popular culture, and the industry behind them
touches all aspects of our lives, gamer and non-gamer alike. Business
and entertainment, health and medicine, politics and war, social
interaction and education, all fall under its influence.
Virtual Ascendance
tells the story of a formerly fringe enterprise that, when few were
paying attention, exploded into a multi-billion dollar industry
affecting the very way we live. Griffiths paints a thorough and vivid
picture of the video game industry, illuminating the various, and often
bizarre, ways it’s changing how we work, play and live. He brings
readers along on his own journey of discovery, from the back room of a
small Irish pub where members of the second-largest industry enclave
meet each month, to a university clinic where the Wii is being used to
treat Parkinson’s sufferers — and everywhere in between.
Virtual Ascendance
is more than just a story about video games, though. It’s the story of
an awakening, of a realization that a childhood pastime has exploded
into a thriving enterprise — one rooted in entertainment but whose tendrils reach into virtually all aspects of life and society.
A Note From the Publisher
1: Down The Rabbit Hole
I Am Therefore I Game
2: From The Coin-op To The Console: How Did We Get Here?
Let The Games Begin
1972: A Pong Odyssey
3: Let The Games Begin: Competitive Videogaming And The Birth Of The Cyberathlete
Cyberathletes And The Leagues Who Love Them
4: Alphabet Soup: MMOs, MUDs, And RPGs—D&D In The 21st Century
5: No Console Required: Casual Games (or, Gaming For The Rest Of Us)
6: Dressed For The Symphony: Videogames Take Center Stage
7: From The Flat Screen To The Big Screen: Videogames
Invade Hollywood
Star Wars 1313: The Empire Strikes Back
8: Virtual Life
9: And We Are Merely Players: Videogames And Society
Good Enough For Government Work: CDC Gets Into The Game
10: Games For Health
From Rehab to Wii-hab:Using Videogames to Heal
11: War Games: Combat Evolved
12: It’s William Gibson’s World, We’re Just Living In It
Bibliography
Advance Praise
Virtual Ascendance
is an excellent descriptive account of the increasingly widespread use
of digital games in our lives, from serious games to playful
entertainment.
— J. Talmadge Wright, graduate program director, department of sociology, Loyola University Chicago
Videogames
matter. Probably more than you even realize. And here Devin Griffiths
sets out, in an informed and engaging manner, exactly why and how they
matter. From hardcore gamers, to those with a passing interest, or even
for those with no knowledge of gaming at all, this book will tell you
what you need to know, and why you need to know it.
— Garry Crawford, professor of sociology, author of Video Games
Reading Virtual Ascendence
is like playing a great videogame – the paths taken are often
surprising, the environment is rendered in engaging detail, and the
characters are richly drawn. From casual games to war games, Devin
Griffiths writes with a warmly intellectual sense of wonder, purpose and
play.
— Derek A. Burrill, associate professor of Media and Cultural Studies, U.C. Riverside
Marketing Plan
Outreach to mainstream media and tech.
Target game sites and pop culture media for author interviews.
Outreach to mainstream media and tech.
Target game sites and pop culture media for author interviews.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781442216945 |
| PRICE | $32.00 (USD) |
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