Rutter-3386-Prelims.qxd 3/27/2006 9:19 PM Page i Understanding Digital Games Rutter-3386-Prelims.qxd 3/27/2006 9:19 PM Page ii Rutter-3386-Prelims.qxd 3/27/2006 9:19 PM Page iii Understanding Digital Games Edited by Jason Rutter and Jo Bryce SAGE Publications London ● Thousand Oaks ● New Delhi Rutter-3386-Prelims.qxd 3/27/2006 9:19 PM Page iv Chapter © Jo Bryce and Jason Rutter 2006 Chapter © John Kirriemuir 2006 Chapter © Aphra Kerr 2006 Chapter © Alberto Alvisi 2006 Chapter © Jon Sykes 2006 Chapter © Julian Kücklich 2006 Chapter © Geoff King and Tanya Krzywinska 2006 Chapter © Seth Giddings and Helen W Kennedy 2006 Chapter © Garry Crawford and Jason Rutter 2006 Chapter 10 © Martin Hand and Karenza Moore 2006 Chapter 11 © Jo Bryce, Jason Rutter and Cath Sullivan 2006 Chapter 12 © Jo Bryce and Jason Rutter 2006 Chapter 13 © Timothy Dumbleton and John Kirriemuir 2006 First published 2006 Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form, or by any means, only with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers SAGE Publications Ltd Oliver’s Yard 55 City Road London EC1Y 1SP SAGE Publications Inc 2455 Teller Road Thousand Oaks, California 91320 SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd B-42, Panchsheel Enclave Post Box 4109 New Delhi 110 017 British Library Cataloguing in Publication data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN-10 1-4129-0033-6 ISBN-13 978-1-4129-0033-1 ISBN-10 1-4129-0034-4 (pbk) ISBN-13 978-1-4129-0034-8 Library of Congress Control Number available Typeset by C&M Digitals (P) Ltd., Chennai, India Printed in Great Britain by The Alden Press, Oxford Printed on paper from sustainable resources Rutter-3386-Prelims.qxd 3/27/2006 9:19 PM Page v Contents Contributors vii Preface and Acknowledgements xii An introduction to understanding digital games Jo Bryce and Jason Rutter Part one: History and production 19 A history of digital games John Kirriemuir 21 The business of making digital games Aphra Kerr 36 The economics of digital games Alberto Alvisi 58 A player-centred approach to digital game design Jonathan Sykes 75 Part two: Theories and approaches 93 Literary theory and digital games Julian Kücklich 95 Film studies and digital games Geoff King and Tanya Krzywinska 112 Rutter-3386-Prelims.qxd 3/27/2006 9:19 PM Page vi Contents Digital games as new media Seth Giddings and Helen W Kennedy 129 Digital games and cultural studies Garry Crawford and Jason Rutter 148 Community, identity and digital games Martin Hand and Karenza Moore 166 10 Part three: Key debates 183 11 Digital games and gender Jo Bryce, Jason Rutter and Cath Sullivan 185 12 Digital games and the violence debate Jo Bryce and Jason Rutter 205 13 Digital games and education Timothy Dumbleton and John Kirriemuir 223 Index vi 241 Rutter-3386-Prelims.qxd 3/27/2006 9:19 PM Page vii Contributors Alberto Alvisi has taught Web Economy at the University of Ferrara since 2001 He held a fellowship at the University of Naples Parthenope in relation to a two-year research project regarding knowledge transfer between small- and medium-sized firms His research, in addition to digital gaming and competition between systemic products, focuses primarily on new product development as a strategic tool, organizational change, and on the debate between relational and resource-based views of firms Jo Bryce is a senior lecturer in Psychology at the University of Central Lancashire She has extensive research experience on the psychological and social aspects of information communications technologies (ICTs), including mobile devices, the Internet and computer gaming This research falls into three broad categories: the consequences of ICT use; access constraints to ICTs with a specific focus on gender; and the development of regulatory policies Her recent work has included editing special editions on digital gaming for Game Studies (2003) and Information, Communication and Society (2003) and research projects including work on mobile entertainment (European Commission) and counterfeiting (Northern Ireland Office) Garry Crawford is a senior lecturer in Sociology at Sheffield Hallam University His research focuses primarily on media audiences and fan cultures In particular, he has published on sport fan culture, including the book Consuming Sport (Routledge, 2004) and, more recently, digital gaming patterns He is the former editor of the British Sociological Association newsletter ‘Network’ and is an editorial board member for Sociological Research Online Rutter-3386-Prelims.qxd 3/27/2006 9:19 PM Page viii Contributors Tim Dumbleton works for the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta), the UK Government’s lead agency for the use of ICT in education He manages Becta’s advice services aimed at educational content developers As part of this work, he is responsible for monitoring research and practice related to the use of digital games in educational settings, providing advice to developers about using aspects of games in educational resources and for maintaining dialogue with the games industry Tim was also involved in setting up Becta’s Computer Games in Education Project (2001–2) The Project’s reports along with more recent publications are available from the Research section of the Becta website http://www becta.org.uk/ research Seth Giddings teaches in the School of Cultural Studies at the University of the West of England He researches the relationships between technology and culture, most recently video games and video game play as everyday techno-culture He has written on popular film, animation and new media, and also teaches digital media production, with particular interests in the theory and practice of interactive media and the digital moving image Martin Hand is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at Queen’s University, Ontario His principal areas of research and publication are digital cultural practices, Internet discourse and politics, domestic cultures of technology and consumption His current research develops theoretical frameworks for analysing aspects of digital photography in Canadian society Helen W Kennedy is a senior lecturer at the University of West England and chair of the Play Research Group Her areas of research include the body, cyberculture, gender and technology, computer games and play as well as the relationships between bodies, machines and technoculture Recent publications have included Game Cultures with Jon Dovey (Open University Press, 2006) and several chapters and journal articles on games, gender and culture Aphra Kerr is a lecturer at the National University of Ireland at Maynooth, in the Republic of Ireland She is author of The Business and Culture of Digital Games: Gamework/Gameplay (Sage, 2006) and a number viii Rutter-3386-Prelims.qxd 3/27/2006 9:19 PM Page ix Contributors of journal articles and book chapters exploring globalization and digital games production, the social construction of gender and player pleasures and digital games Aphra is a founding member of the Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) and is a committee member of Women in Games She is an academic member of the International Game Development Association (IGDA) committee in Ireland and runs the online resource www.gamedevelopers.ie Geoff King is co-author of Tomb Raiders and Space Invaders: Videogame Forms and Contexts (IB Tauris, 2006) and co-editor of ScreenPlay: Cinema/Videogames/Interfaces (Wallflower Press, 2002) His has also written a number of books about cinema including American Independent Cinema (IB Tauris, 2005), New Hollywood Cinema: An Introduction (IB Tauris, 2002), Film Comedy (Wallflower Press, 2002) and Spectacular Narratives: Hollywood in the Age of the Blockbuster (IB Tauris, 2000) He is a reader in Film and TV Studies at Brunel University, London John Kirriemuir is a consultant specializing in the use of computer and video games in the education sector He has surveyed the use of such games in schools, uncovering and analysing many cases where purely commercial games have been used in curriculum-related classroom scenarios He has written over 20 papers and articles on this issue, and presented at a number of international conferences Tanya Krzywinska is a reader in Film and TV Studies at Brunel University She is the author of A Skin For Dancing In: Possession, Witchcraft and Voodoo in Film (Flicks Books, 2000), Sex and the Cinema (Wallflower Press, forthcoming), co-author of Science Fiction Cinema (Wallflower Press, 2000), Tomb Raiders and Space Invaders: Videogame Forms and Contexts (IB Tauris, 2006) and co-editor of ScreenPlay: Cinema/ Videogames/Interfaces (Wallflower Press, 2002) She has recently begun work on Imaginary Worlds: A Cross-media Study of the Aesthetic, Formal and Interpolative Strategies of Virtual Worlds in Popular Media Julian Kücklich is a PhD student at the Centre for Media Research, University of Ulster, Coleraine, where he is working on a dissertation on The Politics of Play in the New Media Industry He holds an MA in German and American Literature from Ludwigs-Maximilians ix ... Digital games and gender Jo Bryce, Jason Rutter and Cath Sullivan 185 12 Digital games and the violence debate Jo Bryce and Jason Rutter 205 13 Digital games and education Timothy Dumbleton and. .. Understanding Digital Games Edited by Jason Rutter and Jo Bryce SAGE Publications London ● Thousand Oaks ● New Delhi Rutter- 3386-Prelims.qxd 3/27/2006 9:19 PM Page iv Chapter © Jo Bryce and Jason Rutter. .. Contributors vii Preface and Acknowledgements xii An introduction to understanding digital games Jo Bryce and Jason Rutter Part one: History and production 19 A history of digital games John Kirriemuir