The Language of Gaming by Astrid Ensslin

by Astrid Ensslin

This innovative text examines videogames and gaming from the point of view of discourse analysis. In particular, it studies two major aspects of videogame-related the ways in which videogames and their makers convey meanings to their audiences, and the ways in which gamers, industry professionals, journalists and other stakeholders talk about games. In doing so, the book offers systematic analyses of games as artefacts and activities, and the discourses surrounding them.Focal areas explored in this book aspects of videogame textuality and how games relate to other texts the formation of lexical terms and use of metaphor in the language of gaming gamer slang and 'buddylects' the construction of game worlds and their rules, of gamer identities and communities dominant discourse patterns among gamers and how they relate to the nature of gaming the multimodal language of games and gaming the ways in which ideologies of race, gender, media effects and language are constructed.Informed by the very latest scholarship and illustrated with topical examples throughout, The Language of Gaming is ideal for students of applied linguistics, videogame studies and media studies who are seeking a wide-ranging introduction to the field.

Genres: Linguistics, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published December 15, 2011

Reviews

[Mjhancock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Astrid Ennslin details a discourse analysis/language-based approach to videogame studies, with a focus on how games present information to players, and how players and the public discuss games. Though it takes a long time to get going, once the book really delves into its topic, it gets very interesting, with discussions on how players stake out places in game groups, and how they indicate the nature of play. I imagine a ludology purist wouldn't take very kindly to a text-based linguistic approach to game studies, but I think this approach has something useful to offer.