Computer Games and the Social Imaginary

Digital Media and Society Series

by Graeme Kirkpatrick

In this compelling book, Graeme Kirkpatrick argues that computer games have fundamentally altered the relation of self and society in the digital age. Tracing the origins of gaming to the revival of play in the 1960s counter culture, Computer Games and the Social Imaginary describes how the energies of that movement transformed computer technology from something ugly and machine-like into a world of colour and ‘fun’. In the process, play with computers became computer gaming – a new cultural practice with its own values. From the late 1980s gaming became a resource for people to draw upon as they faced the challenges of life in a new, globalizing digital economy. Gamer identity furnishes a revivified capitalism with compliant and ‘streamlined’ workers, but at times gaming culture also challenges the corporations that control game production. Analysing topics such as the links between technology and power, the formation of gaming culture and the subjective impact of play with computer games, this insightful text will be of great interest to students and scholars of digital media, games studies and the information society.

Genres: Technology

248 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[River · Rating 4 out of 5]

I stumbled across this by chance and wasn't really planning to read something on the topic, but I was very impressed by the way in which the author analyzed computer games. They had a very good and sophisticated analysis of the way in which computer games relate to modern capitalism. There may be better books that look at the topic, but this was pleasantly surprising in the sophistication of the author's argument.

[Sanjiv · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up at my university's library, and I ended up buying it on the kindle, mostly so I could keep a list of all the other stuff it referenced.

This isn't my field, but it is my culture. I ended up finishing the book, and wanting to know more.