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Social, Casual and Mobile Games: The Changing Gaming Landscape
Social, casual and mobile games, played on devices such as smartphones, tablets, or PCs and accessed through online social networks, have become extremely popular, and are changing the ways in which games are designed, understood, and played. These games have sparked a revolution as more people from a broader demographic than ever play games, shifting the stereotype of gaming away from that of hardcore, dedicated play to that of activities that fit into everyday life.
Social, Casual and Mobile Games explores the rapidly changing gaming landscape and discusses the ludic, methodological, theoretical, economic, social and cultural challenges that these changes invoke. With chapters discussing locative games, the new freemium economic model, and gamer demographics, as well as close studies of specific games (including Candy Crush Saga, Angry Birds , and Ingress ), this collection offers an insight into the changing nature of games and the impact that mobile media is having upon individuals and societies around the world.
Social, Casual and Mobile Games explores the rapidly changing gaming landscape and discusses the ludic, methodological, theoretical, economic, social and cultural challenges that these changes invoke. With chapters discussing locative games, the new freemium economic model, and gamer demographics, as well as close studies of specific games (including Candy Crush Saga, Angry Birds , and Ingress ), this collection offers an insight into the changing nature of games and the impact that mobile media is having upon individuals and societies around the world.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published February 25, 2016
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June 25, 2019
I wrote a review of this that went over all eighteen chapters, giving a brief synopsis. It was pretty good. I imagine it would've been very helpful to anyone trying to see if the collection had something for them. Too bad Goodreads crashed on me before saving it.
More briefly, then, this book offers a wide variety of perspectives on its titular subjects. The essays came out of a conference, which means they're a bit brief, but for the most part, I was impressed by the wide variety of approaches to their subjects. The book has five sections. Section one looks at casual games as a new gaming landscape, with papers on who's playing them, what does it mean to play casual games non-casually, how does a designer approach these games, and what do developers think about free to play as a model. The second section, reasons to play, look at asynchronous social network games as a tool for families, defining the digital affection game, mobile games and their encouragement of ambient play in the background of your life, and the player labour implied in casual games. Part three is on locative play; there's privacy and safety among Ingress players, heritage exploration with Ingress, spatial movement and Zombies, Run!, Foursquare's shift away from overt game play. Part four looks at these gaming areas as new markets: there's social games and game revenue models, Angry Birds as paratext for future markets, and the political economy and industy of gaming apps. The final section is cheating, gambling and addiction, with one chapter on gambling-like apps and another on how Candy Crush players feel about cheating. Finally, there's afterword where the authors consider what casual games mean in the context of GamerGate.
It's a nice collection, and its virtues come out better on rereading. The specific game research tends to be sociology-based, and it's increasingly out of date as the game industry moves pretty fast, but it's a good basis for someone interested in the subject on an academic level.
More briefly, then, this book offers a wide variety of perspectives on its titular subjects. The essays came out of a conference, which means they're a bit brief, but for the most part, I was impressed by the wide variety of approaches to their subjects. The book has five sections. Section one looks at casual games as a new gaming landscape, with papers on who's playing them, what does it mean to play casual games non-casually, how does a designer approach these games, and what do developers think about free to play as a model. The second section, reasons to play, look at asynchronous social network games as a tool for families, defining the digital affection game, mobile games and their encouragement of ambient play in the background of your life, and the player labour implied in casual games. Part three is on locative play; there's privacy and safety among Ingress players, heritage exploration with Ingress, spatial movement and Zombies, Run!, Foursquare's shift away from overt game play. Part four looks at these gaming areas as new markets: there's social games and game revenue models, Angry Birds as paratext for future markets, and the political economy and industy of gaming apps. The final section is cheating, gambling and addiction, with one chapter on gambling-like apps and another on how Candy Crush players feel about cheating. Finally, there's afterword where the authors consider what casual games mean in the context of GamerGate.
It's a nice collection, and its virtues come out better on rereading. The specific game research tends to be sociology-based, and it's increasingly out of date as the game industry moves pretty fast, but it's a good basis for someone interested in the subject on an academic level.
Displaying 1 of 1 review