Digital Play: The Interaction of Technology, Culture, and Marketing

by Stephen Kline, Nick Dyer-Witheford, Greig de Peuter

A uniquely critical study of video gaming that blends perspectives from political economy, cultural studies, and communications theory. Digital Play offers a uniquely critical analysis of interactive media. Inspired by the work of Raymond Williams, the book traces the development of video gaming from its humble origins in hacker circles to its current status as a $20 billion global cultural industry. Stephen Kline, Nick Dyer-Witheford, and Greig de Peuter systematically debunk cyber-guru optimism about globally networked digital communications by analysing the management practices of the corporations that design and market video games to youthful audiences. They reveal that the ascent of this new communications industry has been anything but smooth and inevitable. From Atari to Microsoft, Space Invaders to The Sims, the authors uncover the successive crises that forced game makers, faced with constant instabilities in the global entertainment sector, to become increasingly innovative.

Genres: Nonfiction, Gaming

376 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Mjhancock · Rating 4 out of 5]

The authors investigate the video game industry according to three "circuits"--a cultural analysis, a technological analysis, and a commercial analysis. The book comes in three parts: part one expands on the basic theories behind each circuit, and part two outlines the history of the video game industry from the early 60s roots to the current year (2004, when the book was published). It's a fairly comprehensive history. Part III applies the three circuits to various video game related issues: there's a chapter on Pokemon and its commercial ramifications; one on video game labour and piracy in terms of technology, and one on militarized masculinity and culture. The final chapter takes all three approaches to analyze The Sims.

It's a good book, for the most part, and the history portion is excellent. Its focus is on breadth rather than depth, and it's really far more about the game industry than actual games, but if you want a serious media-based study of video games, this is the place to go.