Communities of play : emergent cultures in multiplayer games and virtual worlds

The odyssey of a group of "refugees" from a closed-down online game and an exploration of emergent fan cultures in virtual worlds.Play communities existed long before massively multiplayer online games; they have ranged from bridge clubs to sports leagues, from tabletop role-playing games...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Pearce, Celia, Boellstorff, Tom, Nardi, Bonnie A.
Format: eBook Book
Language:English
Published: Cambridge, Mass MIT Press 2009
The MIT Press
Edition:1
Series:The MIT Press
Subjects:
Communities
Community life
Culture
Design
Fantasy games
Fantasy games > Social aspects
Games
Games of strategy
Internet
Internet games
Internet games > Social aspects
Role playing
Role playing > Social aspects
Shared virtual environments
Shared virtual environments > Social aspects
Video games-Social aspects
Virtual reality
Visual culture
ISBN:9780262516730, 026251673X, 9780262162579, 0262162571
Online Access:Get full text
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Table of Contents:
  • Intro -- Contents -- Methods of Culture -- Play, Community, and History -- Acknowledgments -- I Play, Community, and Emergent Cultures -- 1 Communities of Play and the Global Playground -- 2 Virtual Worlds, Play Ecosystems, and the Ludisphere -- 3 Emergence in Cultures, Games, and Virtual Worlds -- 4 Reading, Writing, and Playing Cultures -- II The Uru Diaspora -- 5 An Imaginary Homeland -- 6 Identity as Place -- 7 The Inner Lives of Avatars -- 8 Communities and Cultures of Play -- 9 Patterns of Emergence -- 10 Productive Play -- 11 Porous Magic Circles and the Ludisphere -- 12 Emergence as Design Material -- III Playing Ethnography -- 13 Methodology -- IV The Social Construction of the Ethnographer -- 14 Being Artemesia -- V Beyond Uru -- 15 Coda: Uru Resurrection -- 16 Crafting Cultures -- 17 Global Playgrounds and the "Play Turn" In Culture -- Games and Virtual Worlds Cited -- References -- Index