[ecrea] Video game subcultures: Playing at the periphery of mainstream culture - New issue now online - G|A|M|E n. 3/2014

G|A|M|E -- n. 3/2014
Issue 3, 2014 -- Video game subcultures: Playing at the periphery of 
mainstream culture
Edited by M. B. Carbone & P. Ruffino

Freely available online at: 
http://www.gamejournal.it/issues/game-n-32014/#.U0bA4fldUwN

This issue of GAME Journal offers an overview and a series of case 
studies on video games from the point of view of subcultural theory.

There has been little work in game studies from this perspective, which 
offers a theoretical frame for the ever growing complexity of the 
audiences involved with the medium of the video game. The study of 
subcultures on the other hand has a long standing and complex tradition 
which culminates in what has been recently defined as the 
"post-subcultural" theoretical scenario.

As games are increasingly evoked for their interplay with other media 
and their role in defining and shaping our cultures, carrying artistic, 
cultural and social meanings -- both ideologies and conversely 
"engaged", "alternative", or "redemptive" discourses --  it becomes 
increasingly important to accompany the merely descriptive and 
(inter)textualist analysis shared by many approaches in game studies 
with elements of social and subcultural theory.

The variety of the contributions collected in the present issue 
testifies how a study of video game subcultures is necessarily 
centrifugal: if we imagine the studies of the tendencies of the 
mainstream market as oriented towards the "centre" of video game 
culture, then analyses of marginalised and under-represented forms of 
reception look instead towards unlimited and dispersed directions.

In this issue we proudly welcome papers with very diverse geographical 
focuses, based on a variety of methodologies and interested in phenomena 
which occurred in different periods in the history of the video game 
industry.


Summary

Vol. 1 -- Journal (peer-reviewed)
Cover Art: KINSHASA vs AKIHABARA (Giovanni Fredi -- 
http://kinshasavsakihabara.com)

M. B. Carbone & P. Ruffino - Introduction: games and subcultural theory
G. Zhang - The stroller in the virtual city: spatial practice of Hong 
Kong players in Sleeping Dogs
R. Gallagher - From camp to kitsch? A queer eye on console fandom
T. Plothe - "I'm a rogue night elf". Avatars, gaming and The Big Bang Theory
I. Márquez - Playing new music with old games: The chiptune subculture
G. Menotti - Videorec as gameplay: Recording of playthroughs and video 
game engagement
A. Harvey - Twine's revolution: Democratization, depoliticization, and 
the queering of game design
H. Tyni & O. Sotamaa -- Assembling a game development scene?  Uncovering 
Finland's largest demo party

Vol. 2 -- Critical notes (non-peer reviewed)
Cover Art: Contradictions (Filippo Minelli -- 
http://www.filippominelli.com/contradictions/)

M. Fuchs -- Nordic game subcultures: between LARPers and avant-garde
T. Oliveira, E. Ferreira, L. Carvalho & A. Boechat -- Tribute and 
Resistance: Participation and affective engagement in Brazilian  fangame 
makers and modders' subcultures
R. Sampugnaro, S. Mica, S. Fallica, A. Bonaiuto & M. Mingrino -- 
Participation at the Global Game Jam event: a bridge between consumer 
and producer worlds in digital entertainment


--
Paolo Ruffino
http://paoloruffino.com <http://paoloruffino.com/>