[ecrea] New Issue of Game Studies 2015-1

*New Issue of Game Studies Journal*

Game Studies: The International Journal of Computer Game Research has
just published its latest issue (Volume 15, Issue 1, July 2015). All
articles are available at
www.gamestudies.org/1501 <http://www.gamestudies.org/1501>


*Editorial*
Meta-Game Studies<http://gamestudies.org/1501/articles/editorial>
by Espen Aarseth
Leveling up the field of game studies. Did we succeed?

*Articles*
The Demarcation Problem in Multiplayer Games: Boundary-Work in EVE
Online's eSport <http://gamestudies.org/1501/articles/carter>
/by / Marcus Carter, Martin Gibbs, Michael Arnold
Informal rules are fundamental to multiplayer game play. Based on the
analysis of a thrown tournament final in EVE Online’s eSport, this
article presents and argues for the theory of boundary-work for
understanding the processes through which players develop and dispute
informal social rules that mediate play in multiplayer games.

Me and Lee: Identification and the Play of Attraction in The Walking
Dead <http://gamestudies.org/1501/articles/taylor>
/by / Nicholas Taylor, Chris Kampe, Kristina Bell
This micro-ethnographic account of gameplay in The Walking Dead examines
the shifting nature of players’ relationship with Lee Everett, the
game’s protagonist. It offers a provisional schema that accounts for the
“attractors” that shape this relationship. The schema is applied to a
brief but intense moment in two players’ experiences with the game.

No Mastery Without Mystery: Dark Souls and the Ludic Sublime
<http://gamestudies.org/1501/articles/vella>
/by / Daniel Vella
This article discusses the aesthetic mode of the sublime as it applies
to games, contextualized in an analysis of Dark Souls. It argues that
the sublime represents a crucial aspect of the player’s engagement with
the game object, defining it as resulting from the tension between the
player’s drive towards mastery and the mystery resulting from the
essential unknowability of the game object..

Self-Reflexivity and Humor in Adventure Games
<http://gamestudies.org/1501/articles/bonello_k>
/by / Krista Bonello Rutter Giappone
This article focuses on the “adventure game” genre, its metafictional
humor, and tendency towards self-parody in both its formative stage and
its more recent ensuing nostalgic turn, with particular reference to
/Zork/ (Infocom, 1980), LucasArts’ Monkey Island games (1990-2000), and
Telltale’s parodic-nostalgic “Reality 2.0” (/Sam and Max/, 2007).


*Book Reviews*
A Manifesto, With Footnotes. A Review of Miguel Sicart’s “Play Matters”
<http://gamestudies.org/1501/articles/deterding_s>
/by / Sebastian Deterding
Play Matters (2014) by Miguel Sicart. Cambridge, MA, London: MIT Press.
ISBN: 9780262027922. 176 pp.

Jørgensen's "Gameworld Interfaces"
<http://gamestudies.org/1501/articles/backe>
/by / Hans-Joachim Backe
Kristine Jørgensen (2013). Gameworld Interfaces. Cambridge: MIT Press.
ISBN 978-0-26202686-4. 181 pages.


*Call For Papers*
Game Studies Special Issue: “WAR/GAME”
<http://gamestudies.org/1501/articles/cfp_wargames>
/by / Guest Editors - Pötzsch & Hammond
Video games are an important sector of the global entertainment industry
and AAA titles often have budgets and audiences similar to those of
major Hollywood productions. Many of the commercially most successful
games are war-themed titles that play out in what are framed as
authentic real-world settings inspired by historical events.

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