Understanding Digital Games

There are an increasing number of courses on digital games and gaming, following the rise in the popularity of games themselves. Amongst these practical courses, there are now theoretical courses appearing on gaming on media, film, and cultural studies degree programs.

The aim of this book is to satisfy the need for a single accessible textbook which offers a broad introduction to the range of literatures and approaches currently contributing to digital game research.

Each of the chapters outline key theoretical perspectives, theorists, and literatures to demonstrate their relevance to, and use in, the study of digital games.

Jason Rutter is a Research Fellow at the Manchester Institute for Innovation Research (MIoIR) where he works primarily in the areas of leisure technologies (especially digital gaming) as well as counterfeiting and piracy of digital content. He has been involved in projects funded by the European Commission, Northern Ireland Office, NESTA, DTI and ESRC and published widely including the books Understanding Digital Games (2006, Sage) and Digital Game Industries (forthcoming, Ashgate) and special editions of Game Studies (2003) and Information, Communication and Society (2003). His recent projects include ‘Hidden Innovation in the Creative Sectors’ (NESTA), ‘Intellectual Property Theft and Organised Crime’ (NIO) and ‘Mobile Entertainment Industry and Culture’ (EC). He chaired the European Commission Marie Curie Conference ‘Putting the Knowledge Based Society into Practice’ (April 2006) and the international conferences ‘Mobile Entertainment: User Centred Perspectives’ (2004) and ‘Playing with the Future’ (2002) as well as running the ESRC-funded seminar series "DigiPlay: Experience and Consequence of Technologies of Leisure". He was the inaugural vice-president of the international Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA).