The International Journal of Computer Game Research

Our Mission - To explore the rich cultural genre of games; to give scholars a peer-reviewed forum for their ideas and theories; to provide an academic channel for the ongoing discussions on games and gaming.

Game Studies is a non-profit, open-access, crossdisciplinary journal dedicated to games research, web-published several times a year at www.gamestudies.org.

Our primary focus is aesthetic, cultural and communicative aspects of computer games, but any previously unpublished article focused on games and gaming is welcome. Proposed articles should be jargon-free, and should attempt to shed new light on games, rather than simply use games as metaphor or illustration of some other theory or phenomenon.



Game Studies is published with the support of:

The Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet)

The Joint Committee for Nordic Research Councils for the Humanities and the Social Sciences

Blekinge Institute of Technology

IT University of Copenhagen

Lund University

If you would like to make a donation to the Game Studies Foundation, which is a non-profit foundation established for the purpose of ensuring continuous publication of Game Studies, please contact the Editor-in-Chief or send an email to: foundation at gamestudies dot org
Interactivity, Inhabitation and Pragmatist Aesthetics

by Phillip D. Deen

Pragmatist philosophy of art provides an account of aesthetic experience particularly suited to the transactive and immersive qualities of video games and superior to spectatorial and institutional alternatives. It also distinguishes between mere emotion and artistic expression, providing a response to those who assert games cannot be aesthetic. [more]
Optimizing Play: How Theorycraft Changes Gameplay and Design

by Christopher A. Paul

Analyzing the role of theorycraft in optimizing play, this essay argues that theorycraft demonstrates a distinct approach of how to 'play' World of Warcraft, uniting game studies research that focuses on procedural rhetoric and paratexts, while expanding the role of rhetoric for the analysis of games. [more]
Bishōjo Games: ‘Techno-Intimacy’ and the Virtually Human in Japan

by Patrick W. Galbraith

This paper offers an in-depth analysis of bishōjo games. Observing that interactions with shōjo characters are central to the play experience, and building on Thomas LaMarre’s discussion of a free or open relation to technology grounded by the shōjo as “god,” the paper considers what it means for players to interact intimately with gaming machines. [more]
The Leisure of Serious Games: A Dialogue

by Geoffrey M. Rockwell, Kevin Kee

In this dialogue, performed at a conference, the presenters test the claim that “games can be educational”. They draw on the insights of philosophers and theorists in an attempt to provoke discussion, and eventually agree that the line separating games and learning may be blurry, and that in game design we may find the seeds of serious play. [more]
Subjective Measures of the Influence of Music Customization on the Video Game Play Experience: A Pilot Study

by Alexander Wharton, Karen Collins

The Xbox 360 introduced the ability for players to substitute a personal music playlist into any game produced for the console. We carried out a smalls study to explore the influence that a player’s selection of music has on both gameplay tactics and on their reported perceived levels of immersion. [more]

Book Reviews

What is Love?

by Olli Tapio Leino

Gaming - Essays on Algorithmic Culture. Alexander R. Galloway, 2006. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN-13: 978-0-8166-4851-1 [more]
Tensions Between Meaning Construction and Persuasion in Games

by Jan H.G. Klabbers

Persuasive Games. The expressive power of video games. Ian Bogost, 2007. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. Pp. xii+450. ISBN-13: 978- 0-262-02614-7 (hardcover) [more]
Congenial by Design: A Review of A Casual Revolution

by Stewart Woods

A Casual Revolution: Reinventing Video Games and Their Players. Jesper Juul, 2009. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. ISBN-13: 978-0-262- 01337-6 [more]
Not a Casual Review: Reading Jesper Juul’s A Casual Revolution

by Staffan Björk

A Casual Revolution: Reinventing Video Games and Their Players. Jesper Juul, 2009. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. ISBN-13: 978-0-262- 01337-6 [more]
Reading Processes: Groundwork for Software Studies

by Raine Koskimaa

Expressive Processing: Digital Fictions, Computer Games and Software Studies. Noah Wardrip-Fruin, 2009. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. ISBN-13: 978-0-262-01343-7 [more]
Critical Theory, Political Economy and Game Studies: A Review of "Games of Empire: Global Capitalism and Video Games"

by Bart Simon

Games of Empire: Global Capitalism and Video Games. Nick Dyer-Witherford and Greig de Peuter, 2009. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN: 978-08166-6611-9 [more]
Hackers, History, and Game Design: What Racing the Beam Is Not

by José P. Zagal

Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System. Nick Montfort and Ian Bogost, 2009. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. ISBN-13: 978- 0-262-01257-7 [more]
The fun is back!

by Lars Konzack

Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System. Nick Montfort and Ian Bogost, 2009. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. ISBN-13: 978-0-262-01257-7 [more]

 

©2001 - 2011 Game Studies Copyright for articles published in this journal is retained by the journal, except for the right to republish in printed paper publications, which belongs to the authors, but with first publication rights granted to the journal. By virtue of their appearance in this open access journal, articles are free to use, with proper attribution, in educational and other non-commercial settings.