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Our primary focus is aesthetic, cultural and communicative aspects of computer games, but any previously unpublished article focused on games and gaming is welcome.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
A Kinesthetic Theory of Videogames: Time-Critical Challenge and Aporetic Rhematic

by Veli-Matti Karhulahti

This article looks into the mostly unexplored difference between kinesthetic and nonkinesthetic videogame challenge. The difference is refined into a challenge-based theory for understanding the videogame and its peculiar rhetorical character. [more]
Sonic Mechanics: Audio as Gameplay

by Aaron Oldenburg

The work discusses the past and potential future intersections between game design and theories within contemporary sound art. The author will describe his design process in the creation of several experimental audio games. These range from music composition based on chance game events to silent games that simulate aspects of sound. [more]
Automatic-Play and Player Deskilling in MMORPGs

by Stefano De Paoli

The concept of automatic-play refers to the use of game bots, macros and other software that allow a total or partial automation of gameplay and in particular avatar levelling. The paper theorizes a key aspect of the automation of gameplay: the deskilling of players with the transfer of human skills to automatic-play software. [more]

Book Reviews

Raising The Stakes: E-Sports and The Professionalization of Gaming

by Larissa Hjorth

Raising the Stakes: E-Sports and the professionalization of computer gaming (2012) by TL Taylor. MIT Press. ISBN: 978-0262017374 [more]
Ludoliteracy: Defining, Understanding and Supporting Games Education

by Siobhán Thomas

Ludoliteracy: Defining, understanding, and supporting games education (2010) by José P. Zagal. Pittsburgh, PA: The ETC Press. ISBN:978-0-557-27791-9 [more]

 

©2001 - 2013 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.