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Our primary focus is aesthetic, cultural and communicative aspects of computer games, but any previously unpublished article focused on games and gaming is welcome.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
Getting Into the Game: An Examination of Player Personality Projection in Videogame Avatars

by Casey Hart

Expanding on research in the area of identity theory, and applying aspects of personality construction, this paper examines avatar creation and identification in videogames by exploring how players project aspects of their personality into the virtual environment. [more]
The “Moral Disengagement in Violent Videogames” Model

by Tilo Hartmann

Entertaining violent videogames morally disengage users. Accordingly, users can enjoy enacting virtual violence, rather than feeling guilty. This is the core assumption of the Moral Disengagement in Violent Videogames model presented in the current article. The model resulted from psychological research and consists of four linked propositions. [more]
The Structure of Videogame Preference

by Rune Klevjer, Jan Fredrik Hovden

The study uses Multiple Correspondence Analysis to identify patterns of association and opposition within players’ stated favourite game titles. We find that videogame preferences can be grouped into distinct preference orientations, and that “core” gaming is a highly differentiated category. [more]
Playing Games with Shklovsky, Brecht, and Boal: Ostranenie, V-Effect, and Spect-Actors as Analytical Tools for Game Studies

by Holger Pötzsch

The article discusses the concepts of ostranenie (Shklovsky), V-effect (Brecht), and spect-actor (Boal), before critically reviewing their earlier application to analyses of games and play. [more]

Book Reviews

Between “Games as Media” and “Interactive Games”

by Hans-Joachim Backe

Game Play: Paratextuality in Contemporary Board Games (2015) by Paul Booth. New York/London: Bloomsbury. ISBN: 9781628927436. 247 pp. [more]
Structuring, Communicating, and Engaging Values in Games

by Maxime Deslongchamps-Gagnon

Values at Play in Digital Games (2014) by Mary Flanagan and Helen Nissenbaum. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN: 9780262027663. 224 pp. [more]
For the Love of Fighting Games

by Torill Mortensen

The Culture of Digital Fighting Games: Performance and Practice (2014) by Todd Harper. New York and London: Routledge. ISBN: 9780415821308. 158 pp. [more]
Senses of Endings

by Daniel Vella

Every Game is an Island: Endings and Extremities in Video Games (2007) by Riccardo Fassone. New York and London: Bloomsbury. ISBN: 9781501316630. 208 pp. [more]

 

©2001 - 2017 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.