Play Versus Story Divide in Game Studies

Matthew Wilhelm Kapell teaches American studies, anthropology, and writing at Pace University in New York.

“focused essays on a wide variety of games...uesful and readable models”—Choice; “excellent”—Press Start; “This volume is both a polemic and entirely pragmatic. Kapell’s offerings resurrect a dispute most games scholars pretend never happened and makes a convincing argument for not only revisiting but sustaining debate. The twelve new essays presented, grounded in game studies and propelled by insights from other fields, are exemplary. This is essential reading.”—Gerald Voorhees, University of Waterloo

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: The Ludic and Narrative as Dialectic About “What Games Do” delete(Matthew Wilhelm Kapell)Kentucky Route Zero: Or, How Not to Get Lost in the Branching Narrative System delete(Lindsey Joyce)States of Play in State of Decay delete(Andrew Wackerfuss)Game, Narrative and Storyworld in League of Legends (Emily Joy Bembeneck)Narrative-Heavy Games as ­Neo-Gothic Literature: Beyond: Two Souls and the Player/Viewer in Contemporary Cultural Anxieties delete(Eric W. Riddle)“Thou Art I”: The Interaction of Play and Narrative in Persona 3 delete(Mark Filipowich)The Power of Ludonarrativity: Halo as Participatory Myth delete(Vince Locke)The Cyborg Game: Narrative/Ludic Fusion in Deus Ex: Human Revolution delete(Alexandra Orlando and Matthew Schwager)The Biopolitics of Gaming: ­Avatar-Player ­Self-Reflexivity in Assassin’s Creed II delete(Tom Apperley and Justin Clemens)BioShock Infinite: The Search for Redemption and the Repetition of Atrocity delete(Amy M. Green)“All that’s left is the choosing”: BioShock Infinite and the Constants and Variables of Control delete(Matthew Wysocki and Betsy Brey)A Whirl of Warriors: Character and Competition in Street Fighter delete(Nicholas Ware)Ecological Matters: Rethinking the “Magic” of the Magic Circle delete(Robert Mejia)Conclusion: Of Lumpers and Splitters delete(Matthew Wilhelm Kapell)About the ContributorsIndex