Frans Mäyrä, PhD, is a Professor at Tampere University and founder of the Game Research Lab, with its over 50 externally funded game research projects, having also served as the Director of the Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies. As a leading expert in socio-cultural issues relating to games, play, and playfulness, he has published widely on topics ranging from game cultures, meaning making through playful interaction, and online social play to borderlines, identity, and transmedial fantasy and science fiction.Raine Koskimaa, PhD, is a Professor of Contemporary Culture Studies at the University of Jyväskylä. He conducts research in the fields of game studies, transmedia storytelling, and digital culture. Koskimaa has published widely, and his writings have been translated into several languages. His current research interests include eSports, games and transmedia, and machine learning-based digital humanities methods.

• Introduction to the Cultural Game Studies: The Emergence of the Research Field 1. Understanding Games: Hermeneutic Approaches to Game Studies 2. Understanding Players 3. Politics of Games, Play and Critical Game Studies: What Does it Mean to be ‘Critical’? 4. Games and Art 5. Games and Transmedia 6. Games, Play and Online Videos 7. Storyworlds and Game Characters 8. The Changing Landscape of Game Production 9. The Many Cultures of Game Production 10. Game Jams and Game Culture 11. Identity and Game Culture: The Limits of Game Cultural Participation and Agency 12. Cultivating a Bildung of Gaming: Doing Socially and Culturally Engaged Game Studies 13. Nondigital Games and Culture 14. Emergence of Game Cultural Institutions: Hobbyist Efforts, Policymaking and Lucky Accidents 15. Critical Game Heritage: On Collaboration, Controversies and Contextualization 16. Well-being and Game Design 17. Gambling and Cultural Game Studies 18. Cultures of Competitive Gaming

Frans Mäyrä, PhD, is a Professor at Tampere University and founder of the Game Research Lab, with its over 50 externally funded game research projects, having also served as the Director of the Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies. As a leading expert in socio-cultural issues relating to games, play, and playfulness, he has published widely on topics ranging from game cultures, meaning making through playful interaction, and online social play to borderlines, identity, and transmedial fantasy and science fiction.Raine Koskimaa, PhD, is a Professor of Contemporary Culture Studies at the University of Jyväskylä. He conducts research in the fields of game studies, transmedia storytelling, and digital culture. Koskimaa has published widely, and his writings have been translated into several languages. His current research interests include eSports, games and transmedia, and machine learning-based digital humanities methods.

• Introduction to the Cultural Game Studies: The Emergence of the Research Field 1. Understanding Games: Hermeneutic Approaches to Game Studies 2. Understanding Players 3. Politics of Games, Play and Critical Game Studies: What Does it Mean to be ‘Critical’? 4. Games and Art 5. Games and Transmedia 6. Games, Play and Online Videos 7. Storyworlds and Game Characters 8. The Changing Landscape of Game Production 9. The Many Cultures of Game Production 10. Game Jams and Game Culture 11. Identity and Game Culture: The Limits of Game Cultural Participation and Agency 12. Cultivating a Bildung of Gaming: Doing Socially and Culturally Engaged Game Studies 13. Nondigital Games and Culture 14. Emergence of Game Cultural Institutions: Hobbyist Efforts, Policymaking and Lucky Accidents 15. Critical Game Heritage: On Collaboration, Controversies and Contextualization 16. Well-being and Game Design 17. Gambling and Cultural Game Studies 18. Cultures of Competitive Gaming