Online Games, Social Narratives

Esther MacCallum-Stewart is a Research Fellow at the Digital Cultures Research Centre, UWE, and a Senior Lecturer at the University of Surrey in Digital Media Arts. Her work examines player communities and the ways in which they understand and interpret the game narratives around them, and sexuality, love and gender in games. She has written widely on deviant play, roleplaying, responses to gender in games, player communities and aspects of love and sexuality in games.

• Introduction: ‘Give Honeydew 46 /1’ 1. A Brief History of Online Gaming – Or Not 2. ‘Did He Just Run in There?’: Defining Gaming Communities and Players 3. ‘Digging a Hole’: Reframing Game Narratives through Webcasting 4. ‘Someone a Fan Made’: Gaming Fan Communities and Creative Practice 5. One More Block: The Essentials of Indie Gaming 6. Indie Grows Up: A Man Called Steve 7. Always in Beta: Strategising Gaming Communities Coda: Final Thoughts