Being Dragonborn

Critical Essays on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

AvMike Piero,Marc A. Ouellette

Häftad, Engelska, 2021

Del i serien Studies in Gaming

376 kr

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Beskrivning

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is one of the bestselling and most influential video games of the past decade. From the return of world-threatening dragons to an ongoing civil war, the province of Skyrim is rich with adventure, lore, magic, history, and stunning vistas. Beyond its visual spectacle alone, Skyrim is an exemplary gameworld that reproduces out-of-game realities, controversies, and histories for its players. Being Dragonborn, then, comes to signify a host of ethical and ideological choices for the player, both inside and outside the gameworld. These essays show how playing Skyrim, in many ways, is akin to "playing" 21st century America with its various crises, conflicts, divisions, and inequalities. Topics covered include racial inequality and white supremacy, gender construction and misogyny, the politics of modding, rhetorics of gameplay, and narrative features.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2021-07-09
Mått:178 x 254 x 12 mm
Vikt:426 g
Format:Häftad
Språk:Engelska
Serie:Studies in Gaming
Antal sidor:236
Förlag:McFarland & Co Inc
ISBN:9781476677842

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Mer om författaren

Mike Piero is a Professor of English at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio. Marc A. Ouellette is an award-winning educator who teaches cultural and gender studies at Old Dominion University, where he is the Learning Games Initiative Research Fellow. Series editor Matthew Wilhelm Kapell teaches American studies, anthropology, and writing at Pace University in New York.

Recensioner i media

“Whether you are a games scholar, a student, or a fan of the Elder Scrolls franchise there is something for everyone in Being Dragonborn. Mike Piero and Marc A. Ouellette have curated a stellar collection of thoughtfully crafted and accessibly written critical essays on Skyrim that is sure to be added to many reading lists. Diverse in its perspectives, this edited collection dives into the complexities of one of the most compelling video games of its time in terms of world design, lore, and scope of possible gameplay. With Skyrim at the core, the chapters unfold through carefully interwoven topics including heroism, agency, ethics, emergent narrative, and more. A must read for anyone who is interested in the socio, political, and cultural impact of Skyrim in particular, and video games in general.”—Kelly Boudreau, Harrisburg University of Science & Technology

Innehållsförteckning

Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Skyrim as an Exemplary GameworldMike Piero and Marc A. OuellettePart I: “Skyrim is our land”: Neomedievalism, Heroism and Ethno-Nationalist GameplayFrom Hero to Zero: Nationalistic Narratives and the Dogma of Being DragonbornJoshua Call and Thomas LecaqueGrounding the Neomedieval Gameworld: The Dragonborn Between History and MythAlicia McKenzieExpanding the Frontier Through War: Skyrim’s Ludic Contribution to the Frontier MythBrent KicePart II: “Then I took an arrow in the knee”: Agency and Alterity Queer Harpies and Vicious Dryads: Hagravens, Spriggans and Abject Female Monstrosity in SkyrimSarah StangAll the Wheels of Cheese: Hoarding and Collecting Behaviors in SkyrimD’An Knowles BallEscapism as Contested Space: The Politics of Modding SkyrimLiamog S. DrislanePart III: “Sky above, voice within”: Ethics and Politics Within Skyrim’s CosmologyNature Versus Player: Skyrim Players and Modders as Ecological ForceMisha Grifka WanderPortraits of the Neomedieval Family-Idyllic: Patriarchal Oikos and a Love Without Love in SkyrimMike Piero and Marc A. OuelletteSkyrim’s Competitive Cosmology: A Fluctuating Economy of Power and Parasitic DeificationTrevor B. WilliamsTesting Your Thu’um: Rhetoric, Violence, Uncertainty and the DragonbornStephen M. LlanoPart IV: “Who wrote the Elder Scrolls?” Emergent Narratives and Difficult Questions Emergent Worlds and Illusions of Agency: Worldbuilding as Design Practice in SkyrimWendi SierraTaking Your Time as Dragonborn: Reconciling Skyrim’s Ludic and Narrative Dimensions Through a Detective Story TypologyAndrew A. ToddThe Death of Paarthurnax: The “Good Temptation”?C. Anne Engert and Tony PerrelloAbout the ContributorsIndex