Subject Librarian
Lucinda M. Hall
Contact:
Evans Map Room, Baker-Berry Library
Dartmouth College
25 N Main ST
Hanover, NH 03755
Dartmouth College
25 N Main ST
Hanover, NH 03755
(603) 646-0962
Website Skype Contact: d1128r8@kiewit.dartmouth.edu
Course description
Video Games and the Meaning of Life is an interdisciplinary course that explores the modern human condition through the stories, designs, and soundscapes of digital games—from the perils of obedience (Hannah Arendt and The Stanley Parable) to the metaphors of illness (Susan Sontag and That Dragon, Cancer), from the deathless dreams of pacifism (Undertale) to the transnational rise of today’s billion-dollar e-Sports industry (League of Legends). All students are welcome; no gaming or musical experience needed.
[Source: ORC/Catalog, 08/25/2023]; Dist:TMV; WCult:CI
In the Library's collections
You can use one of these subject headings to start your research in the library's online catalog:
- video gamesThis is a subject search in the library's online catalog.
- "video games"This is a keyword search in our discovery system.
Introductory reading(s)
A brief history of video games by Call Number: Baker-Berry GV 1469.3 .S83 2015ISBN: 9780762456154This Brief History provides a unique look at the history and culture of video games, starting with the 1960s classics like Pong to modern favorites such as Grand Theft Auto V and Bioshock. Focusing on creative and scientific advances between 1962 and today, A Brief History of Video Games offers a global perspective on gaming's past and its cutting-edge future with the evolution of virtual reality, 3D graphics, and thought-interface technology. It also addresses the design process from concept to packaging, considers the influence of manga and anime, and explores the relationship between video games and movies.
Game invaders: the theory and understanding of computer games by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781118347584Presenting a holistic and thoroughly practical investigation of the true nature of computer games that arms readers with a small yet powerful set of theories for developing unique approaches to understanding games. Game Invaders fully integrates genre theory, new media aesthetics, perceptual opportunities, and semiotics into a practical DIY toolkit for games analysis--offering detailed guidance for how to conduct in-depth critiques of game content and game play. ...
Gamer nation: the rise of modern gaming and the compulsion to play again by Call Number: Baker-Berry GV 1469.34 .S52 G45 2018ISBN: 9781633883796The American "game economy" has become an enormous enterprise, devouring roughly one-ninth of America's entire economic output. This overview of arguably the most influential segment of the entertainment industry examines the perspectives of gaming enthusiasts, addicts, designers, arcade owners, psychologists, philosophers, and more. Weighing the positive and negative aspects of games, the author considers their effect not only upon the players but upon culture and society. What trade-offs are being made when people play games for twenty-plus hours a week? ...
Gaming: trends, perspectives and impact on health by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781634850278Gaming is continuing to grow into one of the largest entertainment industries, not only in North America but also in the entire world. It has been estimated that, as of early 2015, nearly one-third (115 million) of Americans are playing video games. There is an average of two gamers in a United States household, and 80% of these households own at least one device that plays video games (Entertainment Software Association, 2015). The average gamer spends eight hours a week playing video games, with more hard-core gamers playing, on average, thirty hours a week (ESRB, 2010). ...
Routledge handbook of Japanese media by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781138917415The Routledge Handbook of Japanese Media is a comprehensive study of the key contemporary issues and scholarly discussions around Japanese media. Covering a wide variety of forms and types from newspapers, television and film, to music, manga and social media, this book examines the role of the media in shaping Japanese society from the Meiji era's intense engagement with Western culture to our current period of rapid digital innovation. ...
Understanding video games: the essential introduction by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781136300424Publication Date: 2nd ed.This follow-up to the pioneering first edition takes video game studies into the next decade of the twenty-first century, highlighting changes in the game business, advances in video game scholarship, and recent trends in game design and development including mobile, social, and casual gaming. In Understanding Video Games students will assess the major theories used to analyze games, such as ludology and narratology; gain familiarity with the commercial and organizational aspects of the game industry; trace the history of video games from Pong to Playstation 3 and beyond; ...
Selected book title(s)
Atari age: the emergence of video games in America by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780262338189The cultural contradictions of early video games: a medium for family fun (but mainly for middle-class boys), an improvement over pinball and television (but possibly harmful) Beginning with the release of the Magnavox Odyssey and Pong in 1972, video games, whether played in arcades and taverns or in family rec rooms, became part of popular culture, like television. In fact, video games were sometimes seen as an improvement on television because they spurred participation rather than passivity. These "space-age pinball machines" gave coin-operated games a high-tech and more respectable profile. In Atari Age, Michael Newman charts the emergence of video games in America from ball-and-paddle games to hits like Space Invaders and Pac-Man, describing their relationship to other amusements and technologies and showing how they came to be identified with the middle class, youth, and masculinity. ...
Gaming representation: race, gender, and sexuality in video games by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780253025739Recent years have seen an increase in public attention to identity and representation in video games, including journalists and bloggers holding the digital game industry accountable for the discrimination routinely endured by female gamers, queer gamers, and gamers of color. Video game developers are responding to these critiques, but scholarly discussion of representation in games has lagged far behind. Gaming Representation examines portrayals of race, gender, and sexuality in a range of games, from casuals like Diner Dash, to indies like Journey and The Binding of Isaac, to mainstream games from the Grand Theft Auto, BioShock, Spec Ops, The Last of Us, and Max Payne franchises. Arguing that representation and identity function as systems in games that share a stronger connection to code and platforms than it may first appear, the contributors to this volume push gaming scholarship to new levels of inquiry, theorizing, and imagination. ...
Playing with feelings: video games and affect by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781517900250How gaming intersects with systems like history, bodies, and code? Why do we so compulsively play video games? Might it have something to do with how gaming affects our emotions? In Playing with Feelings, Aubrey Anable applies affect theory to game studies, arguing that video games let us "rehearse" feelings, states, and emotions that give new tones and textures to our everyday lives and interactions with digital devices. Rather than thinking about video games as an escape from reality, Anable demonstrates how video games--their narratives, aesthetics, and histories--have been intimately tied to our emotional landscape since the emergence of digital computers. ...
Watch me play: Twitch and the rise of game live streaming by Call Number: Baker-Berry GV 1469.17 .S63 T385 2018ISBN: 9780691183558Every day thousands of people broadcast their gaming live to audiences over the internet using popular sites such as Twitch, which reaches more than one hundred million viewers a month. In these new platforms for interactive entertainment, big e-sports events featuring digital game competitors live stream globally, and audiences can interact with broadcasters--and each other--through chat in real time. What are the ramifications of this exploding online industry? Taking readers inside home studios and backstage at large e-sports events, Watch Me Play investigates the rise of game live streaming and how it is poised to alter how we understand media and audiences. ...
Other library resource(s)
Thank you for playing by Call Number: Streaming videoWhen Ryan Green, a video game programmer, learns that his young son Joel has cancer, he and his wife Amy begin documenting their emotional journey in the form of an autobiographical video game. This film follows Ryan and his family over two years through the creation of That Dragon, Cancer as it evolves from a cathartic exercise into a critically acclaimed work of art that memorializes and personalizes their time and interactions with Joel and sets the gaming industry abuzz.
Video and computer games from Oxford Bibliographies Online by Call Number: Electronic resourceISBN: 9780199791286It almost goes without saying that video games have made a profound impact across culture and society. According to the Electronic Software Association, 67 percent of households within the United States play video and/or computer games. The average video game player is age thirty-four and has been playing games for well over a decade. Gamer demographics have also shifted significantly, as women and girls constitute 40 percent of gamers while, in 2010, 26 percent of gamers are over the age of fifty. ...
Video games and communication from Oxford Bibliographies Online - Communication by Call Number: Electronic resourceISBN: 9780199756841Video games (or computer games or digital games) are a form of media that communicates through a combination of methods, including text, visuals, audio, and—perhaps most importantly—rules. As an industry (or set of industries), games represent one of the most pervasive and successful media in the world. Despite that, research on games is still fairly young, and it is often dispersed across disciplines, such as computer science, rhetoric, literature, and leisure studies. This article focuses on social scientific research on games conducted primarily in the field of (mass) communication. ...
Finding scholarly articles & journal title(s)
You can find scholarly literature for film and television studies in combination with video games in a variety of journals. However, if you want to do targeted searching, you can use a subject specific data such as Film & Television Literature Index or ACM Digital Library. You can also use the search box at the top of the page to find relevant articles.
Computers in human behavior by Call Number: Electronic journalThe journal addresses both the use of computers in psychology, psychiatry and related disciplines as well as the psychological impact of computer use on individuals, groups and society. ...
International journal of computer games technologyCall Number: Electronic journalInternational Journal of Computer Games Technology publishes original research and review articles on both the research and development aspects of games technology covering the whole range of entertainment computing and interactive digital media.
ACM digital library by Call Number: Electronic resourceACM Digital Library is a searchable, browsable, bibliographic database from the key publishers in computing, including books, journals, proceedings and theses.
Film & television literature indexCall Number: Electronic resourceThis index covers over 300 journal and magazine titles for film and television reviews, scholarly and critical analysis of cinema and television, and articles of popular interest about film and television. About half the journals and magazines are film periodicals and the other half cover film and television with some regularity. Subject coverage includes film & television theory, preservation & restoration, writing, production, cinematography, technical aspects, and reviews.
Web of science citation databases by Call Number: Electronic resourceThe online version of 3 separate ISI indexes: Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Science Citation Index and, Social Sciences Citation Index.
Internet resource(s)
- 10 Great Video Games About the Meaning of LifeLove, death, romance, regret – video games can tell us about all of these things and more. Here are their favourite examples ...
Citing and Tracking Your Bibliographic References
Use this guide to help you learn how to correctly cite and keep track of the references you find for your research.
Keeping up with Film Studies journal literature
Want an easy way to keep up with the journal literature for all facets of Film Studies? And you use a mobile device? You can install the BrowZine app and create a custom Bookshelf of your favorite journal titles. Then you will get the Table of Contents (ToCs) of your favorite journals automatically delivered to you when they become available. Once you have the ToC's, you can download and read the articles you want from the journals for which we have subscriptions.
You can get the app from the App Store or Google Play.
Don't own or use a mobile device? You can still use BrowZine! It's also available in a web version. You can get to it here. The web version works the same way as the app version. Find the journals you like, create a custom Bookshelf, get ToCs and read the articles you want.