Available:*
Library | Item Barcode | Call Number | Material Type | Item Category 1 | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... | 30000010301936 | GV567.5 T39 2012 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
On Order
Summary
Summary
Competitive video and computer game play is nothing new: the documentary King of Kong memorably portrays a Donkey Kong player's attempts to achieve the all-time highest score; the television show Starcade (1982--1984) featured competitions among arcade game players; and first-person shooter games of the 1990s became multiplayer through network play. A new development in the world of digital gaming, however, is the emergence of professional computer game play, complete with star players, team owners, tournaments, sponsorships, and spectators. In Raising the Stakes , T. L. Taylor explores the emerging scene of professional computer gaming and the accompanying efforts to make a sport out of this form of play. In the course of her explorations, Taylor travels to tournaments, including the World Cyber Games Grand Finals (which considers itself the computer gaming equivalent of the Olympics), and interviews participants from players to broadcasters. She examines pro-gaming, with its highly paid players, play-by-play broadcasts, and mass audience; discusses whether or not e-sports should even be considered sports; traces the player's path from amateur to professional (and how a hobby becomes work); and describes the importance of leagues, teams, owners, organizers, referees, sponsors, and fans in shaping the structure and culture of pro-gaming. Taylor connects professional computer gaming to broader issues: our notions of play, work, and sport; the nature of spectatorship; the influence of money on sports. And she examines the ongoing struggle over the gendered construction of play through the lens of male-dominated pro-gaming. Ultimately, the evolution of professional computer gaming illuminates the contemporary struggle to convert playful passions into serious play.
Author Notes
T. L. Taylor is Associate Professor in the Center for Computer Games Research at the IT University of Copenhagen. She is the author of Play Between Worlds: Exploring Online Game Culture (MIT Press).
Reviews 1
Choice Review
In Raising the Stakes, Taylor (IT Univ. of Copenhagen, Denmark; Play between Worlds, CH, Jan'07, 44-2540) looks at professional computer gaming using a cultural-sociological angle. The author shows how a perceived pastime activity is turning into a serious form of play with high stakes and a broad influence. She draws parallels between real-world analog sports and "e-sport" (another term for professional gaming) in terms of rules formulation, the various actors required, and the processes that govern competitions. She also discusses issues of gender, race, and socioeconomic status, which determine who can compete professionally. Lastly, Taylor describes how professional gaming transforms everyone and everything involved, including the digital games, players, spectators, and surrounding industries. This book is unique because it does not simply take a journalistic approach to the subject of e-sport. It posits a future where professional computer gaming can gain a level of legitimacy, social acceptance, and cultural ubiquity that is on a par with any existing analog spectator sport. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through graduate students in game-related programs, researchers/faculty, and professionals/practitioners. A. Chen Cogswell College
Table of Contents
| Acknowledgments | p. vii |
| 1 Playing for Keeps | p. 1 |
| 2 Computer Games as Professional Sport | p. 35 |
| 3 Professionalizing Players | p. 85 |
| 4 Growing an Industry | p. 135 |
| 5 Spectatorship and Fandom | p. 181 |
| 6 Conclusion | p. 239 |
| Appendix: Standard Player Contract without Insurance Provision | p. 251 |
| Notes | p. 263 |
| Bibliography | p. 277 |
| Index | p. 299 |
