Overview
This book brings together a selection of papers delivered at the Video Game Cultures 2023 conference, held from 7 to 9 September 2023 at the University of Klagenfurt, Austria. An interdisciplinary collection drawing on disciplines from literary and cultural studies through to evolutionary psychology, this book critically investigates many developments in video game cultures, technologies, practices, texts, paratexts, and genres. Through examining ideas such as narrative and time, gender and sexuality, ethics and affect, and technology and spaces, our authors aim to expand our shared understanding of video games, and the cultures and communities which surround them. The work presented here reflects authors at different points in their academic careers, and will appeal to a variety of readers, from those wanting to find out more about academic writing on video games, through to those with a focused scholarly interest in particular fields of enquiry. With sections addressing Queer Game Studies, Historical Game Studies, and Game Design Perspectives, alongside ideas of solidarity and kindness in video games, the collection speaks to numerous subfields within games research. The chapters within offer conclusions and recommendations for academics and other educators, for established and aspiring game designers, and for anyone interested in how games can be understood as meaningful contributors to our cultural lives.
Full Product Details
Author: Nick Webber ,
Ewan Kirkland ,
René Reinhold Schallegger
Publisher: Sidestone Press
Imprint: Sidestone Press
ISBN: 9789464263893
ISBN 10: 946426389
Pages: 180
Publication Date: 06 November 2025
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming
Availability: Not yet available
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Author Information
Nick Webber is Professor of Game Studies, and Director of the Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research, at Birmingham City University, UK. He is co-convenor of the Historical Games Network and his research focuses on (video)games, cultural history and identity. His recent work explores the historical practices of player and fan communities, the impact of games and virtual worlds on our understanding of the past, and the relationship between national cultural policy and video games. Ewan Kirkland has published extensively on video games, focussing on survival horror and the Silent Hill series. Exploring such issues as storytelling, gender representation, genre and concept art, Ewan’s work has appeared in Games and Culture, Convergence, Gothic Studies and Camera Obscura. Routledge Advances in Game Studies recently published his study examining the influence of Gothic literature on games design, which contains chapters on Bioshock, Gone Home, What Remains of Edith Finch and Night in the Woods. Other research interests include animation, children’s culture and fandom. Ewan’s current research project explores UK fan conventions surrounding Hasbro’s My Little Pony series. René Reinhold Schallegger was trained in English and American as well as French Studies, with a focus on literary and cultural criticism at the University of Klagenfurt (Austria), Anglia Ruskin University (UK), and Birmingham City University (UK). He is Associate Professor at the University of Klagenfurt, and his main areas of interest are media cultures of the fantastic, normative ethics, affect theory, Citizenship-, Gender-, Queer-, Canadian-, and Game Studies. He is President of the Gesellschaft für Fantastikforschung (Association for Research in the Fantastic), and his most recent publication is the monograph A New Virtual Ethics: Interconnectedness and Interrelationality in Videogames (2024).
