Raising the Stakes: E-Sports and the Professionalization of Computer Gaming - Hardcover

Taylor, T. L. (Associate In Comparative Media Studies

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0262017377 ISBN 13: 9780262017374

Verlag: MIT University Press Group Ltd, 2012

Inhaltsangabe

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 showStarcade (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. InRaising 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.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

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).

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: MIT University Press Group Ltd
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2012
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0262017377
• ISBN 13: 9780262017374
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 323
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar