Playing Video Games - Motives, Responses, and Consequences
Peter Vorderer & Jennings Bryant, Editors


From security training simulations to war games to role-playing games, to sports games to gambling, playing video games has become a social phenomena and the increasing number of players that cross gender, culture, and age is on a dramatic upward trajectory. Playing Video Games: Motives, Responses, and Consequences integrates communication, psychology, and technology to examine the psychological and mediated aspects of playing video games. It is the first volume to delve deeply into these aspects of computer game play. It fits squarely into the media psychology arm of entertainment studies, the next big wave in media studies. The book targets one of the most popular and pervasive media in modern times, and it will serve to define the area of study and provide a theoretical spine for future research.

This unique and timely volume will appeal to scholars, researchers, and graduate students in media studies and mass communication, psychology, and marketing.


Table of Contents

00. Foreword (Stacey Spiegel, President and CEO of Immersion Studios)
01. Playing Video Games as Entertainment (Peter Vorderer, Jennings Bryant,Katherine Piper & René Weber)
02. Designing the Experience of Interactive Play (Michael Sellers)

I	The Product

03. A Brief Biography of Computer Games (Henry Lowood)
04. The (Computer) Games People Play (Barry P. Smith)
05. Perps, Pimps, & Provocative Clothing: Examining Negative Content Patterns in Video Games (Stacy Smith)
06. Massively Multiplayer Online Games (Elaine Chan & Peter Vorderer)  

II	Motivation & Selection

07. Why People Play Games: An Industry Perspective (G. Christopher Klug & Jesse Schell)
08. Why Play? An Evolutionary Perspective (Peter Ohler & Gerhild Nieding)
09. The Influence of Personality Factors on Computer Game Choice (Tilo Hartmann & Christoph Klimmt)
10. Effectance, Self-Efficacy, and the Motivation to Play Video Games (Christoph Klimmt & Tilo Hartmann)
11. What Attracts Children? (Maria von Salisch, Caroline Oppl & Astrid Kristen)
12. Adolescents and the Appeal of Video Games (Arthur A. Raney, Jason Smith, & Kaysee Baker) 
13. Selective Exposure to Computer Games (Jennings Bryant & John Davies)

III	Reception and Reaction Processes

14. A brief Social History of Game Play (Dmitri Williams)
15. Video Game Uses and Gratifications as Predicators of Use and Game
Preference (John L. Sherry, Kristen Lucas, Bradley S. Greenberg, & Ken Lachlan)
16. The Role of Presence in the Experience of Electronic Games (Ron Tamborini & Paul Skalski)
17. The Role of Music in Video Games (Sean M. Zehnder & Scott D. Lipscomb)
18. Narrative and Interactivity in Computer Games (Kwan Min Lee, Namkee Park, & Seung-A Jin)
19. Realism, Imagination and Narrative Video Games (Michael A. Shapiro, Jorge Peña-Herborn, & Jeffrey T. Hancock)
20. Playing Online (Ann-Sofie Axelsson & Tim Regan)
21. What Went Wrong with The Sims Online: Cultural Imposition and Barriers to Identification in a MMORPG (Francis F. Steen, Patricia M. Greenfield, Mari Sian Davies, & Brendesha Tynes)

IV	Effects and Consequences

22. What do We Know about Social and Psychological Effects of Computer Games? A Comprehensive Review of the Current Literature (Kwan Min Lee & Wei Peng)
23. A Theoretical Model of the Effects and Consequences of Playing Video Games	(Katherine E. Buckley & Craig A. Anderson)
24. Aggression and Violence as Effects of Playing Violent Games (René Weber, Ute Ritterfeld, & Anna Kostygina)
25. What can we learn from Playing Interactive Games? (Debra A. Lieberman)
26. Video Games for Entertainment and Education (Ute Ritterfeld & René Weber)
27. Game Playing and Adolescents’ Development (Kevin Durkin)


Further info with the publisher at:
https://www.erlbaum.com/shop/tek9.asp?pg=products&specific=0-8058-5322-7