Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

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 provided by Syndetics

• Foreword
• Preface
• Playing Video Games as Entertainment
• Designing the Experience of Interactive Play
• Part I The Product
• A Brief Biography of Computer Games
• The (Computer) Games People Play
• Perps, Pimps, and Provocative Clothing: Examining Negative Content Patterns in Video Games
• Massively Multiplayer Online Games
• Part II Motivation and Selection
• Why People Play Games: An Industry Perspective
• Why Play? An Evolutionary Perspective
• The Influence of Personality Factors on Computer Game Choice
• Effectance, Self-Efficacy, and the Motivation to Play Video Games
• What Attracts Children?
• Adolescents and the Appeal of Video Games
• Selective Exposure to Video Games
• Part III Reception and Reaction Processes
• A Brief Social History of Game Play
• Video Game Uses and Gratifications as Predicators of Use and Game Preference
• The Role of Presence in the Experience of Electronic Games
• The Role of Music in Video Games
• Narrative and Interactivity in Computer Games
• Realism, Imagination, and Narrative Video Games
• Playing Online
• What Went Wrong WithThe Sims Online: Cultural Learning and Barriers to Identification in a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game
• Part IV Effects and Consequences
• What Do We Know About Social and Psychological Effects of Computer Games?
• A Comprehensive Review of the Current Literature
• Aggression and Violence as Effects of Playing Violent Video Games?
• A Theoretical Model of the Effects and Consequences of Playing Video Games
• What Can We Learn From Playing Interactive Games?
• Video Games for Entertainment and Education
• Game Playing and Adolescents' Development