Understanding Video Games

The fifth edition of this pioneering textbook takes video game studies into the next decade, highlighting changes in mobile, social, and casual gaming.

This book introduces students to both the major theories used to analyze games, such as ludology and narratology, and the commercial and organizational aspects of the game industry. Drawing from historical and contemporary examples, this student-friendly text also explores the aesthetics of games, evaluates the cultural position of video games, and considers the potential effects of both violent and "serious" games. This new edition includes updates to the history, statistics, and developments in the vast game studies landscape throughout. The book has been expanded with additional theory, research, and insights from scholars around the world, making it more inclusive and broadening its global perspective.

Extensively illustrated and featuring discussion questions, a glossary of key terms, and a detailed video game history timeline, Understanding Video Games, Fifth Edition is an indispensable resource for anyone interested in examining the ways video games are reshaping entertainment, education, and society.

Praise for the fourth edition::

"Understanding Video Games: The Essential Introduction is a must-read primer for any student considering game studies. A handbook that is clear, precise, up-to-date and extremely useful for tackling video games, a cultural and technical phenomenon of great complexity and full of nuances." -- Belen Mainer Blance, Professor and Director of the Videogames Department at University Francisco de Vitoria

Praise for the third edition:

"A user-friendly, eminently readable account that has something to offer to both the neophyte and the specialist, Understanding Video Games is the text that is needed to secure a durable place for game studies in the academic curriculum." -- Marie-Laure Ryan, author of Narrative as Virtual Reality: Immersion and Interactivity in Literature and Electronic Media

"As the core text for my introductory games course, Understanding Video Games has remained an essential guide since its first edition. Ever attentive to the practicalities of classroom needs, this superb update presents its most complete and accessible overview of game studies yet." -- Soraya Murray, University of California, Santa Cruz

"Understanding Video Games is an admirably comprehensive treatment of the video game industry, history, culture, and theory. This new edition remains the best general textbook I've found for teaching video games in the college classroom." -- Alf Seegert, University of Utah