Gamer Nation : Video Games and American Culture
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| Title: | Gamer Nation : Video Games and American Culture |
|---|---|
| Description: | Explores how games actively influence the ways people interpret and relate to American life.In 1975, design engineer Dave Nutting completed work on a new arcade machine. A version of Taito's Western Gun, a recent Japanese arcade machine, Nutting's Gun Fight depicted a classic showdown between gunfighters. Rich in Western folklore, the game seemed perfect for the American market; players easily adapted to the new technology, becoming pistol-wielding pixel cowboys. One of the first successful early arcade titles, Gun Fight helped introduce an entire nation to video-gaming and sold more than 8,000 units.In Gamer Nation, John Wills examines how video games co-opt national landscapes, livelihoods, and legends. Arguing that video games toy with Americans'mass cultural and historical understanding, Wills show how games reprogram the American experience as a simulated reality. Blockbuster games such as Civilization, Call of Duty, and Red Dead Redemption repackage the past, refashioning history into novel and immersive digital states of America. Controversial titles such as Custer's Revenge and 08.46 recode past tragedies. Meanwhile, online worlds such as Second Life cater to a desire to inhabit alternate versions of America, while Paperboy and The Sims transform the mundane tasks of everyday suburbia into fun and addictive challenges.Working with a range of popular and influential games, from Pong, Civilization, and The Oregon Trail to Grand Theft Auto, Silent Hill, and Fortnite, Wills critically explores these gamic depictions of America. Touching on organized crime, nuclear fallout, environmental degradation, and the War on Terror, Wills uncovers a world where players casually massacre Native Americans and Cold War soldiers alike, a world where neo-colonialism, naive patriotism, disassociated violence, and racial conflict abound, and a world where the boundaries of fantasy and reality are increasingly blurred. Ultimately, Gamer Nation reveals not only how video games are a key aspect of contemporary American culture, but also how games affect how people relate to America itself. |
| Authors: | John Wills |
| Resource Type: | eBook. |
| Subjects: | Violence in video games, Video games and teenagers--United States, Video games and children--United States, Video games--Design--Psychological aspects, Video games--Social aspects--United States |
| Categories: | HISTORY / United States / 20th Century, GAMES & ACTIVITIES / Video & Mobile, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Popular Culture, TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / History |
| Database: | eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) |
| FullText | Links: – Type: ebook-pdf – Type: ebook-epub Text: Availability: 0 |
|---|---|
| Header | DbId: nlebk DbLabel: eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) An: 1916443 RelevancyScore: 1090 AccessLevel: 6 PubType: eBook PubTypeId: ebook PreciseRelevancyScore: 1090.09973144531 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: Gamer Nation : Video Games and American Culture – Name: Abstract Label: Description Group: Ab Data: Explores how games actively influence the ways people interpret and relate to American life.In 1975, design engineer Dave Nutting completed work on a new arcade machine. A version of Taito's Western Gun, a recent Japanese arcade machine, Nutting's Gun Fight depicted a classic showdown between gunfighters. Rich in Western folklore, the game seemed perfect for the American market; players easily adapted to the new technology, becoming pistol-wielding pixel cowboys. One of the first successful early arcade titles, Gun Fight helped introduce an entire nation to video-gaming and sold more than 8,000 units.In Gamer Nation, John Wills examines how video games co-opt national landscapes, livelihoods, and legends. Arguing that video games toy with Americans'mass cultural and historical understanding, Wills show how games reprogram the American experience as a simulated reality. Blockbuster games such as Civilization, Call of Duty, and Red Dead Redemption repackage the past, refashioning history into novel and immersive digital states of America. Controversial titles such as Custer's Revenge and 08.46 recode past tragedies. Meanwhile, online worlds such as Second Life cater to a desire to inhabit alternate versions of America, while Paperboy and The Sims transform the mundane tasks of everyday suburbia into fun and addictive challenges.Working with a range of popular and influential games, from Pong, Civilization, and The Oregon Trail to Grand Theft Auto, Silent Hill, and Fortnite, Wills critically explores these gamic depictions of America. Touching on organized crime, nuclear fallout, environmental degradation, and the War on Terror, Wills uncovers a world where players casually massacre Native Americans and Cold War soldiers alike, a world where neo-colonialism, naive patriotism, disassociated violence, and racial conflict abound, and a world where the boundaries of fantasy and reality are increasingly blurred. Ultimately, Gamer Nation reveals not only how video games are a key aspect of contemporary American culture, but also how games affect how people relate to America itself. – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22John+Wills%22">John Wills</searchLink> – Name: TypePub Label: Resource Type Group: TypPub Data: eBook. – Name: Subject Label: Subjects Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Violence+in+video+games%22">Violence in video games</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Video+games+and+teenagers--United+States%22">Video games and teenagers--United States</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Video+games+and+children--United+States%22">Video games and children--United States</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Video+games--Design--Psychological+aspects%22">Video games--Design--Psychological aspects</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Video+games--Social+aspects--United+States%22">Video games--Social aspects--United States</searchLink> – Name: SubjectBISAC Label: Categories Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="ZK" term="%22HISTORY+%2F+United+States+%2F+20th+Century%22">HISTORY / United States / 20th Century</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="ZK" term="%22GAMES+%26+ACTIVITIES+%2F+Video+%26+Mobile%22">GAMES & ACTIVITIES / Video & Mobile</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="ZK" term="%22SOCIAL+SCIENCE+%2F+Popular+Culture%22">SOCIAL SCIENCE / Popular Culture</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="ZK" term="%22TECHNOLOGY+%26+ENGINEERING+%2F+History%22">TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / History</searchLink> |
| PLink | https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=nlebk&AN=1916443 |
| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Classifications: – Code: 794.8 Scheme: ddc Type: prePub Languages: – Code: eng Text: English Subjects: – SubjectFull: Violence in video games Type: general – SubjectFull: Video games and teenagers--United States Type: general – SubjectFull: Video games and children--United States Type: general – SubjectFull: Video games--Design--Psychological aspects Type: general – SubjectFull: Video games--Social aspects--United States Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Gamer Nation : Video Games and American Culture Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: John Wills – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: John Wills IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 01 Type: published Y: 2019 – D: 07 M: 03 Type: profile Y: 2019 Identifiers: – Type: isbn-print Value: 9781421428703 – Type: isbn-electronic Value: 9781421428697 Titles: – TitleFull: Gamer Nation : Video Games and American Culture Type: main |
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