Approaches to Videogame Discourse: Lexis, Interaction, Textuality

Description

The first significant collection of research in videogame linguistics, Approaches to Videogame Discourse features an international array of scholars in linguistics and communication studies exploring lexis, interaction and textuality in digital games. In the first section, “Lexicology, Localisation and Variation,” chapters cover productive processes surrounding gamer slang (ludolects), creativity and borrowing across languages, as well as industry-, genre-, game- and player-specific issues relating to localization, legal jargon and slang. “Player Interactions” moves on to examine communicative patterns between videogame players, focusing in particular on (un)collaborative language, functions and negotiations of impoliteness and issues of power in player discourse. In the final section, “Beyond the ‘Text’,” scholars grapple with issues of multimodality, paratextuality and transmediality in videogames in order to develop and enrich multimodal theory, drawing on key concepts from ludonarratology, language ideology, immersion and transmedia studies. With implications for meaningful game design and communication theory, Approaches to Videogame Discourse examines in detail how video games function as means and objects of communication; how they give rise to new vocabularies, textual genres and discourse practices; and how they serve as rich vehicles of ideological signification and social engagement. Cover Half title Title Copyrights Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Locating Videogames in Medium-specific, Multilingual Discourse Analyses Astrid Ensslin and Isabel Balteiro Part One Lexicology, Localization, Variation 1 Videogames: A Lexical Approach Carola Álvarez-Bolado and Inmaculada Álvarez de Mon 2 Lexical and Morphological Devices in Gamer Language in Fora Isabel Balteiro 3 Phraseology and Lexico-grammatical Patterns in Two Emergent Paragame Genres: Videogame Tutorials and Walkthroughs Christopher Gledhill 4 Playing with the Language of the Future: The Localization of Science-fiction Terms in Videogames Alice Ray 5 End-user Agreements in Videogames: Plain English at Work in an Ideal Setting Miguel Ángel Campos-Pardillos Part Two Player Interactions: (Un)Collaboration, (Im)Politeness, Power 6 Bad Language and Bro-up Cooperation in Co-sit Gaming Astrid Ensslin and John Finnegan 7 “Shut the Fuck up Re ! Plant the Bomb Fast!”: Reconstructing Language and Identity in First-person Shooter Games Elisavet Kiourti 8 “I Cut It and I … Well Now What?”: (Un)Collaborative Language in Timed Puzzle Games Luke A. Rudge 9 “Watch the Potty Mouth”: Negotiating Impoliteness in Online Gaming Sage L. Graham and Scott Dutt Part Three Beyond the “Text”: Multimodality, Paratextuality, Transmediality 10 On the Procedural Mode Jason Hawreliak 11 The Player Experience of BioShock : A Theory of Ludonarrative Relationships Weimin Toh 12 Language Ideologies in Videogame Discourse: Forms of Sociophonetic Othering in Accented Character Speech Tejasvi Goorimoorthee, Adrianna Csipo, Shelby Carleton, and Astrid Ensslin 13 Playing It By the Book: Instructing and Constructing the Player in the Videogame Manual Paratext Michael Hancock Afterword James Paul Gee Notes on Contributors Index