Board Games as Media

Description

Leading expert Paul Booth explains the growth in popularity of board games today and unpicks what it means to read a board game, how players know what a game is communicating, what games do to us as players, and how we decide which games bring us pleasure and which are just a waste of cardboard. With little scholarly research in this still-emerging field, Board Games in the Digital Age underscores the importance and relevance of board games in the ever-evolving world of gaming. Title Page Copyright Page Contents Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction: Board Games as Media Part One: Textual Analysis Chapter 1: Meeples, Miniatures, and CubesLudo-Textual Analyses of Board Games Chapter 2: A Depressing Choose-Your-Own AdventureThe Interactive Potentiality of Board Games Chapter 3: Colonizing Mars: Ludic Discourse Analysis Chapter 4: The Designer as Créateur: The Board Game Industry and Constructed Authorship Chapter 5: The Player as FanLudic Fandom in Board Game Cultures Part Two: Ethnographic Analysis Chapter 6: Surveying Board Game Players: Who Plays What . . . Chapter 7: . . . and Why: Examining Motivations and Popularity of Board Games Chapter 8: Cultural Studies of Games: Diversity and Inclusion in the Board Game Industry and Hobby Chapter 9: The Epic Adventure of Grundy and Trixie: An Autoethnographic Journey through Gloomhaven Conclusion: The Board Gaming Environment Appendix 1: Survey Questions Appendix 2: Data from Survey Notes References Index