Material Game Studies - by Chloe Germaine & Paul Wake (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

This is the first volume to apply insights from the material turn in philosophy to the study of play and games. At a time of renewed interest in analogue gaming, as scholars are looking beyond the digital and virtual for the first time since the inception of game studies in the 1990s, Material Game Studies not only supports the importance of the (re)turn to the analogue, but proposes a materiality of play more broadly.

Recognizing the entanglement of physical materiality with cultural meaning, the authors in this volume apply a range of theoretical approaches, from material eco-criticism to animal studies, to examine games and play as existing within worlds of matter. Different chapters focus on the material properties of board, card and role-playing games, how they are designed and made, how they are touched and played with, and how they connect with other human and nonhuman things.

Bringing together international scholars, Material Game Studiesdefines a new field of material game studies and demonstrates how it is a valuable addition to wider debates about the material turn and the place of embodied humans in a material world.

Review Quotes

This edited collection broadens the horizon of what game studies can do. Through an in-depth investigation of a number of case studies around tabletop and board games, the volume provides an essential contribution to contemporary debates around materialism, agency, and the non-human. It is essential reading for students and scholars interested in exploring the complexities of game culture.
Paolo Ruffino, Senior Lecturer in Communication and Media, University of Liverpool, UK

About the Author

Chloé Germaine is a Senior Lecturer in English Literature and Film at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK and a co-director of the Manchester Game Studies Network.

Paul Wake is Reader in English Literature at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK and a co-director of the Manchester Game Studies Network.