Catálogo de publicaciones - revistas

<jats:p> The specificities of Japanese mobile telephony are giving rise to new cultural economies of games production and engendering new paradigms of gameplay. These topical developments have considerable technosocial bearing and consequence. The tension between the virtual and the actual resides at the heart of topical debates about the modalities of co-presence in mobile telephony. The potential loss of anonymity in location-based mobile gaming and the increasing awareness that mobile games are mostly played at home add considerable complexity to the already-blurred boundaries of physical and virtual co-presence. The micronarratives of such newly configured and articulated social tropes arguably need to be incorporated into macroperspectives on convergence culture if only to invest the latter with additional levels of nuance and complexity. Japanese mobile gaming therefore has strategic utility in this article as a situated context for analyzing the localized cultural politics of convergence and connectivity in mobile telephony. </jats:p>

<jats:p> In this article, the culture and business of PC bangs in Korea are explored. Once just a convenient spot for high-speed connection, the PC bang has become a space for nurturing online gaming cultures. This article addresses two central characteristics of PC bang that have ensured its success. First, the paper explores the social and cultural dimensions of the PC bang as a space that nurtures the negotiation of offline and online relationships around online gaming cultures in Korea. Second, the paper discusses the role PC bangs play in the emergence of online games as a dominant game genre for Korean players. On the business side, a specialized pricing policy for PC bangs has made a vibrant business environment both for game publishers and PC bangs. Recent introduction of a micropayment business model, however, could be read as the demise of game publishers and PC bangs' synergies. </jats:p>

<jats:p> In this article, the authors attempt to ascertain the factors involved in the swift growth of online games in the context of broader sociocultural elements. Through political economy and ethnographic analysis, they show that online games, like other forms of technology, are sociocultural products that have been historically constituted by certain forms of knowledge and social practice. First, they map out the forces driving their development by examining government policies and competition among online games companies in Korea. They then explore capital flow to investigate the major players in the market. Finally, they explore the sociocultural elements contributing to the diffusion of online games in the cultural milieu specific to Korea. </jats:p>

<jats:p> This article examines discourse about Internet addiction and video—game—related suicide in the People's Republic of China. Through an analysis of media reportage, interview transcripts, and chat rooms, a preliminary account of the origins of contemporary Chinese concerns with Internet addiction is provided. This approach differs from biomedical models, which see Internet suicide as a form of mental illness, similar to drug or gambling addiction. This approach draws on anthropological and sociological models of the cultural construction of social problems and argues that concerns with Internet addiction are part of a more general moral crisis faced by Chinese, in response to rapid consumerism, the medicalization of mental illness, and new forms of public and publicity. </jats:p>

<jats:p> The theory of dialectical contradictions (L. A. Baxter &amp; B. M. Montgomery, 1996) is used to examine relationships developed in a Chinese online role-playing game, Legend of Mir. Analysis of discourse on a Web-based Legend-theme bulletin board system and a series of online articles identified oppositional tensions in discussion about relationships. Seven contradictions representing three basic thematic families—integration—separation, expression—nonexpression, and stability—change—were identified. Four contradictions signified internal tensions between relational partners, and the rest addressed a relationship's connection with others. Players coped with these contradictions in various ways, drawing on game infrastructure and elements of offline life. </jats:p>

<jats:p> The policies and regulations of governments affect the online game industry in a variety of ways, especially in countries with extensive state involvement and a low degree of transparency in the economy. This article examines the influence of governmental policies on the development and operation of online games in China. The stance of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) toward online games has been influenced by three aspects of state policy: (a) information control, (b) technonationalism, and (c) social fears/pragmatic nationalism. CCP's specific policies toward the online game industry were put forward by CCP ministries and the Communist Youth League of China (CYLC) as a response to the economic potential and increasing influence of the rapidly growing online game industry in China. The interaction of these different policy fields has had complementary and contradictory elements shaping their implementation. </jats:p>

<jats:p> The authors present an exploratory study of Black middle school boys who play digital games. The study was conducted through observations and interviews with Black American middle school boys about digital games as an informal learning experience. The first goal of the study is to understand the cultural context that Black students from economically disadvantaged inner-city neighborhoods bring to playing digital games. The second goal of the study is to examine how this cultural context affects the learning opportunities with games. Third, the authors examine how differences in game play are potential factors in the discrepancy between White male gamers and Black male gamers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Finally, the authors address several opportunities within the field of informal learning to augment game play by bridging the learning that takes place within game play to the real world. </jats:p>

<jats:p> This article describes a study conducted in the summer of 2006 aimed at exploring the play patterns and lifestyles of gamers who fall into the loose demographic of “Baby Boomers,” typically defined as people born between 1946 and 1964. This independent study, including more than 300 participants, combined quantitative and qualitative techniques to paint a multifaceted picture of the gaming lifestyles and tastes of this understudied population. The study findings show that Baby Boomers comprise a vibrant video game audience, that they are devoted players, and that they have distinct needs and interests that have gone ignored by both the mainstream game industry and the game press. They also provide some detailed data about their play styles and gaming interests, the role of gaming in their larger media mix, as well as specific case studies that paint a nuanced portrait of this understudied and underserved audience. </jats:p>

<jats:p> This article explores the early evolution of the structure and management of gameplay in videogames. The authors introduce the notion of gameplay segmentation to capture the role that design elements such as level, boss, and wave play in videogames and identify three modes of segmentation. Temporal segmentation limits, synchronizes, and/or coordinates player activity over time. Spatial segmentation breaks the game's virtual space into sublocations. Challenge segmentation presents the player with a sequence of self-contained challenges. The authors describe each mode, and additional submodes, by analyzing vintage arcade games. The analyses illustrate how these games represent a “primordial soup” in which many current game design conventions were first explored. Their simplicity provides the authors with access to the original “building blocks” of videogames, thus allowing them to develop a rich vocabulary for the discussion. </jats:p>