Transgression in Games and Play

Contributors from a range of disciplines explore boundary-crossing in videogames, examining both transgressive game content and transgressive player actions.

Video gameplay can include transgressive play practices in which players act in ways meant to annoy, punish, or harass other players. Videogames themselves can include transgressive or upsetting content, including excessive violence. Such boundary-crossing in videogames belies the general idea that play and games are fun and non-serious, with little consequence outside the world of the game. In this book, contributors from a range of disciplines explore transgression in video games, examining both game content and player actions.

The contributors consider the concept of transgression in games and play, drawing on discourses in sociology, philosophy, media studies, and game studies; offer case studies of transgressive play, considering, among other things, how gameplay practices can be at once playful and violations of social etiquette; investigate players' emotional responses to game content and play practices; examine the aesthetics of transgression, focusing on the ways that game design can be used for transgressive purposes; and discuss transgressive gameplay in a societal context. By emphasizing actual player experience, the book offers a contextual understanding of content and practices usually framed as simply problematic.

Contributors
Fraser Allison, Kristian A. Bjørkelo, Kelly Boudreau, Marcus Carter, Mia Consalvo, Rhys Jones, Kristine Jørgensen, Faltin Karlsen, Tomasz Z. Majkowski, Alan Meades, Torill Elvira Mortensen, Víctor Navarro-Remesal, Holger Pötzsch, John R. Sageng, Tanja Sihvonen, Jaakko Stenros, Ragnhild Tronstad, Hanna Wirman

Overall, this is an incredibly impressive anthology, with each essay being its own exploration into the world of games, play, and transgression. I would recommend this book to any Game Studies researcher who wants not only unique perspectives on transgressions but a more well-rounded view of games and their communities.—Manchester Game Studies Network—Kristine Jørgensen is Professor of Media Studies at Bergen University, Norway, and the author of Gameworld Interfaces (MIT Press).

Faltin Karlsen is Professor of Media Studies at Kristiania University College, Norway, and the author of A World of Excesses: Online Games and Excessive Playing.

Mia Consalvo is Professor and Canada Research Chair in Game Studies and Design in the Department of Communication Studies at Concordia University in Montreal. She is the author of Cheating: Gaining Advantage in Video Games and Atari to Zelda: Japan's Videogames in Global Contexts, both published by the MIT Press.

Marcus Carter currently practices architecture in New York City.

Kristine Jørgensen is Professor of Media Studies at Bergen University, Norway, and the author of Gameworld Interfaces (MIT Press).

Faltin Karlsen is Professor of Media Studies at Kristiania University College, Norway, and the author of A World of Excesses: Online Games and Excessive Playing.