{"product_id":"wandering-games-isbn-9780262544245","title":"Wandering Games","description":"\u003cb\u003eA thought-provoking analysis of wandering within different game worlds, viewed through the lenses of work, colonialism, gender, and death\u003cb\u003e—with examples from \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Last of Us Part II \u003c\/i\u003eand others.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWandering in games can be a theme, a formal mode, an aesthetic metaphor, or a player action. It can mean walking, escaping, traversing, meandering, or returning. In this book, game studies scholar Melissa Kagen introduces the concept of “wandering games,” exploring the uses of wandering in a variety of game worlds. She shows how the much-derided Walking Simulator—a term that began as an insult, a denigration of games that are less violent, less task-oriented, or less difficult to complete—semi-accidentally tapped into something brilliant: the vast heritage and intellectual history of the concept of walking in fiction, philosophy, pilgrimage, performance, and protest.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eKagen examines wandering in a series of games that vary widely in terms of genre, mechanics, themes, player base, studio size, and funding, giving close readings to \u003ci\u003eReturn of the Obra Dinn\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eEastshade\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eRitual of the Moon\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e80 Days\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eHeaven’s Vault\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eDeath Stranding\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Last of Us Part II\u003c\/i\u003e. Exploring the connotations of wandering within these different game worlds, she considers how ideologies of work, gender, colonialism, and death inflect the ways we wander through digital spaces. Overlapping and intersecting, each provides a multifaceted lens through which to understand what wandering does, lacks, implies, and offers. Kagen’s account will attune game designers, players, and scholars to the myriad possibilities of the wandering ludic body.Acknowledgments vii\u003cbr\u003e1 Introduction 1\u003cbr\u003e2 \u003ci\u003eLate \u003c\/i\u003eCapitalism: Caring for Corpses in \u003ci\u003eReturn of the Obra Dinn \u003c\/i\u003e29\u003cbr\u003e3 Romantic Precarity: \u003ci\u003eEastshade \u003c\/i\u003eas a Fantasy of Work 45\u003cbr\u003e4 Walking in Circles: Bodily Constraints in \u003ci\u003eRitual of the Moon \u003c\/i\u003e65\u003cbr\u003e5 Traveling Through: Decentering the Explorer in \u003ci\u003e80 Days \u003c\/i\u003e85\u003cbr\u003e6 Language Worlds: Empire and Undoing in \u003ci\u003eHeaven's Vault \u003c\/i\u003e103\u003cbr\u003e7 After Life: \u003ci\u003eDeath Stranding \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Last of Us Part II \u003c\/i\u003e121\u003cbr\u003e8 Conclusion 137\u003cbr\u003eNotes 143\u003cbr\u003eBibliography 173\u003cbr\u003eLudography 195\u003cbr\u003eFilmography 197\u003cbr\u003eIndex 199“This landmark study explains the roots and implications of computer games that move beyond combat and simple agon. With revealing insights into narratology, art, and intellectual history, Kagen opens promising new paths for technological humanism.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Stuart Moulthrop, Distinguished Professor of English, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“In energetic and articulate prose, Kagen applies spatial and cultural studies to investigate discourses on death, work, colonialism and gender in the exploratory, nonviolent and playful landscapes of wandering games.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Dr. Eben Muse, Bangor University. Co-Editor of \u003ci\u003eCreating Second Lives\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Beautifully conceived and written, \u003ci\u003eWandering Games\u003c\/i\u003e maps the many ways we measure ourselves against the worlds of games. Kagen brings to life the pleasures and subversive potential of traveling without a destination.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Alenda Y. Chang, Associate Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara; author of \u003ci\u003ePlaying Nature: Ecology in Video Games \u003c\/i\u003eand co-editor of \u003ci\u003eMedia+Environment\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eMelissa Kagen is Assistant Professor of Communication and Video Gaming Studies Concentration Advisor at Curry College in Milton, Massachusetts, and an Associate Editor of the \u003ci\u003eJournal of Gaming \u0026amp; Virtual Worlds\u003c\/i\u003e.","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300890300645,"sku":"NP9780262544245","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262544245.jpg?v=1767743585","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/wandering-games-isbn-9780262544245","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}