Videogames and Agency

Bettina Bódi (De Montfort University, UK)

$263

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Routledge
30 December 2022

Media studies; Ethical & social aspects of computing; Legal aspects of computing; Digital animation; Games development & programming

Series: Routledge Advances in Game Studies

Videogames and Agency explores the trend in videogames and their marketing to offer a player higher volumes, or even more distinct kinds, of player freedom. The book offers a new conceptual framework that helps us understand how this freedom to act is discussed by designers, and how that in turn reflects in their design principles.

What can we learn from existing theories around agency? How do paratextual materials reflect design intention with regards to what the player can and cannot do in a videogame? How does game design shape the possibility space for player action? Through these questions and selected case studies that include AAA and independent games alike, the book presents a unique approach to studying agency that combines game design, game studies, and game developer discourse. By doing so, the book examines what discourses around player action, as well as a game’s design can reveal about the nature of agency and videogame aesthetics.

This book will appeal to readers specifically interested in videogames, such as game studies scholars or game designers, but also to media studies students and media and screen studies scholars less familiar with digital games.

The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

By: Bettina Bódi (De Montfort University UK)
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
Weight: 249g
ISBN: 9781032285092
ISBN 10: 1032285095
Series: Routledge Advances in Game Studies
Pages: 216
Publication Date: 30 December 2022
Audience: College/higher education , Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. Understanding Agency; Agency in Game Studies; Agency in Game Design; Toward a Conceptualisation of Agency; 2. A Multidimensional Heuristic Framework for Analysing Player Agency; Agency Afforded in Space: The Spatial-Explorative Dimension; Agency Afforded in Time: The Temporal-Ergodic Dimension; Agency Over the Avatar and its Surroundings: The Configurative-Constructive Dimension; Agency and Narrativity: The Narrative-Dramatic Dimension; 3. An “Active Cinematic Experience”: Naughty Dog’s Uncharted Series; Naughty Dog and the Uncharted Franchise; Developing Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End; Agency and a “Cinematic Feel”; 4. “A Compelling Story with Choices That Matter”: BioWare’s Mass Effect Series; BioWare and the Mass Effect Franchise; Developing Mass Effect: Andromeda; Narrativity, Eventfulness, and Agency; 5. “The World is Your Play-Doh”: System Era Softworks and Astroneer; Independent Games: Definitions and Trends Developing Astroneer; Agency and Playfulness; Conclusion; Index

Bettina Bódi is lecturer in media at Leeds Beckett University, UK. Dr Bódi’s research considers agency in and around videogames, as afforded by game design, and as discussed in paratexts and promotional surrounds.

Reviews for Videogames and Agency

Videogames and Agency offers an important contribution to debates around a central concept in Game Studies, providing a new framework to think through the relationship between production context, design and player agency. Using paratextual and textual analysis, Dr Bettina Bodi works adeptly across three engaging case studies to broaden our understanding of how games and their designers afford and constrain player action. This is vital reading for anyone who wants to understand more about one of the key questions in games research. Dr Nick Webber, Associate Professor in Media, Birmingham City University, UK Bettina Bodi's Videogames and Agency is a unique and indispensable book for scholars, students, and game designers. By considering agency as an affordance of videogames that is firmly rooted in their developers' design ethos, Bodi ties together theoretical perspectives and industry practices of agency. Thoroughly researched, yet immensely readable, the book gives a much needed introduction to a central issue in the study of video games. Hans-Joachim Backe, Associate Professor, Center for Digital Play, ITU Copenhagen, Denmark