Playful Identities: The Ludification of Digital Media Cultures

Open Access Published by Amsterdam University Press 2015

Playful Identities

The Ludification of Digital Media Cultures

Edited by: Michiel Lange , Joost Raessens , Jos Mul , Sybille Lammes and Valerie Frissen

Volume 10 in the series MediaMatters

https://doi.org/10.1515/9789048523030

Overview
Contents

About this book

In this edited volume, eighteen scholars examine the increasing role of digital media technologies in identity construction through play. Going beyond computer games, this interdisciplinary collection argues that present-day play and games are not only appropriate metaphors for capturing postmodern human identities, but are in fact the means by which people create their identity. From discussions of World of Warcraft and Foursquare to digital cartographies, the combined essays form a groundbreaking volume that features the most recent insights in play and game studies, media research, and identity studies.

Author / Editor information

Lange Michiel :

Michiel de Lange is Assistant Professor of New Media and Digital Culture in the Department of Media and Culture Studies at Utrecht University. He is co-founder of The Mobile City, a platform for the study of new media and urbanism, and works as a researcher in the field of (mobile) media, urban culture, identity and play. He is a researcher in the NWO Creative Industries funded project The Hackable City, about the ways digital media shape the future of city making.Raessens Joost :

Joost Raessens is Full Professor and Chair of Media Theory at the Faculty of Humanities of Utrecht University, the Netherlands.Mul Jos :

Jos de Mul is full professor of Philosophy of Man and Culture at the Faculty of Philosophy, Erasmus University Rotterdam. He has also taught at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) and Fudan University (Shanghai). His publications include: The Tragedy of Finitude. Dilthey's Hermeneutics of Life (Yale UP 2004) and Destiny Domesticated. The Rebirth of Tragedy out of the Spirit of Technology (SUNY, March 2014).Lammes Sybille :

Sybille Lammes is Full Professor of New Media and Digital Culture at The Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS) at Leiden University. She has been a visiting Senior Research Fellow at The University of Manchester, and has worked as a researcher at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies at the University of Warwick, as well as the media studies departments of Utrecht University and the University of Amsterdam. Her background is in media studies and play studies, which she has always approached from an interdisciplinary angle, including cultural studies, science and technology studies, postcolonial studies, and critical geography. She is co-editor of Playful identities: The ludification of digital media cultures (Amsterdam University Press 2015), Mapping time (Manchester University Press 2018; forthcoming) and The Routledge handbook of interdisciplinary research methods (Routledge 2018; forthcoming). She is an ERC laureate and has been the PI of numerous research projects.Frissen Valerie :

Valerie Frissen is Managing Director of the SIDN Fund and professor of ICT & Social Change at Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Reviews

"Playful Identities is an illuminating study on the increasingly complexity of digital playgrounds, ludic media, ludic interfaces and technologies of the self. The book presents a variety of roles and identities such as: players, learners, gamblers, users, fans, role-players, theory crafters, cheaters, and digital savages." Prof. Dr. Mathias Fuchs, Leuphana University Lüneburg

"What a brilliant, refreshing, and positively playful approach to the ludic imperative. In stark opposition to the business world's cynical application of "gamification" to productivity or even the social do-gooders urger to make games "serious," these essays reveal and reify play as the essence of human experience. Herein lies access to the truth: the play is the thing. These are the smartest, most articulate, and up-to-date essays on this subject, by the very people creating this field of study" - Douglas Rushkoff, author, Present Shock, Program or Be Programmed, and Playing the Future.

Topics

Frontmatter Open Access Download PDF	1
Contents Open Access Download PDF	5
1. Homo ludens 2.0 : Play, media, and identity Valerie Frissen, Sybille Lammes, Michiel de Lange, Jos de Mul and Joost Raessens Open Access Download PDF	9
Part I: Play
Introduction to Part I Valerie Frissen, Sybille Lammes, Michiel de Lange, Jos de Mul and Joost Raessens Open Access Download PDF	53
2. Playland : Technology, self, and cultural transformation Kenneth J. Gergen Open Access Download PDF	55
3. Spiritual play : Encountering the sacred in World of Warcraft Stef Aupers Open Access Download PDF	75
4. Playful computer interaction Daniel Cermak-Sassenrath Open Access Download PDF	93
5. Playful identity in game design and open-ended play Menno Deen, Ben Schouten and Tilde Bekker Open Access Download PDF	111
6. Breaking reality : Exploring pervasive cheating in Foursquare René Glas Open Access Download PDF	131
7. Playing with bits and bytes : The savage mind in the digital age Valerie Frissen Open Access Download PDF	149
Part II: Media
Introduction to Part II Valerie Frissen, Sybille Lammes, Michiel de Lange, Jos de Mul and Joost Raessens Open Access Download PDF	167
8. Location-based mobile games : Interfaces to urban spaces Adriana de Souza e Silva and Jordan Frith Open Access Download PDF	169
9. The playful use of mobile phones and its link to social cohesion Rich Ling Open Access Download PDF	181
10. Digital cartographies as playful practices Sybille Lammes Open Access Download PDF	199
11. Ludic identities and the magic circle Gordon Calleja Open Access Download PDF	211
12. Play (for) time Patrick Crogan Open Access Download PDF	225
13. Playful identity politics : How refugee games affect the player’s identity Joost Raessens Open Access Download PDF	245
Part III: Identity
Introduction to Part III Valerie Frissen, Sybille Lammes, Michiel de Lange, Jos de Mul and Joost Raessens Open Access Download PDF	263
14. Playing out identities and emotions Jeroen Jansz Open Access Download PDF	267
15. Playing with others : The identity paradoxes of the web as social network Jeroen Timmermans Open Access Download PDF	281
16. New media, play, and social identities Leopoldina Fortunati Open Access Download PDF	293
17. Playing life in the metropolis: Mobile media and identity in Jakarta Michiel de Lange Open Access Download PDF	307
18. The conflicts within the casual : The culture and identity of casual online play Frans Mäyrä Open Access Download PDF	321
19. Afterplay Jos de Mul Open Access Download PDF	337
About the authors Open Access Download PDF	347
Index of Names Open Access Download PDF	353
Index of Subjects Open Access Download PDF	359

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 366
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 6
- Coloured Illustrations: 6
- Other: 4 color plates, 8 halftones
Keywords: Digital media; play; identity

eBook

Published: February 18, 2015
ISBN: 9789048523030