{"product_id":"critical-play-mary-flanagan-9780262518659","title":"Critical Play: Radical Game Design","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn examination of subversive games like \u003ci\u003eThe Sims\u003c\/i\u003e--games designed for political, aesthetic, and social critique.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFor many players, games are entertainment, diversion, relaxation, fantasy. But what if certain games were something more than this, providing not only outlets for entertainment but a means for creative expression, instruments for conceptual thinking, or tools for social change? In \u003ci\u003eCritical Play\u003c\/i\u003e, artist and game designer Mary Flanagan examines alternative games--games that challenge the accepted norms embedded within the gaming industry--and argues that games designed by artists and activists are reshaping everyday game culture. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFlanagan provides a lively historical context for critical play through twentieth-century art movements, connecting subversive game design to subversive art: her examples of \"playing house\" include Dadaist puppet shows and \u003ci\u003eThe Sims\u003c\/i\u003e. She looks at artists' alternative computer-based games and explores games for change, considering the way activist concerns--including worldwide poverty and AIDS--can be incorporated into game design. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eArguing that this kind of conscious practice--which now constitutes the avant-garde of the computer game medium--can inspire new working methods for designers, Flanagan offers a model for designing that will encourage the subversion of popular gaming tropes through new styles of game making, and proposes a theory of alternate game design that focuses on the reworking of contemporary popular game practices.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Mary Flanagan\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0262518651\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780262518659\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e MIT Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/08\/2013\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 362\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.20lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.70h x 6.70w x 0.90d","brand":"Mary Flanagan","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43946373054719,"sku":"9780262518659","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/products\/img_f51ffef5-7d2b-44e8-9752-8c2e3055792b.jpg?v=1681512776","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/critical-play-mary-flanagan-9780262518659","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}