{"product_id":"wandering-games-melissa-kagen-9780262544245","title":"Wandering Games","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn analysis of wandering within different game worlds, viewed through the lenses of work, colonialism, gender, and death.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Melissa Kagen\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0262544245\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780262544245\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e MIT Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/11\/2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 216\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.75lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.98h x 5.98w x 0.55d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 08\/01\/2023","brand":"Melissa Kagen","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44070629933311,"sku":"9780262544245","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_2b7d994e-d1d2-4813-b7df-cb92bfc05161.jpg?v=1685431437","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/wandering-games-melissa-kagen-9780262544245","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}