
Toward a Gameic World
New Rules of Engagement from Japanese Video Games
Ben Whaley(Author)
The University of Michigan Press
Published on 3. May 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
186 pages
978-0-472-05614-9 (ISBN)
Description
Toward a Gameic World bridges the gap between Japanese popular culture studies and game studies by encouraging a dialogue centered around Japanese-designed video games and social issues. It examines four contemporary Japanese video games in terms of how they engage with some of Japan's biggest social and personal issues, including traumas: natural disasters (Disaster Report), a declining birthrate and aging population (Catherine), nuclear proliferation (Metal Gear Solid V); and youth social withdrawal (The World Ends with You). This book asks what some of the positive benefits are of working through a site of trauma from within a video game, and how games might teach us about Japanese culture and society through new kinds of interactive narratives, different from literature and film. The book proposes four new strategies of engagement with video games to explore the productive tensions that emerge at the boundaries of virtual reality, augmented reality, and gamification in contemporary Japan.
Reviews / Votes
"Toward a Gameic World argues that video games have the potential to work through and play out social anxieties and traumatic events in contemporary Japanese society. In contradistinction from extant studies of gaming in Japan that tend to be more historical, ethnographical, and sociological, the book takes on a multidisciplinary approach with an emphasis on 'textual' analysis of video games. While embedded in the context of modern Japan, the book reflects on the larger global implications of video games as a viable genre of scholarly inquiry." * Leo T. S. Ching, Duke University * "Toward a Gameic World is a thoughtful and well-structured book that sheds light on how select Japanese games can provoke reflection on contemporary social issues." * Bjoern-Ole Kamm, Social Science Japan Journal * "From the first page, Whaley's writing style is open and engaging, enlisting the reader's empathy when describing dif-fi-cult video game stages and levels. Clearly written, with plenty of examples from the case studies, the slim volume will be useful for undergraduate reading lists in game studies, media studies, Japanese studies, and Asian studies, as well as just plain interesting reading for a general audience." * Rachel Hutchinson, Journal of Asian Studies * "Overall, Toward a Gameic World treats us to not just an individual contribution to Japanese Game Studies, but an optimistic vision of the future in which the field can continue to grow and thrive. It is particularly in the book's attentiveness to both Japanese social and cultural issues alongside its engagement with Media Studies approaches to games that it leaves the impression of a field of knowledge that remains open to approaches that move between fields/sub-fields and resist sedimentation into a single, unified school." * Daniel Johnson, Journal of Japanese Studies * "Overall, as an academic who works very often with Japanese media and video games, I can give this a solid recommendation for anyone interested in the fields of Japanese or Media Studies, the work overall being very well referenced, and with sufficiently detailed notes that explain any concepts the reader may be unfamiliar with that pertain to specifics of Japanese culture or games in general, and screenshots help illustrate the points made in a visual context as well, which works well given the media involved." * Callum Thomas Furlong McMillan, Journal of Cultural Analysis and Social Change *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Ann Arbor
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
30 illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-472-05614-9 (9780472056149)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Ben Whaley is Associate Professor of Japanese in the School of Languages, Linguistics, Literatures and Cultures at the University of Calgary.
Content
List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgements
Author's Note
Introduction: Beyond 8-bit
Chapter 1: Limited Engagement: Virtual Earthquakes and Real-World Survival in Disaster Report
Chapter 2: Distanced Engagement: Marriage and Childbirth in Catherine
Chapter 3: External Engagement: Pixelated Pain and Nuclear Memory in Metal Gear Solid V
Chapter 4: Connective Engagement: Social Withdrawal and Player Connections in The World Ends with You
Conclusion: Toward a Gameic World
References
Index
Preface
Acknowledgements
Author's Note
Introduction: Beyond 8-bit
Chapter 1: Limited Engagement: Virtual Earthquakes and Real-World Survival in Disaster Report
Chapter 2: Distanced Engagement: Marriage and Childbirth in Catherine
Chapter 3: External Engagement: Pixelated Pain and Nuclear Memory in Metal Gear Solid V
Chapter 4: Connective Engagement: Social Withdrawal and Player Connections in The World Ends with You
Conclusion: Toward a Gameic World
References
Index