The aim of this book is to satisfy the need for a single accessible textbook which offers a broad introductions to the range of literatures and approaches currently contributing to digital game research.
Each of the chapters will outline key theoretical perspectives, theorists and literatures to demonstrate their relevance to, and use in, the study of digital games.
Jason Rutter is a Research Fellow at the Manchester Institute for Innovation Research (MIoIR) where he works primarily in the areas of leisure technologies (especially digital gaming) as well as counterfeiting and piracy of digital content. He has been involved in projects funded by the European Commission, Northern Ireland Office, NESTA, DTI and ESRC and published widely including the books Understanding Digital Games (2006, Sage) and Digital Game Industries (forthcoming, Ashgate) and special editions of Game Studies (2003) and Information, Communication and Society (2003). His recent projects include โHidden Innovation in the Creative Sectorsโ (NESTA), โIntellectual Property Theft and Organised Crimeโ (NIO) and โMobile Entertainment Industry and Cultureโ (EC). He chaired the European Commission Marie Curie Conference โPutting the Knowledge Based Society into Practiceโ (April 2006) and the international conferences โMobile Entertainment: User Centred Perspectivesโ (2004) and โPlaying with the Futureโ (2002) as well as running the ESRC-funded seminar series "DigiPlay: Experience and Consequence of Technologies of Leisure". He was the inaugural vice-president of the international Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA).