Social, Casual and Mobile Games: The Changing Gaming Landscape [Paperback]

Social, casual and mobile games, played on devices such as smartphones, tablets, or PCs and accessed through online social networks, have become extremely popular, and are changing the ways in which games are designed, understood, and played. These games have sparked a revolution as more people from a broader demographic than ever play games, shifting the stereotype of gaming away from that of hardcore, dedicated play to that of activities that fit into everyday life.

Social, Casual and Mobile Gamesexplores the rapidly changing gaming landscape and discusses the ludic, methodological, theoretical, economic, social and cultural challenges that these changes invoke. With chapters discussing locative games, the new freemium economic model, and gamer demographics, as well as close studies of specific games (includingCandy Crush Saga, Angry Birds, andIngress), this collection offers an insight into the changing nature of games and the impact that mobile media is having upon individuals and societies around the world.

Michele Willsonis Associate Professor and Head of Department of Internet Studies at Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia. She is the author ofTechnically Together: Rethinking Community within Techno-Society(2006) and co-author ofA New Theory of Information and the Internet: Public Sphere meets Protocol(2006). She is Lead Investigator on Australia Research Council Linkage Grant, Online Money and Fantasy Games  an applied ethnographic study into the new entrepreneurial communities and their underlying designs.

Tama Leaveris Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Internet Studies at Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia. He is the author ofArtificial Culture: Identity, Technology and Bodies(2012) and co-editor ofAn Educatiolc×