Joystick Soldiers The Politics of Play in Military Video Games [Paperback]

Joystick Soldiers is the first anthology to examine the reciprocal relationship between militarism and video games. War has been an integral theme of the games industry since the invention of the first video game, Spacewar! in 1962.While war video games began as entertainment, military organizations soon saw their potential as combat simulation and recruitment tools. A profitable and popular relationship was established between the video game industry and the military, and continues today with video game franchises like Americas Army, which was developed by the U.S.Army as a public relations and recruitment tool.

This collection features all new essays that explore how modern warfare has been represented in and influenced by video games. The contributors explore the history and political economy of video games and the military-entertainment complex; present textual analyses of military-themed video games such as Metal Gear Solid; and offer reception studies of gamers, fandom, and political activism within online gaming.

 

Foreword Ian Bogost  Introduction Nina B. Huntemann and Matthew Thomas Payne  Section 1: Historicizing the Joystick Soldier  1. Living Room Wars: Remediation, Boardgames, and the Early History of Video Wargaming Sebastian Deterding  2. Target Acquired: Americas Armyand the Video Games Industry Randy Nichols  3. Training Recruits and Conditioning Youth: The Soft Power of Military Games David B. Nieborg  Interview with James F. Dunnigan edited by Nina B. Huntemann and Matthew Thomas Payne  Section 2: Representing War  4. Behind the Barrel: Reading the Video Game Gun Scott A. Lukas  5. l.