Of Dice And Men

Download or read book Of Dice and Men written by David M. Ewalt and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in hardcover in 2013.

Download or read book Dangerous Games written by Joseph P. Laycock and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2015-02-12 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 1980s saw the peak of a moral panic over fantasy role-playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons. A coalition of moral entrepreneurs that included representatives from the Christian Right, the field of psychology, and law enforcement claimed that these games were not only psychologically dangerous but an occult religion masquerading as a game. Dangerous Games explores both the history and the sociological significance of this panic. Fantasy role-playing games do share several functions in common with religion. However, religion—as a socially constructed world of shared meaning—can also be compared to a fantasy role-playing game. In fact, the claims of the moral entrepreneurs, in which they presented themselves as heroes battling a dark conspiracy, often resembled the very games of imagination they condemned as evil. By attacking the imagination, they preserved the taken-for-granted status of their own socially constructed reality. Interpreted in this way, the panic over fantasy-role playing games yields new insights about how humans play and together construct and maintain meaningful worlds. Laycock’s clear and accessible writing ensures that Dangerous Games will be required reading for those with an interest in religion, popular culture, and social behavior, both in the classroom and beyond.

Download or read book The Role-Playing Society written by Andrew Byers and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2016-03-01 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the release of Dungeons & Dragons in 1974, role-playing games (RPGs) have spawned a vibrant industry and subculture whose characteristics and player experiences have been well explored. Yet little attention has been devoted to the ways RPGs have shaped society at large over the last four decades. Role-playing games influenced video game design, have been widely represented in film, television and other media, and have made their mark on education, social media, corporate training and the military. This collection of new essays illustrates the broad appeal and impact of RPGs. Topics range from a critical reexamination of the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, to the growing significance of RPGs in education, to the potential for "serious" RPGs to provoke awareness and social change. The contributors discuss the myriad subtle (and not-so-subtle) ways in which the values, concepts and mechanics of RPGs have infiltrated popular culture.

Download or read book The Willie Klump MEGAPACK® written by Joe Archibald and published by Wildside Press LLC. This book was released on 2017-08-08 with total page 603 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The character of William J. "Willie" Klump had quite a career in the pulps. He first appeared in Popular Detective magazine in 1938 and went on to appear in more than 60 stories over the next 21 years. Willie is something of a loser, but as a private detective he somehow always manages to get the job done (often with the help of friends, including his girlfriend and secretary, Gertie Mudgett, who often saves the day). Willie was the creation of Joe Archibald (1898-1986), a prolific writer who published more than 900 stories in the pulps, digest, and "slick" magazines like Collier's and The Saturday Evening Post. He also illustrated prolifically for pulp magazines. Included in this volume are: MURDER IN THE WORST DEGREE MORGUE SHEET MUSIC WHERE THERE'S A WILLIE THERE'S A WAY AN ACE AND A PEAR HUBBA HUBBA HOMICIDE FIT TO BE TRIED THE MOURNING AFTER WHEN A BODY MEETS A BODY PHOTO FINISH FOR A DAME KLUMP A LA CARTE STUCK WITH THE EVIDENCE WHAT A SHAMUS! STATE PENMANSHIP DYING TO SEE WILLIE THE GAT AND THE MOUSE A LAM TO THE SLAUGHTER OF DICE AND MEN! CHEESECAKE AND WILLIE If you enjoy this ebook, don't forget to search your favorite ebook store for "Wildside Press Megapack" to see more of the 280+ volumes in this series, covering adventure, historical fiction, mysteries, westerns, ghost stories, science fiction -- and much, much more!

Download or read book The Unpredictability of Gameplay written by Mark R. Johnson and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2018-12-27 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Unpredictability of Gameplay explores the many forms of unpredictability in games and proposes a comprehensive theoretical framework for understanding and categorizing non-deterministic game mechanics. Rather than viewing all game mechanics with unpredictable outcomes as a single concept, Mark R. Johnson develops a three-part typology for such mechanics, distinguishing between randomness, chance, and luck in gameplay, assessing games that range from grand strategy and MMORPGs to slot machines and card games. He also explores forms of unanticipated unpredictability, where elements of games fail to function as intended and create new forms of gameplay in the process. Covering a range of game concepts using these frameworks, The Unpredictability of Gameplay then explores three illustrative case studies: 1) procedural generation, 2) replay value and grinding, and 3) player-made practices designed to reduce the level of luck in non-deterministic games. Throughout, Johnson demonstrates the importance of looking more deeply at unpredictability in games and game design and the various ways in which unpredictability manifests while offering an invaluable tool for game scholars and game designers seeking to integrate unpredictability into their work.

Download or read book The Matter of Chance written by D. H. Mellor and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2004-12-02 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Statistical techniques and theories have become widely applied in the physical, biological and social sciences. This book deals not so much with statistical methods as with the central concept of chance, or statistical probability, which statistical theories apply to nature.

Download or read book Dragon's Lair and the Fantasy of Interactivity written by MJ Clarke and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2022-06-06 with total page 151 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Perhaps no arcade game is so nostalgically remembered, yet so critically bemoaned, as Dragon’s Lair. A bit of a technological neanderthal, the game implemented a unique combination of videogame components and home video replay, garnering great popular media and user attention in a moment of contracted economic returns and popularity for the videogame arcade business. But subsequently, writers and critics have cast the game aside as a cautionary tale of bad game design. In Dragon’s Lair and the Fantasy of Interactivity, MJ Clarke revives Dragon’s Lair as a fascinating textual experiment interlaced with powerful industrial strategies, institutional discourse, and textual desires around key notions of interactivity and fantasy. Constructing a multifaceted historical study of the game that considers its design, its makers, its recording medium, and its in-game imagery, Clarke suggests that the more appropriate metaphor for Dragon’s Lair is not that of a neanderthal, but a socio-technical network, infusing and advancing debates about the production and consumption of new screen technologies. Far from being the gaming failure posited by evolutionary-minded lay critics, Clarke argues, Dragon’s Lair offers a fascinating provisional solution to still-unsettled questions about screen media.