Raising the Stakes

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dc.alternateIdentifier9780262301268
dc.alternateIdentifier9780262017374
dc.alternateIdentifier10.7551/mitpress/8624.001.0001
dc.creatorTaylor, T. L.
dc.date2024-10-25T13:13:45Z
dc.date2024-10-25T13:13:45Z
dc.date2012
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-25T11:26:51Z
dc.descriptionHow a form of play becomes a sport: players, agents, referees, leagues, tournaments, sponsorships, and spectators, and the culture of professional computer game play.Competitive video and computer game play is nothing new: the documentary King of Kong memorably portrays a Donkey Kong player's attempts to achieve the all-time highest score; the television show Starcade (1982–1984) featured competitions among arcade game players; and first-person shooter games of the 1990s became multiplayer through network play. A new development in the world of digital gaming, however, is the emergence of professional computer game play, complete with star players, team owners, tournaments, sponsorships, and spectators. In Raising the Stakes, T. L. Taylor explores the emerging scene of professional computer gaming and the accompanying efforts to make a sport out of this form of play.In the course of her explorations, Taylor travels to tournaments, including the World Cyber Games Grand Finals (which considers itself the computer gaming equivalent of the Olympics), and interviews participants from players to broadcasters. She examines pro-gaming, with its highly paid players, play-by-play broadcasts, and mass audience; discusses whether or not e-sports should even be considered sports; traces the player's path from amateur to professional (and how a hobby becomes work); and describes the importance of leagues, teams, owners, organizers, referees, sponsors, and fans in shaping the structure and culture of pro-gaming.Taylor connects professional computer gaming to broader issues: our notions of play, work, and sport; the nature of spectatorship; the influence of money on sports. And she examines the ongoing struggle over the gendered construction of play through the lens of male-dominated pro-gaming. Ultimately, the evolution of professional computer gaming illuminates the contemporary struggle to convert playful passions into serious play.
dc.formatimage/jpeg
dc.identifierONIX_20241025_9780262301268_12
dc.identifierhttps://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/146634
dc.identifierhttps://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/8624.001.0001
dc.identifier.urihttps://dspace.dare.co.zw/handle/123456789/2774
dc.identifierdoi10.7551/mitpress/8624.001.0001
dc.imprintThe MIT Press
dc.languageeng
dc.licenseConditionn/a
dc.pages336
dc.placepublicationCambridge
dc.publisherThe MIT Press
dc.publisherThe MIT Press
dc.relationThe MIT Press
dc.relationisPublishedByae0cf962-f685-4933-93d1-916defa5123d
dc.relationisbn9780262301268
dc.relationisbn9780262017374
dc.resourceTypebook
dc.rightsopen access
dc.subjectGame Studies/General
dc.subjectCultural Studies/Popular Culture
dc.subjectSocial Sciences/Media Studies
dc.subjectthema EDItEUR::U Computing and Information Technology::UD Digital Lifestyle and online world: consumer and user guides::UDX Computer games / online games: strategy guides
dc.subjectthema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBG Popular beliefs and controversial knowledge
dc.titleRaising the Stakes

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