Larissa Hjorth is Australian Research Council APD fellow and Senior Lecturer in Games and Digital Media in the School of Communications and Media at RMIT University, Melbourne.

The computer games industry has rapidly matured. Once a preoccupation only of young technophiles, games are now one of the dominant forms of global popular culture. From consoles such as Nintendo Wii and Microsoft's Xbox, to platforms such as iPhones and online gaming worlds, the realm of games and their scope have become all-pervasive.
The study of games is no longer a niche interest but rather an integral part of cultural and media studies. The analysis of games reveals much about contemporary social relations, online communities and media engagement.
Presenting a range of approaches and analytical tools through which to explore the role of games in everyday life, and packed with case material, Games and Gaming provides a comprehensive overview of this new media and how it permeates global culture in the twenty-first century.

1. Introduction
2. The Histories of Gaming
3. Games as New Media
4. Web 2.0, Social Media, and Online Games
5. The Politics of the Personal: Avatar Representation, Identity and Identification and Beyond
6. Glaze Cultures: Urban and Location-aware Gaming
7. Gaming in the Asia-Pacific: Two Futures for Gaming - Online Gaming versus Electronic Individualism
8. Conclusion: Gaming in the Twenty-first Century

Annotated Guide to Further Reading
Questions and Exercises
Notes
Bibliography
Index