Dr Hirst has written what we all have been wanting to read: a comprehensive theory of modern professional gaming. But, in addition to that, she has done so by building a very practical snapshot of the current thinking on professional gaming by some of the best practitioners in the field. This will be a fundamental reference text to understanding professional gaming, and a historical document that describes what the designers thought, and what we did, in this time of resurgent gaming. It will be a reference for theorists and historians alike.

Autorentext
Situated in international political theory and critical military studies, Aggie Hirst's research focuses on play, games, and violence. Having completed her ESRC funded PhD at the University of Manchester in 2010, she held lectureships at the University of Leeds and City University of London before joining King's in 2017.

Klappentext

In the current century, games play a key role in many areas of our lives. Once thought frivolous and nerdy, videogames are now the leading global entertainment medium, and games are widely used in education, medicine, government...and war. Since 2014, the US government has directed the military to expand the use of wargames across their training, planning, and rehabilitation spheres. Combining original empirical data gathered at US military computer-assisted command post exercises (CPXs) and school-houses with a distinctive theory of immersive play, The Politics of Play offers a new critical analysis of the use of wargaming to produce soldiers in the digital age.