Stephen J. Webley (editor) - The Playful Undead and Video Games: Critical Analyses of Zombies and Gameplay

This book explores the central role of the zombie in contemporary popular culture as they appear in video games. Moving beyond traditional explanations of their enduring appealthat they embody an aesthetic that combines horror with a mindless target; that lower age ratings for zombie games widen the market; or that artificial intelligence routines for zombies are easier to developthe book provides a multidisciplinary and comprehensive look at this cultural phenomenon.

Drawing on detailed case studies from across the genre, contributors from a variety of backgrounds offer insights into how the study of zombies in the context of video games informs an analysis of their impact on contemporary popular culture. Issues such as gender, politics, intellectual property law, queer theory, narrative storytelling and world-building, video game techniques and technology, and mans relation to monsters are closely examined in their relation to zombie video games.

Breaking new ground in the study of video games and popular culture, this volume will be of interest to researchers in a broad range of areas including media, popular culture, video games, and media psychology.

Stephen J. Webley is a lecturer and researcher in the School of Computing & Digital Technology at Staffordshire University UK. He has had a lifelong obsession with zombie games and the works of George A. Romero, both of which he understands as cultural artefacts that have changed the landscape of contemporary popular culture.

Peter Zackariasson , PhD, associate professor in marketing at University of Gothenburg, has published on different parts of cultural industries. In his two latest edited volumes he has tried to gather a diverse set of texts on the topics: the business of gamification (with Mikolaj Dymek), critically examining the new concept, and arts and business (with Elena Raviola), where these two fields will meet and interact.

Understanding Counterplay in Video Games
Alan F. Meades

Video Game Policy
Production, Distribution, and Consumption
Edited by Steven Conway and Jennifer de Winter

Digital Games as History
How Videogames Represent the Past and Offer Access to Historical Practice
Adam Chapman

New Perspectives on the Social Aspects of Digital Gaming
Multiplayer 2
Edited by Rachel Kowert and Thorsten Quandt

Fans and Videogames
Histories, Fandom, Archives
Edited by Melanie Swalwell, Helen Stuckey and Angela Ndalianis

Identity and Play in Interactive Digital Media
Ergodic Ontogeny
Sara M. Cole

Videogames, Identity and Digital Subjectivity
Rob Gallagher

Evolutionary Psychology and Digital Games
Digital Hunter-Gatherers
Edited by Johannes Breuer, Daniel Pietschmann, Benny Liebold, and Benjamin P. Lange

The Playful Undead and Video Games
Critical Analyses of Zombies and Gameplay
Edited by Stephen J. Webley and Peter Zackariasson

Critical Analyses of Zombies and Gameplay

Edited by Stephen J. Webley and Peter Zackariasson

First published 2020
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2020 Taylor & Francis

The right of Stephen J. Webley and Peter Zackariasson to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this title has been requested

ISBN: 9781138895461 (hbk)

ISBN: 9781315179490 (ebk)

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