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Cultural Geography and Videogames
Author(s) -
Ash James,
Gallacher Lesley Anne
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
geography compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.587
H-Index - 65
ISSN - 1749-8198
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-8198.2011.00427.x
Subject(s) - scholarship , cultural geography , entertainment , consumption (sociology) , sociology , politics , aesthetics , human geography , media studies , social science , political science , art , visual arts , law
While videogames have been a popular form of entertainment practice for a number of decades, it is only recently that they have been paid much attention by academics. Although there is a burgeoning body of scholarship that deals with videogames in new media and games studies, human geography is only just beginning to offer its own take on the medium and the practices associated with it. This essay outlines ways in which scholars (both within geography and beyond) have traced out the geographies in videogames (in terms of the representations and politics within videogames), the geographies of videogames (in terms of the production and consumption of videogames) and videogames as a cultural geographical practice (in terms of the technocultural practices through which videogames and videogamers are produced). We argue that approaching videogaming as a (techno)cultural practice can enrich the cultural geographies in and of videogames.