Demystifying Game Studies

This book is an introduction to game studies, written in an approachable way that outlines useful perspectives that readers can use to interrogate games as a primary text. It provides the reader with a toolset that can “level up” their own critical perspectives.

This book is organized around several evaluative lenses, each supported with case studies. These lenses approach the analysis of games from different perspectives, outlining some of the important foundational work from game studies and other relevant disciplines, and then relating it widely across a corpus of modern titles. This book covers video games, role‑playing games, and board games, along with digressions into other more obscure areas such as LARPs, Mega‑Games, and Non‑Games. Each of the main areas calls back to how each of the evaluative lenses of this book could be used to illuminate intersections of medium and theoretical perspectives. The provided case studies then offer deeper dives into titles of particular significance.

This book will be suitable for students in games‑related courses at multiple levels of the curriculum, game critics, and those who simply want to develop more interesting and nuanced opinions on games.

1148033364
Demystifying Game Studies

This book is an introduction to game studies, written in an approachable way that outlines useful perspectives that readers can use to interrogate games as a primary text. It provides the reader with a toolset that can “level up” their own critical perspectives.

This book is organized around several evaluative lenses, each supported with case studies. These lenses approach the analysis of games from different perspectives, outlining some of the important foundational work from game studies and other relevant disciplines, and then relating it widely across a corpus of modern titles. This book covers video games, role‑playing games, and board games, along with digressions into other more obscure areas such as LARPs, Mega‑Games, and Non‑Games. Each of the main areas calls back to how each of the evaluative lenses of this book could be used to illuminate intersections of medium and theoretical perspectives. The provided case studies then offer deeper dives into titles of particular significance.

This book will be suitable for students in games‑related courses at multiple levels of the curriculum, game critics, and those who simply want to develop more interesting and nuanced opinions on games.

66.99 Pre Order
Demystifying Game Studies

Demystifying Game Studies

by Michael Heron
Demystifying Game Studies

Demystifying Game Studies

by Michael Heron

Paperback

$66.99 
  • SHIP THIS ITEM
    Available for Pre-Order. This item will be released on December 26, 2025

Related collections and offers


Overview

This book is an introduction to game studies, written in an approachable way that outlines useful perspectives that readers can use to interrogate games as a primary text. It provides the reader with a toolset that can “level up” their own critical perspectives.

This book is organized around several evaluative lenses, each supported with case studies. These lenses approach the analysis of games from different perspectives, outlining some of the important foundational work from game studies and other relevant disciplines, and then relating it widely across a corpus of modern titles. This book covers video games, role‑playing games, and board games, along with digressions into other more obscure areas such as LARPs, Mega‑Games, and Non‑Games. Each of the main areas calls back to how each of the evaluative lenses of this book could be used to illuminate intersections of medium and theoretical perspectives. The provided case studies then offer deeper dives into titles of particular significance.

This book will be suitable for students in games‑related courses at multiple levels of the curriculum, game critics, and those who simply want to develop more interesting and nuanced opinions on games.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781032868578
Publisher: CRC Press
Publication date: 12/26/2025
Pages: 302
Product dimensions: 6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Dr Michael Heron is Associate Professor in Games at the School of Computer Science and Engineering in Gothenburg, Sweden, and programme administrator for the Game Design and Technology programme. Michael is also the author of Tabletop Game Accessibility: Meeple Centred Design (CRC Press, 2024) and A Case Study in Computer Ethics in Context: The Scandal in Academia (CRC Press, 2024).

Table of Contents

1. An Introduction to Game Studies

Michael Heron

2. Critical Perspectives in Game Studies

Michael Heron

3. Secret Hitler: Political Symbolism and Metagaming in Social Deduction

Constantina Edesa-Filios

4. Systemic Perspectives in Game Studies

Michael Heron

5. Box Classification and Puzzle Logic in the Video Game Wilmot’s Warehouse: Its Relation to Language and Semantics - Categorization and Language in Wilmot’s Warehouse Gameplay

Nayat Astaiza-Soriano and Eleni Gianntizi

6. Experiential Perspectives in Game Studies

Michael Heron

7. The Melancholy of Hollow Knight: A Study of the Dichotomy between Charm and Tragedy in the Artistic Elements of Hollow Knight

Klara Aune

8. Other Perspectives in Game Studies

Michael Heron

9. Animal Crossing: Turning a Space into a Place: A Reflection on the Psychogeography of Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Pauline Belford

10. Domain Knowledge in Tabletop Roleplaying Games

Michael Heron

11. The Tension of Blades in the Dark

Anna Brannen and Edvin Skog

12. Domain Knowledge in Video Games

Michael Heron

13. How Chants of Sennaar Creates Intriguing Gameplay around Learning Culturally Infused Languages

Luise Donat and Julius Lilie

14. Domain Knowledge in Board Games

Michael Heron and Pauline Belford

15. Conclusion

Michael Heron

From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews