Exploring Minecraft: Ethnographies of Play and Creativity

by Larissa Hjorth, Ingrid Richardson, Hugh Davies, William Balmford

Overview

This book directs critical attention to one of the most ubiquitous and yet under-analyzed games, Minecraft. Drawing on three years of ethnographic fieldwork into mobile games in Australian homes, the authors seek to take Minecraft seriously as a cultural practice. The book examines how Minecraft players engage in a form of gameplay that is uniquely intergenerational, creative, and playful, and which moves ambivalently throughout everyday life. At the intersection of digital media, quotidian literacy, and ethnography, the book situates interdisciplinary debates around mundane play through the lens of Minecraft. Ultimately, Exploring Minecraft seeks to coalesce the discussion between formal and informal learning, fostering new forms of digital media creativity and ethnographic innovation around the analysis of games in everyday life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783030599102
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	01/05/2021
Series:	Palgrave Games in Context
Edition description:	1st ed. 2020
Pages:	189
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Larissa Hjorth is Distinguished Professor and Director of the Design & Creative Practice Platform at RMIT University, Australia.

Ingrid Richardson is Professor in the School of Media & Communication at RMIT University, Australia.

Hugh Davies is a postdoctoral fellow in the Design & Creative Practice Platform at RMIT University, Australia.

William Balmford has a PhD in media and communications from RMIT University, Australia.

Table of Contents

1. The Phenomenon.- 2. Exploring Play.- 3. Understanding Play.- 4. Play Practices and Modalities.- 5. Metagaming and Paratextual Play.- 6. Playing at Home.- 7. Institutional Play Spaces.- 8. Playing during and post COVID-19 pandemic.