The Evolution and Social Impact of Video Game Economics

Contributions by Hsuan-Yi Chou, Mark D. Cruea, Steve Cuff, Casey B. Hart, Brent Kice, Bjarke Liboriussen, Casey O'Donnell, Jan Švelch, Christopher Terry, Shaojung Sharon Wang, Emma Whatman Edited by Casey B. Hart

Not available to order

Publication date:

13 July 2017

Length of book:

180 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9781498543422

Today, consumers of video games spend over $22.4 billion each year; using more complex and multi-layered strategies, game developers attempt to extend the profitability of their products from a simple one-time sale, to continuous engagement with the consumer. The Evolution and Social Impact of Video Game Economics examines paradigmatic changes in the economic structure of the video game industry from a media effects and game design perspective. This book explores how game developers have changed how they engage players in order to facilitate continuous financial transactions. Contributors look from the advent of microtransactions and downloadable content (DLCs) to the impact of planned obsolescence, impulse buying, and emotional control. This collection takes a broad view of the game dynamics and market forces that drive the video game industry, and features international contributors from Asia, Europe, and Australia.

Contents

Introduction
Casey Hart

"Show me the money!" - Shifting Fields of Capital in the Global Game Industry

Casey O’Donnell

Nintendo’s Retro Revolution: Commodified Nostalgia and the Virtual Console

Steve Cuff and Christopher Terry

Business Models, Planned Obsolescence, Externalities: Examining the Virtual Hand of the Video Game Industry

Mark D. Cruea

Prestige: A Cyclical Act for Consumer Control

Brent Kice

Free-to-play? Considering the interaction of functional factors in video game design influencing the economic effectiveness of microtransactions

Casey Hart

P(l)aying Pretty: Consuming Fairy Tales and Device Applications

Emma Whatman

Playing with and against Microtransactions: The Discourses of Microtransactions Acceptance and Rejection in Mainstream Video Games

Jan Švelch

Smart Players and Happy Consumers: Effects of Game Characteristics and Player Emotional Experiences on in-App Ad Responses

Hsuan-Yi Chou and Shaojung Sharon Wang

Gold Farming in China—and in Western Academia, Journalism, and Fiction

Bjarke Liboriussen

About the Editor and Contributors

The reality of the video game industry is that it is a business and economic forces have tremendous impact upon its growth and development. The Evolution and Social Impact of Video Game Economics functions as a valuable guide to game scholars for understanding how such forces interact with the games that they play and study.