New Publication:

Playing at a distance: Borderlands of video game aesthetic
By Sonia Fizek

Publisher: MIT Press (November 2022)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/13605.001.0001
ISBN electronic: 9780262372190
186 pages
https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262544627/playing-at-a-distance/
Open Access: https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-monograph/5473/Playing-at-a-DistanceBorderlands-of-Video-Game

[Publisher description:]

An essential exploration of video game aesthetic that decenters the human player and challenges what it means to play.

Do we play video games or do video games play us? Is nonhuman play a mere paradox or the future of gaming? And what do video games have to do with quantum theory? In Playing at a Distance, Sonia Fizek engages with these and many more daunting questions, forging new ways to think and talk about games and play that decenter the human player and explore a variety of play formats and practices that require surprisingly little human action. Idling in clicker games, wandering in walking simulators, automating gameplay with bots, or simply watching games rather than playing them—Fizek shows how these seemingly marginal cases are central to understanding how we play in the digital age.… read more. “New Publication: Playing at a distance: Borderlands of video game aesthetic”

New Publication: Deepfakes
By Graham Meikle

Publisher: Polity Press (December 2022)
ISBN-10: 1509548211
ISBN-13: 978-1-50954-821-7
160 pages
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=deepfakes–9781509548200
https://www.amazon.com/Deepfakes-Graham-Meikle/dp/1509548211

[From the air-l listserv]

Hi everyone

With the usual apologies for self-promotion and cross-posting, some of you may be interested in my book about deepfakes, published this week by Polity. Here’s the back cover blurb to give you an idea:

What happens when we can no longer believe what we see? Show the AI technologies that create deepfakes enough images of a celebrity or a politician and they will generate a convincing video in which that person appears to say and do things they have never actually said or done. The result is a media environment in which anyone’s face and image can be remixed and manipulated.

Graham Meikle explains how deepfakes (synthetic media) are made and used. From celebrity porn and political satire to movie mash-ups and disinformation campaigns, this book explores themes of trust and consent as face-swapping software becomes more common.… read more. “New Publication: Deepfakes”

New Publication:

The changing face of VR: Pushing the boundaries of experience across multiple industries
By Jordan Frith, Michael Saker (Eds.)

Publisher: Vernon Press (July 2022)
ISBN-10:‎ 1648894747
ISBN-13:‎ 978-1-64889-474-9
195 pages
https://vernonpress.com/book/1553
https://www.amazon.com/changing-face-boundaries-experience-industries/dp/1648894747

[From the air-l listserv]

Hi all,

I’m happy to announce that my new edited book about VR is now available for purchase (or to get libraries to purchase or whatever). I think the book could be relevant to some people on this list, so I figured I’d share. Right now only a hardback is available, which is expensive, but if it interests any of you, it might be worth asking your library to get a copy. Also a paperback and eBook should be coming out sometime soon at a lower price. And of course, in the meantime…if you want a sample or something and don’t want to buy an overpriced book, contact me and I have some page proofs.… read more. “New Publication: The Changing Face of VR: Pushing the Boundaries of Experience Across Multiple Industries”

New Publication:

The Phenomenology of Virtual Technology
Perception and Imagination in a Digital Age
By Daniel O’Shiel

Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic (July 2022)
ISBN-10:‎ 135024550X
ISBN-13:‎ 978-1350245501
264 pages
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/phenomenology-of-virtual-technology-9781350245501/
https://www.amazon.com/Phenomenology-Virtual-Technology-Perception-Imagination-dp-135024550X/dp/135024550X

[From the Philos-L listserv]

Hello all,

I hope you are all well. My new monograph, The Phenomenology of Virtual Technology. Perception and Imagination in a Digital Age, has been released today by Bloomsbury Academic (https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/phenomenology-of-virtual-technology-9781350245501/). It is also available through all other major outlets (Amazon etc.).

It would be of interest to anyone concerned with perception and imagination, especially the phenomenology thereof, as well as how these relate inherently to new and current virtual technologies such as social media, online gaming, and virtual, augmented and mixed reality (VR, AR and MR respectively) technologies.

Enjoy!

Dr Daniel O’Shiel
daniel.oshiel@GMAIL.COM
www.danieloshiel.com

—

[From Bloomsbury]

DESCRIPTION

The digital age we now live in is fundamentally changing how we relate to our perceptions and images.… read more. “New Publication: The Phenomenology of Virtual Technology: Perception and Imagination in a Digital Age”

New Publication:

Expressive Space: Embodying Meaning in Video Game Environments
Volume 4 in the series Video Games and the Humanities
By Greg Whistance-Smith

Publisher: De Gruyter Oldenbourg (January 2022)
ISBN-10:‎ 3110723573
ISBN-13:‎ 978-3110723571
265 pages
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110723731
https://www.gregws.ca/expressive-space-launch/
https://www.amazon.com/Expressive-Space-Embodying-Environments-Humanities-ebook/dp/B09MPCVM8S/

Hi everyone,

I’m excited to announce the release of my book, Expressive Space: Embodying Meaning in Video Game Environments.

It approaches video games as built environments, places constructed for particular activities. Since we experience space from the position of our body, the book develops a framework for analyzing meaning in video game spaces by synthesizing five theories from the field of embodied cognition. These theories suggest how embodied experiences can evoke more abstract discourses, providing a new lens for exploring how the mechanics, environment, and spatial interactions in a video game can reinforce its deeper themes.… read more. “New Publication: Expressive Space: Embodying Meaning in Video Game Environments”

New Publication:

How to Be a God: A Guide for Would-Be Deities
By Richard A. Bartle

Publisher: NotByUs (1 Jan. 2022)
ISBN-10:‎ 0955649498
ISBN-13:‎ 978-0955649493
Paperback: ‎ 635 pages
https://mud.co.uk/richard/How%20to%20Be%20a%20God.pdf
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0955649498 or https://www.amazon.com/dp/0955649498/

I’ve recently published a book that may be of interest…  How to Be a God: A Guide for Would-Be Deities is more a work of a pop-sci than a formal academic tome, but it does cover topics that are new and (to me, anyway) interesting.

Here’s the blurb:

“When it comes to questions concerning the nature of Reality, philosophers and theologians have the answers.

Philosophers have the answers that can’t be proven right. Theologians have the answers that can’t be proven wrong.

Today’s designers of Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games create realities for a living. They can’t spend centuries mulling over the issues: they have to face them head-on.… read more. “New Publication: How to Be a God: A Guide for Would-Be Deities”

New Publication:

Virtuality and Humanity: Virtual Practice and Its Evolution from Pre-History to the 21st Century
By Sam N. Lehman-Wilzig

Publisher: Springer Singapore, 2022
ISBN: 9811665257, 9789811665257
343 pages
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-16-6526-4

Hello all:

I am happy to announce the publication of my new book VIRTUALITY AND HUMANITY: Virtual Practice and Its Evolution from Pre-History to the 21st Century (Springer Nature).

As we are well aware, today’s news is full of the “future”: Metaverse, Virtual & Augmented Reality, and the like. My book looks in the opposite direction: virtuality’s expression and expansion through human history in numerous fields of endeavor: Communication (Technologies); Literature and the Arts; Economics; Religion; Philosophy, Math, & Physics; Nationhood & Government; and more. In addition, it analyzes the interaction of modern media with other “virtualizing” areas (e.g., physics, the arts, etc.). It places contemporary “compunications” within a far broader social environment, showing how the phenomenon of virtuality (broadly defined) influences – and is influenced by – communications, also broadly defined.… read more. “New Publication: Virtuality and Humanity: Virtual Practice and Its Evolution from Pre-History to the 21st Century”

New Publication:

The Handbook on Socially Interactive Agents
20 Years of Research on Embodied Conversational Agents, Intelligent Virtual Agents, and Social Robotics
Volume 1: Establishing SIA Research, Appearance and Behaviour, Social Cognition

Editors:
Birgit Lugrin, University of Wurzburg,
Catherine Pelachaud, Sorbonne University,
David Traum, University of Southern California

ISBN: 9781450387217 | PDF ISBN: 9781450387231
Hardcover ISBN: 9781450387200
Copyright 2021 | 538 Pages
DOI: 10.1145/3477322

November 14, 2021

Our new handbook came out:

The Handbook on Socially Interactive Agents: 20 years of Research on Embodied Conversational Agents, Intelligent Virtual Agents, and Social Robotics

The Volume 1: Methods, Behavior, Cognition, can be found in digital form:
https://dl.acm.org/doi/book/10.1145/3477322

and in printed version:
https://www.morganclaypoolpublishers.com/catalog_Orig/product_info.php?cPath=24&products_id=1670 (or on Amazon)

The ACM Handbook on Socially Interactive Agents provides a comprehensive overview of the research fields of Embodied Conversational Agents, Intelligent Virtual Agents, and Social Robotics. Socially Interactive Agents (SIAs), whether virtually or physically embodied, are autonomous agents that are able to perceive an environment including people or other agents, reason, decide how to interact, and express attitudes, emotions, engagement, or even empathy.… read more. “New Publication: The Handbook on Socially Interactive Agents: 20 years of Research on Embodied Conversational Agents, Intelligent Virtual Agents, and Social Robotics”

Book Announcement: 

Digital Performance in Everyday Life by Lyndsay Michalik Gratch and Ariel Gratch, Routledge
https://www.routledge.com/Digital-Performance-in-Everyday-Life/Gratch-Gratch/p/book/9781138342149
[Preview at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Performance-Everyday-Lyndsay-Michalik/dp/1138342149/ ]

This title will be released on November 12, 2021.

Digital Performance in Everyday Life combines theories of performance, communication, and media to explore the many ways we perform in our everyday lives through digital media and in virtual spaces.

Digital communication technologies and the social norms and discourses that developed alongside these technologies have altered the ways we perform as and for ourselves and each other in virtual spaces. Through a diverse range of topics and examples—including discussions of self-identity, surveillance, mourning, internet memes, storytelling, ritual, political action, and activism—this book addresses how the physical and virtual have become inseparable in everyday life, and how the digital is always rooted in embodied action. Focusing on performance and human agency, the authors offer fresh perspectives on communication and digital culture.… read more. “New Publication: Digital Performance in Everyday Life”