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”