Play, performance, and identity : how institutions structure ludic spaces /
edited by Matt Omasta and Drew Chappell.
- New York : Routledge, 2020.
- x, 180 p. : ill.
- Routledge advances in theatre and performance studies ; 35 .
- Routledge advances in theatre and performance studies ; 35. .
Reprint. Originally published 2015.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 165-175) and index.
Introduction: play matters / Matt Omasta and Drew Chappell -- Warriors, wizards, and clerics: heroric identity construction in live action role playing games / Dani Snyder-Young -- Homo ludens and the sharks: structuring alternative realities while shark cage diving in South Africa / Michael Schwartz -- Playfully empowering: stunt runners and momentary performance / Terry Brino-Dean -- The future of family play at Epcot / John Newman -- Mormons think they should dance / Megan Sanborn Jones -- All the dungeon's a stage: the lived experiences of commercial BDSM players / Danielle Szlawieniec-Haw -- Cheering is tied to eating: consumption and excess in immersive, role specific dinner theatre spaces / Drew Chappell -- Becoming Batman: cosplay, performance, and ludic transformation at Comic-con / Kane Anderson -- Plaza Indonesia: performing modernity in a shopping mall / Jennifer Goodlander -- Britpicking as cultural policing in fanfiction / Erin Horáková -- Dramatic manipulations: conflict, empathy, and identity in world of Warcraft / Kimi Johnson -- Afterword: who are you? / Matt Omasta & Drew Chappell.
This volume explores how people play and why their play matters, with a particular interest in how ludic experiences are often constructed and controlled by the interests of institutions. From theme parks to comic conventions to massively-multiplayer online games, it probes what roles the designers of these experiences construct for players, and how such play might affect participants' identities and ideologies.