Saturday, November 07, 2009

New Publication: World of Warcraft and Philosophy


Visit the publication's Facebook Page and leave your critical reader comments there ...

Overview:

This is an edited collection whose chapters deal with some aspects of World of Warcraft in relation to philosophy. While the focus is WoW, the book also touches on elements of the original games of the Warcraft franchise.

ON SALE FROM NOVEMBER 1ST 2009

Mission:

In the Zelda book, we focused (of course) on Zelda, but some of the topics were generalizable to console video games. Similarly, in the WoW book we focus on (of course) WoW but many of our topics can be generalized to MMORPGs and their philosophical implications.

CONTENTS:

Read a Philosophy Book (Introduction)

Apprentice Philosopher: Aggro Your Brain

[1] You Can Kill Your Friends but You Can't Save Gnomeregan

[2] Render Unto Caesar

[3] Finding Adam Smith in Azeroth

[4] A Meaningless World . . . of Warcraft

[5] A Mage in Motion

Journeyman Philosopher: The Sublime Experience of WoW

[6] Azeroth versus the Experience Machine

[7] Boredom, Power, and Self-Actualization in Azeroth

[8] World of Warcraft as Collector's Paradise


Expert Philosopher: Ethics, Dungeons, Raids, and PvP

[9] A Flourishing Revolt

[10] Ninja Ethics and the Virtual Theft of Virtual Goods

[11] Remaking Azeroth


Artisan Philosopher: Identity, Toons, and Roleplay

[12] Utopian Fantasy and the Politics of Difference

[13] Role Playing in World of Warcraft as Cathartic Social Performance

[14] He’s the Kind of Girl Who Wants Matching Daggers

[15] In-Game Identities and Meatspace Mistakes

Master Philosopher: Battle, Leadership, and Power

[16] The Machiavellian Guild Leader

[17] There is No War in Warcraft

[18] Game Developers, Gods, and Surveillance

Grand Master Philosopher: (Meta)Physics, Reality and Technology In and Out of Azeroth

[19] Bits of Ogres, Bytes of Orcs

[20] Future Pasts of Magic and Deceit

[21] Can I Have Unlimited Power in World of Warcraft?


Denizens of Azeroth