Play, Performance, and Identity : How Institutions Structure Ludic Spaces.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- 1 Introduction: Play Matters -- 2 Warriors, Wizards, and Clerics: Heroric Identity Construction in Live Action Role Playing Games -- 3 Homo Ludens and the Sharks: Structuring Alternative Realities while Shark Cage Diving in South Africa -- 4 Playfully Empowering: Stunt Runners and Momentary Performance -- 5 The Future of Family Play at Epcot -- 6 Mormons Think They Should Dance -- 7 All the Dungeon's a Stage: The Lived Experiences of Commercial BDSM Players -- 8 Cheering is Tied to Eating: Consumption and Excess in Immersive, Role-Specific Dinner Theatre Spaces -- 9 Becoming Batman: Cosplay, Performance, and Ludic Transformation at Comic-Con -- 10 Plaza Indonesia: Performing Modernity in a Shopping Mall -- 11 Britpicking as Cultural Policing in Fanfiction -- 12 Dramatic Manipulations: Conflict, Empathy, and Identity in World of Warcraft -- 13 Afterword: Who are You? -- Editors -- Contributors -- References -- Index.

This book 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, including corporations, non-profit organizations, government agencies, religious organizations, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Scholars of performance studies, leisure studies, media studies and sociology will find this book an essential reference when studying facets of play.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.