Guns, Grenades, and Grunts First-Person Shooter Games [Paperback]

Known for their visibility and tendency to generate controversy, first-person shooter (FPS) games are cultural icons and powder-kegs in American society. Contributors will examine a range of FPS games such as the Doom, Half-Life, System Shock, Deus Ex, Halo, Medal of Honor and Call of Duty franchises. By applying and enriching a broad range of perspectives, this volume will address the cultural relevance and place of the genre in game studies, game theory and the cultures of game players.
Guns, Grenades, and Grunts gathers scholars from all disciplines to bring the weight of contemporary social theory and media criticism to bear on the public controversy and intellectual investigation of first-person shooter games. As a genre, FPS games have helped shepherd the game industry from the early days of shareware distribution and underground gaming clans to contemporary multimillion dollar production budgets, Hollywood-style launches, downloadable content and worldwide professional gaming leagues. The FPS has been and will continue to be a staple of the game market.

Joshua Call, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Grand View University.
Katie Whitlock, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre at California State University, Chico.

This collection brings the weight of contemporary social theory and media criticism to bear on the public controversy and intellectual investigation of first-person shooter games.

Introduction - Things That Go Boom: From Guns to Griefing -- Gerald Voorhees, Josh Call and Katie Whitlock
I. Tutorial
Chapter 1: BattleZone and the Origins of First-Person Shooting Games -- Mark JP Wolf Chapter 2: Call to Action, Invitation to Play: The Immediacy of the Caricature in Team Fortress 2 -- James ManningChapter 3: I Am a Gun: The Avatar and Avatarness in the FPS -- Victor Navarro Chapter 4: Monsters, Nazis and Tangos: The Normalization of the First-Person Shoolc¡