Play Performance and Identity

<p>Play helps define who we are as human beings. However many of the leisurely/ludic activities people participate in are created and governed by corporate entities with social political and business agendas. As such it is critical that scholars understand and explicate the ideological underpinnings of played-through experiences and how they affect the player/performers who engage in them.</p><p></p><p>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). Each chapter explores diverse sites of play. From theme parks to comic conventions to massively-multiplayer online games they probe what roles the designers of these experiences construct for players and how such play might affect participants' identities and ideologies. Scholars of performance studies leisure studies media studies and sociology will find this book an essential reference when studying facets of play. </p>