Guns, Grenades, and Grunts

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.

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 Shooter -- Gerald Voorhees Chapter 5: The Shameful Trinity: Game Studies, Empire, and the Cognitariat -- Toby Miller

II. Campaign

Chapter 6: Bigger, Better, Stronger, Faster: Disposable Bodies and Cyborg Construction -- Josh Call Chapter 7: Hatched from the Veins in Your Arms": Movement, Ontology and First-Person Gameplay in BioShock -- Gwyneth Peaty Chapter 8: Meat Chunks in the Metro: The Apocalyptic Soul of the Ukrainian Shooter -- Dan Pinchbeck Chapter 9: More Bang For Your Buck -- Hardware Hacking, Real Money Trade and Transgressive Play within Console Based First Person Shooters --Alan Meades Chapter 10: 'Tips and tricks to take your game to the next level': Expertise and Identity in FPS Games --Daniel Ashton and James Newman

III. Multiplayer

Chapter 11: 'A Silent Team is a Dead Team': Communicative Norms in Team-based Halo 3 Play -- Nick TaylorChapter 12: Challenging the Rules and Roles of Gaming: Griefing as Rhetorical Tactic -- Evan Snider, Tim Lockridge and Dan Lawson Chapter 13: The Best Possible Story? Learning about WWII from FPS Video Games -- Stephanie Fisher Chapter 14: Taking Aim at Sexual Harassment: Feminized Performances of Hegemonic Masculinity in the First-Person Shooter Hey Baby -- Jessy Ohl and Aaron DuncanChapter 15: Invigorating Play: The Role of Affect in Online Multiplayer FPS Games -- Chris MooreChapter 16: Repelling the Invasion of the 'Other': Post-Apocalyptic Alien Shooter Videogames Addressing Contemporary Cultural Attitudes -- Ryan LizardiChapter 17: Face to Face: Humanizing the Digital Display in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 -- Timothy Welsh

About the Contributors Index