[acc-cca-l] [Gamesnetwork] Book Announcement: Epistemic Genres + Emerging Genres

[Aaron Trammell]

[△EXTERNAL]


Congratulations Gerald, Betsy, Matthew, and Josh!!!! This looks fantastic.

Aaron

On Fri, Jan 9, 2026 at 6:05 AM Gerald Voorhees <dr.g.voorhees at gmail.com<mailto:dr.g.voorhees at gmail.com>> wrote:
Genres are social conventions ratified by creators and audiences, and so they are inherently political commitments that express our attachments and antagonisms to the cultural and political systems that organize our relations with one another, our environments, and the world.

Epistemic Genres<https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/epistemic-genres-9798765125540/> centres the players and communities who make constellations of games meaningful. The first section examines epistemic genres as they are constituted by different scholarly lenses. Here, the contributors consider how certain scholarly theories allow us to see the connections between seemingly disparate games. The second section examines epistemic genres as products of specific material and discursive contexts. The third section examines epistemic genres defined by the specific interpretive frames of communities of players that share a cultural lexicon, symbol system, or grammar. Overall, the chapters in this book make the case for understanding game genres as formations shaped more by play than the qualities of the games themselves.

Emerging Genres<https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/emerging-genres-9798765125618/> centres the games and game assemblages players and communities invest with meaning. The first section considers emerging genres as a function of the material conditions of play, and the game experience. The second section examines many of the formal/mechanical elements used to identify genres, highlighting the emergence or evolution of forms that are unique to the current landscape of games. The final section explores the function and construction of genre as affective, highlighting the expressive and persuasive potential of games to shape the audience.

Please consider asking your library to buy these books! (More affordable softcover editions coming next year)
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