This book offers ten chapters examining contemporary fantasy entertainment forms that use virtual environments to amuse the participant. Called "virtual fantasies" by the author (as opposed to virtual realities), these entertainment forms are categorized into three main groupings. All include performance and imaginary environments as essential elements-participants are often simultaneously performers and audience. Many involve computer technology such as multimedia, digitized video, and online chatting. Part I covers imaginative fantasy entertainments, where the participants are required to use their imaginations to see the virtual environment. These include paper and pencil role-playing games (Dungeons and Dragons), live-action roleplaying games (International Fantasy Gaming Society rules), and collectible card games (Magic: The Gathering). Part II covers physical fantasy entertainments, where the participants need little imagination to see the virtual environment. These include computer games (Star Trek: Klingon), theme park rides (Disneyland's Star Tours), and immersive museums (National Museum of the American Indian). Part III covers social fantasy entertainments, where participants have built communities based upon the virtual environment (Star Trek fandom, Star Wars influencing Ronald Reagan's Pax Americana).
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About the Author
Kurt Lancaster is a Lecturer on the Literature Faculty at MIT. In addition, he has directed plays off-off Broadway and taught in the Department of Drama at NYU's Tisch Shool of the Arts. He earned his Ph.D. in Performance Studies from NYU.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Imparts a burning passion for its subject.,
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This review is from: Warlocks and Warpdrive: Contemporary Fantasy Entertainments with Interactive and Virtual Environments (Hardcover)
"A work of meticulous detail, bounded by academic discipline, that still manages to scream off the page and impart a burning passion for its subject. ... A prose style that stays thankfully close to good storytelling. ... mark[s] Kurt Lancaster's arrival as a welcome presence ... Will surprise the most inventive thinker." -Neil Nixon, Fortean Times
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