Social Games

The shy but beautiful Princess Alexa is more into books than ballroom dancing. One day her grandmother gifts her a mysterious book, and a magical adventure starts to unfold in the magical realm of Zinnia, a wonderful land inhabited by fairies, mermaids, unicorns. Join Alexa and her magical friends on their quest to defeat the mean, magic-stealing princess, Malucia and restore the peace in Zinnia. Come on an amazing adventure with Barbie and all her friends!

While the Western was dying a slow death across the cultural landscape, it was blazing back to life as a video game in the early twenty-first century. Rockstar Games' Red Dead franchise, beginning with Red Dead Revolver in 2004, has grown into one of the most critically acclaimed video game franchises of the twenty-first century. Red Dead Redemption: History, Myth, and Violence in the Video Game West offers a critical, interdisciplinary look at this cultural phenomenon at the intersection of game studies and American history.

Stories provide portals into other worlds, both real and imagined. The promise of escape draws people from all backgrounds to speculative fiction, but when people of color seek passageways into the fantastic, the doors are often barred. The Dark Fantastic is an engaging and provocative exploration of race in popular youth and young adult speculative fiction. Grounded in her experiences as YA novelist, fan-fiction writer, and scholar of education, Thomas considers four black girl protagonists from some of the most popular stories of the early 21st century.

Thirteen-year-old Teddy Youngblood is in a coma fighting for his life after an unspecified football injury at training camp. His family and friends flock to his bedside to support his recovery - and to discuss the events leading up to the tragic accident. Was this an inevitable result of playing a violent sport, or was something more sinister happening on the field that day?

Stevie is in for a big surprise while building his treehouse: He's first attacked by a creeper, and then must take on a group of zombies! The near miss has him feeling like the worst mob fighter in Minecraft, so when he finds a portal into a brand-new world, he's willing to take his chances. He steps out of a computer screen and into the room of a sixth-grade girl Maison, who's a talented Minecraft builder.

Brash, cocky, and unbeatable with a sword (well, almost), Sam of Haywood is the most promising Paladin trainee in the kingdom of Thule. The only problem is that Sam is really Lady Samantha, daughter of the 17th duke of Haywood, and if her father has his way, she'll be marrying a Paladin, not becoming one. But Sam has never held much interest in playing damsel in distress, and so she rescues herself from a lifetime of boredom and matrimonial drudgery.

Herobrine is rallying all the monsters of Minecraft to one server in hopes of eliminating Gameknight999 and his friends once and for all. They destroy every village they find, threatening to continue until the User-that-is-not-a-user surrenders. Gameknight has just two things: the Oracle's command to seek out the lost ocean monument and an impenetrable riddle: "Look to the lowliest and most insignificant of creatures, for that is where your salvation will lie."

Often, we treat games like work. We buy shelves of thick books. We plan detailed adventures. We memorize rules. In Play Unsafe, Graham Walmsley explores what happens when you throw the serious stuff away: when you stop working, stop planning and start playing. This book explains how to make role-playing less like work and more like play; stop killing other players' ideas and build on them instead; and put stories at the heart of your game.

In a televised social experiment before millions of viewers, police sergeant Derrick Levasseur demonstrated that techniques used by undercover detectives could help people achieve their goals in everyday social situations. The result: he walked away with more than half a million dollars. In The Undercover Edge, Derrick shares his personal mind-set surrounding human behavior and motivation. Even more than that, he provides easy yet groundbreaking tools acquired while overcoming personal adversity.

Will Noah and Violet finally defeat Daniel and his crew of rainbow griefers? Violet and Noah's village is celebrating the new amusement park opening in town. Everyone is enjoying the fun rides and tasty food. But when Noah spots a rainbow griefer in the village carrying blocks of TNT, the celebration suddenly stops. Before the townspeople can do anything about the dangerous interloper, the roller coaster explodes! The accident with the roller coaster is blamed on Noah and Violet's frequent enemy, Daniel.

Kate craves adventure and excitement. Mia loves dresses, roses, and anything beautiful. Lainey dreams of talking to animals. Gabby believes in fairies more than anyone. In a blink of an eye, these four best friends all get their biggest wish - they're whisked off to Never Land, home to Tinker Bell and her fairy friends. The adventure of a lifetime is just beginning! But how will the Never Girls ever get home again?

The Face Game is the game of pretending to be a person. When we see who we really are, we stop playing the Face Game and begin living a game-free life, the fruits of which are love, joy, and peace. This game-free life is also known as liberation, enlightenment, salvation. Douglas Harding wrote The Face Game in 1968 when he was 59. Up to this moment, he had spent much of his adult life thinking deeply about his identity.

When Justin's older brother, Kyle, is killed in Afghanistan, Justin can't believe that his brother is really gone. Except there's one thing that Kyle left behind.... Max is a highly trained military canine who has always protected his fellow soldiers. But when he loses his handler and best friend, Kyle, Max is traumatized and unable to remain in the service. Max is sent home to America, where the only human he connects with is Justin, and he is soon adopted by Kyle's family, essentially saving his life.

From the Emmy Award-winning Squid Game to streaming sensations like The Glory and Crash Landing on You, Korean television has emerged onto the global pop culture scene as compelling television—but what exactly makes these shows so irresistibly bingeable? And what can we learn about our societies and ourselves from watching them? From stand-up comedian and media studies PhD Grace Jung comes a rollicking deep dive into the cultural significance of Korean television.

A new town, a new school, a new start. That's what 14-year-old Gray Wilton believes as he chants, "It's gonna be better, gonna be better here." But it doesn't take long for Gray to realize that nothing's going to change--there are bullies in every school, and he's always their punching bag. Gray feels trapped in a world where he has no control and no way out--until the day he enters the halls with his father's semiautomatic in hand.

Gameknight999's true enemy has finally surfaced: Herobrine, an artificially intelligent virus that wants to escape Minecraft and destroy mankind with their own creation - the Internet. If he is able to escape the game and get online, Herobrine will infect millions of computer systems and turn machines and weapons on their masters, threatening all of humanity.

From a new coach's flagrant racism to a teammate's endless sabotage, best friends Andi Carillo and Jeff Michaels start basketball season mired in controversy. To make matters worse, the local media smells more than one juicy story. Will Andi and Jeff be able to help each other power through and find a way to put both their teams back on track?

Seventeen-year-old Katie Price has a rare disease that makes exposure to even the smallest amount of sunlight deadly. Confined to her house during the day, her company is limited to her widowed father and her best friend. It isn't until after nightfall that Katie's world opens up, when she takes her guitar to the local train station and plays for the people coming and going. Charlie Reed is a former all-star athlete at a crossroads in his life - and the boy Katie has secretly admired from afar for years. When he happens upon her playing guitar one night, fate intervenes and the two embark on a star-crossed romance.

Hannah Montana is used to hard work and tough schedules. But Miley Stewart could use a break. Lucky for her, summer is here, and she and the family are heading east to Nantucket, Massachusetts, for some serious R & R. Even better? Lilly and Oliver will be coming, too, although they are going for more educational purposes - their parents want them to get extra credit by completing a science program set on the high seas. But even with learning on the agenda, the friends are stoked.

Inspired by the groundbreaking A History of the World in 100 Objects, this book draws on the unique collections of The Strong museum in Rochester, New York, to chronicle the evolution of video games, from Pong to first-person shooters, told through the stories of dozens of objects essential to the field’s creation and development. Drawing on the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s unmatched collection of video game artifacts, this fascinating history offers an expansive look at the development of one of the most popular and influential activities of the modern world: video gaming.