Foreword / James P. Gee -- Introduction / Gail E. Hawisher and Cynthia L. Selfe -- part I: Gaming and literacy. Computer gaming as literacy / Cynthia L.Selfe, Anne F. Mareck, and Josh Gardiner -- Transcultural literacies of gaming / Iswari P. Pandey, Laxman Pandey, and Angish Shreshtha -- Lost (and found) in translation : game localization, cultural models, and critical literacy / Erin Smith and Eve Deitsch -- Gaming, identity, and literacy / Daniel Keller with Paul Ardis, Vivienne Dunstan, Adam Thornton, Rachel Henry, and Brent Witty -- Interchapter I: What some girls say about gaming -- part II: The social dimensions of gaming. Narrative, action, and learning : the stories of Myst / Debra Journet -- Gaming, agency, and imagination : locating gaming within a larger constellation of literacies / Deanna McGaughey-Summers and Russell Summers -- Relationship gaming and identity : Stephanie and Josh / JoAnn Griffin -- Dungeons, dragons, and discretion : a gateway to gaming, technology, and literacy / Stephanie Owen Fleischer, Susan A. Wright, and Matthew L. Barnes -- Interchapter II: What some 20-something players say about gaming -- part III: Gaming and difference. "A real effect on the gameplay" : computer gaming, sexuality, and literacy / Jonathan Alexander with Mack McCoy and Carlos Velez -- Taking flight : learning differences meet gaming literacies / Matthew Bunce, Marjorie Hebert, and J. Christopher Collins -- Racing toward representation : an understanding of racial representation in video games / Samantha Blackmon with Daniel J. Terrell -- Portrait of a gray gamer : a maco-self reading the big picture / John E. Branscum with Frank Quickert -- Gender matters : literacy, learning, and gaming in one American family / Pamela Takayoshi -- Interchapter III: What early gamers say about gaming -- Afterword : the return of the player / Dmitri Williams.

Gaming lives explores the complexly rendered relationship between computer gaming environments and literacy development by focusing on in-depth case studies of computer gamers in the United States at the beginning of the twenty-first century. This volume examines the claim that computer games can provide better literacy and learning environments than U.S. schools. Using the words and observations of individual gamers, this book offers historical and cultural analyses of their literacy development, practices, and values.