2020

Karhulahti, Veli-Matti

Weaving the author's own lived experience with theoretical insights from the fields of game studies, psychology, sociology and anthropology, Esport Play probes and advances current gaming topics such as addiction, expertise, and toxicity. Based on a 4-year engagement period with League of Legends, a multiplayer online battle arena, Veli-Matti Karhulahti makes two major contributions. First, he explicates what esport play is: analyzing, documenting, and identifying competitive play as a present-day means to satisfy the human need for competence. Second, he presents a theory of psycholudic development, i.e. a theory that explains and organizes the development of player-play relationships over the days, months, and years of evolution.