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Play Story Press is excited to release The Cultural Gutter, by Carol Borden, Ian Driscoll, Jim Munroe, James Schellenberg, Chris Szego. Science fiction, fantasy, comics, romance, genre movies, games all drain into the Cultural Gutter, a website dedicated to thoughtful articles about disreputable art—media and genres that are a little embarrassing. Irredeemable. Worthy of Note, but rolling like errant pennies back into the gutter. The Cultural Gutter is dangerous because we have a philosophy. We try to balance enthusiasm with clear-eyed, honest engagement with the material and with our readers. This book expands on our mission with 10 articles each...

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Play Story Press is excited to release Gathering of Gamers, by Matt Shoemaker. Gen Con is the largest and oldest continuously running convention that is focused on analog games. It has been an important fixture in the development of modern tabletop games not just for role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons, but also boardgames, collectible card games, miniature games, live action role-playing games, and others. Each year over 70,000 people make a pilgrimage to Indianapolis, Indiana to celebrate and play these games. Gathering of Gamers explores the convention through a year-by-year history from 1967 through 2022. The book not only...

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Play Story Press is excited to release Teacher Pioneers, edited by Caro Williams-Pierce. Teachers work with students, parents, administrators, coaches, camp counselors, education researchers, postsecondary institutions, teachers of other grades and other subjects—in short, teachers accomplish their daily miracles through collaboration by asking questions about what they don’t know and sharing what they do. This book was written by teacher pioneers to share their collaborating, their designing, and their exploring. Teacher Pioneers: Visions from the Edge of the Map

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World of Warcraft released in 2004 and quickly became both a genre and era defining game. It played a pivotal role in mainstreaming PC gaming and brought massively multiplayer online games to the masses. Though WoW reached its player peak in 2010 with an estimated 12 million subscribers, it still remains an active and resonant game for players old and new alike. WoW’s influence can still be felt across gaming to this day as countless players, streamers, and developers grew up in WoW’s online world, complete with its own distinct cultures, communities, and families. Twenty-one years after its release, WoW...

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Play Story Press is excited to release The Psychgeist of Pop Culture: Warhammer, edited by Ioannis Costas Batlle, PhD. Warhammer may be seen as a niche hobby, yet it captivates millions of fans globally. What makes it so emotionally powerful? The Psychgeist of Pop Culture: Warhammer journeys through the vast and epic Warhammer universe to reveal why there’s more to it than meets the eye. Blending insights from psychology, sociology and game studies, this book delves into tabletop gaming, miniature collecting, rich lore, and vibrant communities. Written for curious newcomers and seasoned veterans alike, gamers, painters, and lore-buffs can savour...

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Play Story Press is excited to release the Learning, Education & Games, Volumes 1-4, which were written and edited by members of the Learning, Education, and Games (LEG) special interest group of the IGDA (International Game Developers Association). The books provide research-driven best practices for using and designing games for learning; covering curricular and design, bringing games into educational contexts, and recommendations for specific games. Learning, Education & Games

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Since its premiere in 2022, Apple TV’s Severance has grown a significant following amongst fans of sci-fi psychological thrillers. The series explores a world where employees can undergo “severance,” an operation separating their memories and personalities between their “innie” work personas (their lived experience at work), and their pre-existing “outie” selves (their lived experience in their personal lives outside of work), each holding no knowledge of the actions of the other.The show has been praised for everything from its interwoven, mystery-laden plot to its cinematography and musical score, but much of Severance’s popularity comes from the show’s intentionality in setting...

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In Tracy Fullerton’s and Matthew Farber’s new book, The Well-Read Game: On Playing Thoughtfully, part of The MIT Press’ Playful Thinking series, they propose a new framework of interpretive play. This framework is a theory of player response, exploring the ephemeral and emotional responses that occur when people are in a state of play. When we play a game, we experience more than just its formal structures; we may notice its aesthetic details or connect its character to our own lives. We tell ourselves stories as we play, ask questions, and react to the game’s intent. In The Well-Read Game,...

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Play Story Press, in collaboration with the Playful Mind Project, is excited to release Play and Profit: How Purposeful Play Leads to Organizational Success, by Rona Lewis. Play belongs in the workplace—and not just in the break room. In this thought-provoking and delightfully practical guide, Rona Lewis—corporate consultant and renowned Play Instigator—demonstrates why Purposeful and Attuned Play is not child’s play, but a powerful lever for business success. Blending research from neuroscience, psychology, and organizational behavior with real-world stories and actionable tools, Play and Profit explores how play impacts key drivers of success: innovation, adaptability, stress reduction, leadership, collaboration, communication,...

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Play Story Press is excited to announce the upcoming release of Gathering of Gamers: Dungeons & Dragons and other Games through Gen Con, by Matt Shoemaker. Gen Con is the largest and oldest continuously running convention that is focused on analog games. It has been an important fixture in the development of modern tabletop games not just for role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons, but also boardgames, collectible card games, miniature games, live action role-playing games, and others. Each year over 70,000 people make a pilgrimage to Indianapolis, Indiana to celebrate and play these games. Gathering of Gamers explores the...

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