Play helps define who we are as human beings. However, many of the leisurely/ludic activities people participate in are created and governed by corporate entities with social, political, and business agendas. As such, it is critical that scholars understand and explicate the ideological underpinnings of played-through experiences and how they affect the player/performers who engage in them. This book explores how people play and why their play matters, with a particular interest in how ludic experiences are often constructed and controlled by the interests of institutions, including corporations, non-profit organizations, government agencies, religious organizations, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Each chapter explores diverse sites of play. From theme parks to comic conventions to massively-multiplayer online games, they probe what roles the designers of these experiences construct for players, and how such play might affect participants' identities and ideologies. Scholars of performance studies, leisure studies, media studies and sociology will find this book an essential reference when studying facets of play.

Audience, mixed methods, audience development, spectatorship

Qualitative Research: Analyzing Life, Second Edition presents a fresh approach to teaching and learning qualitative methods for social inquiry-one that focuses on analysis from the very beginning of the text. By exploring qualitative research through a unique analytic lens, then cumulatively elaborating on methods in each successive chapter, this innovative work cultivates a skill set and literacy base that prepares readers to work strategically with empirical materials in their own fieldwork. Johnny Saldana and Matt Omasta combine clear, accessible writing and analytic insight to show that analysis, in its broadest sense, is a process undertaken throughout the entire research experience. The Second Edition provides a number of updates including more on digital materials and methods, including sentiment analysis of social media data, and ethics in social media research. Resources for instructors and students are available on a website to accompany the book.

Play helps define who we are as human beings. However, many of the leisurely/ludic activities people participate in are created and governed by corporate entities with social, political, and business agendas. As such, it is critical that scholars understand and explicate the ideological underpinnings of played-through experiences and how they affect the player/performers who engage in them. This book explores how people play and why their play matters, with a particular interest in how ludic experiences are often constructed and controlled by the interests of institutions, including corporations, non-profit organizations, government agencies, religious organizations, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Each chapter explores diverse sites of play. From theme parks to comic conventions to massively-multiplayer online games, they probe what roles the designers of these experiences construct for players, and how such play might affect participants' identities and ideologies. Scholars of performance studies, leisure studies, media studies and sociology will find this book an essential reference when studying facets of play.