PART I: FRAMING THE GAME 1. The Definition Game Tracing the MMORPG genre’s roots 2. The Many Faces of Play Ludic vs. Representational role-playing Problematizing Social Play 3. The Contracts of Play Playing on a License 4. Play and/as Participation Participation as Exploitation? 5. Battlefields of Negotiation PART II: CONTROLLING THE GAME 6. The Setup of Play Network Play Playing Machines Configuring Play 7. The rules of play Designing Play Designing cooperation Facing the other 8. Playing with fiction Representing Azeroth The space of play Stuck in time PART III: GAMING THE GAME 9. It’s about time Paratexts as cheating tools From emergence to progression Hyperproductive demystification 10. Twinking, or playing another game The luxury of twinking Going for the easy kill A game within a game 11. Playing the interface Mods as social surveillance tools Controlling code through theorycrafting Exposing the inside PART IV: CLAIMING THE GAME 12. Virtual thievery Play, work or crime The power of small print Part of the game? 13. Performing on the edge of rules and fiction Our story, your story Looking the other way. Exploration or Exploitation 14. The fragmented and the multiple Community control, controlling community With great power comes great responsibility Playing identity and community CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY