Playing along

Why don't Guitar Hero players just pick up real guitars? What happens when millions of people play the role of a young black gang member in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas? How are YouTube-ased music lessons changing the nature of amateur musicianship? This book is about play, performance, and participatory culture in the digital age. The author shows how video games and social media are bridging virtual and visceral experience, creating dispersed communities who forge meaningful connections by "playing along" with popular culture. This book reveals how digital media are brought to bear in the…