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Asia Pacific Perspectives Vol. 12 No. 2, Spring/Summer 2014, University Of San Francisco

Asia Pacific Perspectives

Contents:

What's in a Game? Transmedia Storytelling and the Web-Game Genre of Online Chinese Popular Fiction by Heather Inwood

This paper uses a genre of online Chinese popular fiction known as Web-Game fiction as an entry point for exploring the influence of Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) on linear narrative fiction. By offering a thick description of MMORPG gameplay and of gamers’ movements between online and offline worlds, Web-Game fiction narrates and “deinteractivates” the subjective experiences of players as they progress through the levels of online role-playing games. This essay proposes that the genre offers an alternative perspective …

Asia Pacific Perspectives Vol. 12 No. 1 Fall/Winter 2013-2014, University Of San Francisco

Asia Pacific Perspectives

Contents:

Editor's Introduction by Melissa Dale

Empress Meisho (1623-96) and Cultural Pursuits at the Japanese Imperial Court by Elizabeth Lillehoj

In 1629, a seven-year-old girl was selected as Japan’s Empress Regnant. Known as Empress Meishō, she was the daughter of the current emperor and, on her mother’s side, she was the great-granddaughter of the founder of the Tokugawa warrior government. Although scant scholarly attention has been paid to Meishō, surviving documents and artifacts reveal that she participated in a rich material culture at the Japanese imperial court. Extant sources tell of her engagement with art works, entertainments and diversions, particularly …