Nick Webber
Associate Professor in Media
Birmingham School of Media
- Email:
- nick.webber@bcu.ac.uk
- Phone:
- +44 (0)121 331 7280
Nick Webber is Director of the Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research (BCMCR). He joined the University in 2008, having previously worked in research development. Nick has a background in medieval history, and his research now focuses on (historical) game studies.
Areas of Expertise
- Historical Game Studies
- Game History
- Game Cultures
- Games Industry
- Cultural Policy
- Cultural History
Qualifications
- PhD Medieval History
- BA (Hons) Ancient and Medieval History
Research
Nick’s current research explores the historical practices of player and fan communities, the impact of games and virtual worlds on our understanding of the past, and the relationship between national cultural policy and video games. He is co-convener of the Historical Games Network.
Postgraduate Supervision
Nick supervises PhDs in the following areas:
- Historical Game Studies
- Game History
- Game Cultures
- Games Industry
- Cultural Policy
Publications
- Donald, I., Webber, N. and Wright, E. (2023, in press) Video Games, Historical Representation and Soft Power. Journal of Gaming and Virtual Worlds.
- Webber, N. (2023, in press) On, off and in the map: materialising game experiences through player cartography. In I. Taylor and O. Carter, eds. Media Materialities: Form, Format, and Ephemeral Meaning. Bristol: Intellect.
- Webber, N. (2023) The past as (para)text – relating histories of game experience to games as texts. In R. Seiwald and E. Vollans, eds. (NOT) in the Game: History, Paratexts, and Games. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 81-98. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110732924-005
- Stevens, C. and Webber, N. (2022) The Fan Historian. Transformative Works and Cultures, 37. https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2022.2125
- Webber, N. (2022) Game History. In P. Grabarczyk, ed., Encyclopedia of Ludic Terms (Spring 2022 Edition). https://eolt.org/articles/game-history
- Milik, O. and Webber, N. (2020) Feudal Alliances in a Hyper-Capitalist World: Power and Organization in EVE Online. Journal of Gaming and Virtual Worlds, 12(2), pp. 165-81. https://doi.org/10.1386/jgvw_00012_1
- Wall, T. and Webber, N. (2020) Rock ‘n’ Roll: Cars, Convergence and Culture. In M. Duffett and B. Peter, eds. Popular Music and Automobiles. New York/London: Bloomsbury, pp. 15-32.
- Webber, N. (2020) The Britishness of ‘British Video Games’. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 26(2), pp. 135-49. https://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2018.1448804
- Webber, N. and Stevens, C. (2020) History, Fandom and Online Game Communities. In A. von Lünen, K.J. Lewis, B. Litherland and P. Cullum, eds. Historia Ludens: The Playing Historian. New York/London: Routledge, pp. 189-203.
- Webber, N. (2019) Table Talk: Archives of Role-Playing’s Personal Pasts. Analog Game Studies, 2019 Role-Playing Game Summit Special Issue. https://analoggamestudies.org/2019/12/archives-of-role-playings-personal-pasts/
- Long, P. and Webber, N. (2019). ‘… and then there was one’. Cultural Representations of the Last British Veteran of the Great War. Journal of War and Culture Studies, 12(2), pp. 139-55. https://doi.org/10.1080/17526272.2018.1536840
- Saber, D. and Webber, N. (2017) ‘This is our Call of Duty’: hegemony, history and resistant videogames in the Middle East. Media, Culture and Society, 39(1), pp. 77-93. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443716672297
- Milik, O. and Webber, N. (2017) Barbarians at the Imperium Gates: Organizational Culture and Change in EVE Online. Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, 10(3). https://doi.org/10.4101/jvwr.v10i3.7257
- Webber, N. (2017) EVE Online’s War Correspondents: Player Journalism as History. In M. Swalwell, A. Ndalianis, and H. Stuckey, eds. Fans and Videogames: History, Fandom, Archives. New York/London: Routledge, pp. 93-110.
- Carter, M., Bergstrom, K., Webber, N. and Milik, O. (2016) EVE is Real: How conceptions of the 'real' affect and reflect an online game community. Well Played, 5(2), pp. 5-33. https://doi.org/10.1184/R1/6687041.v1
- Milik, O. and Webber, N. (2016) Selling the Imperium: Changing Organisational Culture and History in EVE Online. In J. Zagal, ed. DiGRA/FDG '16 – Proceedings of the First International Joint Conference of DiGRA and FDG, 13(1). http://www.digra.org/wp-content/uploads/digital-library/paper_69.pdf
- Wade, A. and Webber, N. (2016) A Future for Game Histories? Cogent Arts and Humanities, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2016.1212635
- Webber, N. (2016) Public History, Game Communities and Historical Knowledge. In J. Zagal, ed. DiGRA/FDG ’16 – Proceedings of the 2016 Playing With History Workshop, 13(3). http://www.digra.org/wp-content/uploads/digital-library/WEBBER_PWH1B_1AUG_LT1.pdf
- Webber, N. (2016) EVE Online as History. In M. Carter, K. Bergstrom and D. Woodford, eds. Internet Spaceships are Serious Business: An EVE Online Reader. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, pp. 189-209.
- Webber, N. (2016) ‘Pirates’ and ‘Freetards’: The Discourses and Rhetoric of Online Music Consumption. In S. Mazzucotelli Salice, ed. The Urban Gaze: Exploring Urbanity through Art, Architecture, Music, Fashion, Film and Media. Leiden: Brill, pp. 95-108. https://doi.org/10.1163/9781848884533_010
- Webber, N. and Long, P. (2015) Gaming Global: A report for British Council. https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/6270/
- Wall, T. and Webber, N. (2014) Changing Cultural Coordinates: The Transistor Radio and Space/Time/Identity. In S. Gopinath and J. Stanyek, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Mobile Music Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 118-31.
- Wall, T. and Webber, N. (2014) Personal Listening Pleasures. In M. Conboy and J. Steel, eds. The Routledge Companion to British Media History. New York/London: Routledge, pp. 539-49.
- Webber, N. (2014) Law, Culture and Massively Multiplayer Online Games. International Review of Law, Computers and Technology, 28(1), pp. 45-59. https://doi.org/10.1080/13600869.2013.869919
- Webber, N. (2014). What is Videogame History? In D. Stobbart and M. Evans, eds. Engaging with Videogames: Play, Theory and Practice. Leiden: Brill, pp. 155-67.
- Webber, N. and Long, P. (2014) The Last Post: British Press Representations of Veterans of the Great War. Media, War and Conflict, 7(3), pp. 273-90. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750635214557988
- Wall, T., Long, P. Barber, S. and Webber, N. (2013) Culture Cloud: Engaging online participants in crowd curation of the visual arts.
- Webber, N. (2013) Controlling a Sandbox. In M. Wyzocki, ed. Ctrl-Alt-Play: Essays on Control in Video Gaming. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, pp. 59-71.
- Webber, N. (2013) Technophilia and Technophobia in Online Medieval Fantasy Games. In D.T. Kline, ed. Digital Gaming Re-imagines the Middle Ages. New York and London: Routledge, pp. 214-26.
- Webber, N. (2013) Grief Play, Deviance and the Practice of Culture. In N. Webber and D. Riha, eds. Exploring Videogames: Culture, Design and Identity. Leiden: Brill, pp. 155-165. https://doi.org/10.1163/9781848882409_017
- Webber, N. and Riha, D., eds. (2013) Exploring Videogames: Culture, Design and Identity. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9781848882409
- Webber, N. (2012) Why walk when you can teleport? Themes of travel in online roleplaying games. Academic Quarter | Akademisk Kvarter, 4, pp. 276-90. https://doi.org/10.5278/ojs.academicquarter.v0i04.3296
- Webber, N. (2012) Discourses of Departure in Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games (MMORPGs). In A.L. Brackin and N. Guyot, eds. Cultural Perspectives of Video Games: From Designer to Player. Leiden: Brill, pp. 55-68. https://doi.org/10.1163/9781848881617_007
- Webber, N. (2011) Radio. In D. Southerton, ed. The Encyclopedia of Consumer Culture. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp. 1193-1195. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412994248
- Webber, N. (2008) England and the Norman Myth. In J. Barrow and A. Wareham, eds. Myth, Rulership, Church and Charters. Aldershot: Ashgate, pp. 211-228. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315248448
- Webber, N. (2005) The Evolution of Norman Identity, c.911-1154. Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer.