Includes bibliographical references and index

Introduction : for whom the love works in video game production? -- The unequal ludopolitical regime of game production : who can play, who has to work? -- The end of the garage studio as a technomasculine space : financial security, streamlined creativity, and signs of friction -- Gaming the city : how a game studio revitalized a downtown space in the Silicon Prairie -- The production of communicative developers in the affective game studio -- Reproducing technomasculinity : spouses' classed femininities and domestic labor -- Game testers as precarious second-class citizens : degradation of fun, instrumentalization of play -- Production error : layoffs hit the core creatives -- Conclusion : reimagining labor and love in and beyond game production