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1st out of 9 books
—
2 voters
How to Do Things with Videogames
by
Ian Bogost
In recent years, computer games have moved from the margins of popular culture to its center. Reviews of new games and profiles of game designers now regularly appear in the New York Times and the New Yorker, and sales figures for games are reported alongside those of books, music, and movies. They are increasingly used for purposes other than entertainment, yet debates ab...more
Paperback, 192 pages
Published
August 5th 2011
by Univ Of Minnesota Press
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An interesting look at the possible uses for video games, Bogost considers a variety of topics ranging from the mundane to the shocking. Of particular interest to me was the chapter on Reverence in which he considers the reaction of the church to the use of Manchester Cathedral in the game Resistance: The Fall of Man. Despite the free branding and the accessibility of a worldwide audience being able to view the church, the clergy was unhappy with the structure being used in a violent video game....more
Context for this Review
For money, I work as a liaison between Information Technology and not-so-stereotypically luddite college faculty. It is my job to translate how and what IT folks say about college services and technical issues into language anyone can understand. As a Sociologist-in-training, I have found this work valuable but amazingly frustrating at times. How can you explain, in 30 seconds or less, to someone who doesn’t want to know, why a digital movie file’s compression corresponds...more
For money, I work as a liaison between Information Technology and not-so-stereotypically luddite college faculty. It is my job to translate how and what IT folks say about college services and technical issues into language anyone can understand. As a Sociologist-in-training, I have found this work valuable but amazingly frustrating at times. How can you explain, in 30 seconds or less, to someone who doesn’t want to know, why a digital movie file’s compression corresponds...more
While this is not my favorite book about video games, this is one I finished reading, closed the book and said "finally, a book about games written by a person who actually KNOWS of games". This is not the kind of book I would recommend for gamers. Instead, this is the kind of book I would recommend for people who still think that video games are for children. It is well known that this is far from true since a long time ago, so it's refreshing to see that there are people who actually take game...more
Here is what drives me nuts about the larger, academic conversation about games: incestuous anecdotes are provided to support a position and/ or authors grapple for territory by introducing new terminology - even when the old terminology will do. While Bogost has done a lot for the ongoing discussions and heightened academic attention afforded games, I often find that he does more to derail raising the level of conversation out of a laundry list of games that exemplify his argument; here, that a...more
Bogost's book provides a great, interesting introductory examination of the many different kind of things that can be and have been done with videogames now that they're breaking out of their stigmatized shell.
Short illustrative chapters center around various themes, & ultimately broadened my own understanding of the media. Info is presented with little critical assessment or moral judgment on Bogost's part, though he does point to many references outside the book that dish that sort of dirt...more
Short illustrative chapters center around various themes, & ultimately broadened my own understanding of the media. Info is presented with little critical assessment or moral judgment on Bogost's part, though he does point to many references outside the book that dish that sort of dirt...more
Enjoyed this, though it really ought to have been called something like ‘What Games Do and How They Do It’. For the most part it’s more descriptive than it is prescriptive, which is fine: Bogost is a smart and engaging writer willing to take on most common videogame criticisms while adding a few of his own to the mix. I was surprised to see that while Bogost is still perhaps most famous for labelling gamification as ‘bullshit’, a great many of the games written about here are what might be calle...more
El medio de los videojuegos tiene mucho más potencial que solo entretener, y Bogost da un buen de ejemplos de juegos existentes que ofrecen experiencias diferentes. En general esta bien interesante, pero muchos de los ejemplos son simples experimentos o pruebas de poco alcance, pero bueno, el medio es joven y apenas reconocido, y aún hay un buen de cosas por descubrir y explorar. Woo!
This book explores the aesthetics of video games. There isn't much of an overarching point - it's a collection of essays examining the various roles video games have filled. Each essay is interesting in itself, and the whole book feels like a compilation of a column that unfortunately never ran. However, there's not a lot pulling the reader through the book. That, and Bogost's dry writing make it a hard one to want to pick up. I did find it worth the effort though, as the book is filled with fas...more
This is a perfect, sensible exploration of what games have to offer to every facet of daily life. It is accessible to people with no experience with videogames, but brilliant enough to offer insights to someone who has studied games for years.
An interesting read - I just wish Bogost wove more of a narrative throughout the book, the chapters often feel like isolated essays written without any of the others in mind. Maybe that was his point.
This book is worth checking out for the Gameography alone, though.
This book is worth checking out for the Gameography alone, though.
Very useful for someone like me, who's including specific videogames in a larger academic project on popular culture. I don't know how it would read for someone who's really thought through their ideas on videogames.
Intriguing, although somewhat self-promotional at times. Bogost's view of video games as just another form of media allows him to analyze them in new ways. However, sometimes a game is just a game.
This short and easy book hits on a number of interesting ideas relating to what videogames can do for their players. Good to read for inspiration, it is sadly lacking in depth. I will check out Bogost's other work, but this book disappointed me somewhat with its lightness.
May 18, 2013
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Apr 07, 2013 07:21pm