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13th out of 19 books
—
41 voters
My rating:
add to my books
This Is Not a Game (Dagmar #1)
Once upon a time, there were four of them. And though each was good at a number of things, all of them were very good at games...
Dagmar is a game designer trapped in Jakarta in the middle of a revolution. The city is tearing itself apart around her and she needs to get out.
Her boss Charlie has his own problems -- 4.3 billion of them, to be precise, hidden in an off-shore...more
Dagmar is a game designer trapped in Jakarta in the middle of a revolution. The city is tearing itself apart around her and she needs to get out.
Her boss Charlie has his own problems -- 4.3 billion of them, to be precise, hidden in an off-shore...more
Hardcover, 369 pages
Published
March 24th 2009
by Orbit
(first published March 5th 2009)
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This is the first Walter Jon Williams book I've read. I picked it up at a passenger terminal in Afghanistan somewhere because I had finished the book I was reading and didn't have anything to read and this looked interesting. Rest assured it won't be the last.
A complex tale involving a specific type of video game called an alternate reality game (ARG). An ARG is a game that blurs the line between a fictional reality and our own 'real' reality. In an ARG, characters from the game will...more
A complex tale involving a specific type of video game called an alternate reality game (ARG). An ARG is a game that blurs the line between a fictional reality and our own 'real' reality. In an ARG, characters from the game will...more
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Great new story from Walter Jon Williams involving four role-playing game players who meet in college. One goes on to be a successful entrepreneur, one becomes a venture capitalist, one a game designer, and one a bitter burnout. The story revolves around the games they create for a living and what happens when one of them is unexpectedly murdered.
The thing I liked about this story most is that it blurred the lines between fantasy and reality. The games produced in this book involve rea...more
The thing I liked about this story most is that it blurred the lines between fantasy and reality. The games produced in this book involve rea...more
I was involved in the XBOX 360 ARG the year before the release. I know some what of this gaming style. I find it fascinating and highly marketable.
Walter Jon Williams is know for his high-tech "cyberpunk" novels. This is not one of those novels. Which I found very nice. Call it a techno-thriller or whatever, but it was a good read.
The only complaint was the plot became a little transparent by the end of the story. Though it didn't detract from the read. I foun...more
Walter Jon Williams is know for his high-tech "cyberpunk" novels. This is not one of those novels. Which I found very nice. Call it a techno-thriller or whatever, but it was a good read.
The only complaint was the plot became a little transparent by the end of the story. Though it didn't detract from the read. I foun...more
This Is Not A Game by Walter Jon Williams was a book that I thoroughly enjoyed and one which I will continue to explore, as there are more books in the series. Exploring the experiences of Dagmar, a young woman employed by a video game company, it is more than a good read, but really encourages us to explore the role that social media plays in our lives, and how we are affected by it.
The first story in the book, as there are several, takes place at the very beginning, as Dagmar is t...more
The first story in the book, as there are several, takes place at the very beginning, as Dagmar is t...more
This was a fast, engaging read that, I thought, got internet culture mostly right (although I haven't played any Alternate Reality games, so I can't speak to that aspect). I had trouble putting it down. There was insufficient denouement, but on the other hand, it had more of a wrap-up than most Neal Stephenson books have. Unfortunately, a major plot point hinged on a completely ridiculous premise - that when you have a list of many thousands of items, and you have a program that acts on one o...more
Alan
rated it
Recommends it for:
Gamers, gamines and anyone who's game for a fast-paced story
Recommended to Alan by:
Charles Stross, inter alia
This Is Not An Average Novel
An intense near-future thriller that merges live-action role playing games with a realistic high-tech plot—this is one SF mystery that really works. Published almost simultaneously with Charles Stross' similar Halting State, it shares a number of general plot points—the intersection of online life, role-playing, with so-called "meatspace," in particular—but goes in a radically different direction.
This Is Not A One-Note Book
...more
An intense near-future thriller that merges live-action role playing games with a realistic high-tech plot—this is one SF mystery that really works. Published almost simultaneously with Charles Stross' similar Halting State, it shares a number of general plot points—the intersection of online life, role-playing, with so-called "meatspace," in particular—but goes in a radically different direction.
This Is Not A One-Note Book
...more
I've never been into fiction about ARGs (alternative reality games) or indeed the games themselves. I blame Michael Douglas, my least favorite actor ever.
But I've liked Williams' other books, particularly Metropolitan, so I gave it a shot. C read it before I did, and was quite enthusiastic, too.
Having just finished, I find myself melancholy. The story ends on that sort of note, and as with the whole book, I found myself carried along the emotions of the narrative.
As...more
But I've liked Williams' other books, particularly Metropolitan, so I gave it a shot. C read it before I did, and was quite enthusiastic, too.
Having just finished, I find myself melancholy. The story ends on that sort of note, and as with the whole book, I found myself carried along the emotions of the narrative.
As...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Bonnie
rated it
Recommends it for:
gamers!
Shelves:
destruction,
economics,
fiction,
gaming,
mystery,
page-turner,
realistic-fiction,
science-fiction,
strong-heroine,
los-angeles,
wla-2011
When Dagmar lands in Jakarta, she finds her connecting flight has been canceled... along with every other flight out of the country. The currency is under attack and a revolution is underway. Luckily, Dagmar is the major producer/writer for Great Big Idea, a company that specialized in creating ARGs: alternate reality games. Her boss is a multimillionaire and he's determined to get Dagmar out of the country and back to safety, where she can start writing the next big game. When some of the m...more
If I could do half stars, I might make this a 3 1/2 star review rather than three stars. It's a great story and terrifically paced until about 3/4s of the way through -- where the reveal just seems like it comes too early and then the resolution is rather anti-climactic considering what is really at stake. You never really get a sense of the impending catastrophe on an emotional level.
That said, I was completely entertained for most of the story. Originally I thought this would be a bi...more
That said, I was completely entertained for most of the story. Originally I thought this would be a bi...more
Although a good story about computers and gamers, written evidently by someone who either did their research in a very in-depth manner or who themselves would have to be a deep computer user and gamer its a good book.
The action, suspense and plot twists work well, the tech side comes across as believable and the characters are believable and not stereotypes.
That said, the story is just barely science fiction. It has exactly two minor concepts that you need to accept in regard...more
The action, suspense and plot twists work well, the tech side comes across as believable and the characters are believable and not stereotypes.
That said, the story is just barely science fiction. It has exactly two minor concepts that you need to accept in regard...more
By page 60 I knew that my interest, which had waned earlier, wasn't coming back. I don't know maybe I'm too old or the wrong generation for this book. Told from points of view varying from "Dagmar" (our game designer protagonist) to the people "back at the office" and of course, the people on the internet the story wanders along seemingly searching for a conspiracy to be part of. With the danger and threats of the real world closing in around her and her survival in question ...more
Rene Magritte painting: “This is not a pipe”
It’s actually a painting of a pipe.
Alternate Reality Gaming (ARG) term, TINAG: “This Is Not A Game”
It’s really a game, but to play you act like it isn’t.
Walter John Williams book “This is Not a Game”
It’s a good book, but it isn’t science fiction.
It’s in the sf sections of the bookstore and library, it’s written by an sf writer, and it takes place in the near future, but it’s really a murder myste...more
It’s actually a painting of a pipe.
Alternate Reality Gaming (ARG) term, TINAG: “This Is Not A Game”
It’s really a game, but to play you act like it isn’t.
Walter John Williams book “This is Not a Game”
It’s a good book, but it isn’t science fiction.
It’s in the sf sections of the bookstore and library, it’s written by an sf writer, and it takes place in the near future, but it’s really a murder myste...more
This is science fiction, but barely - it takes place in a future that is just around the corner. At first I thought this would be a collapse-of-civilization tale, as it opens with Jakarta falling into utter chaos as Indonesia's currency mysteriously collapses. It reminded me of Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl, which also takes place in a future Indonesia - but then the reader follows our American heroine Dagmar back to her home base in the San Fernando Valley, and this turns into a not-quit...more
It's pretty wonderful to read a book that's set in MY world. The center of the story is an Alternate Reality Game, or ARG, and many of the characters are gamers. Some of the story takes place in forum posts from the internet, and the general milieu is one of very smart, tech-savvy gamers. While I'm not JUST a gamer, it's really cool to read a major novel that's very familiar with things I like; D&D, online gaming, and internet culture. It feels like the author gets the milieu, too, so it's fairl...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This Is Not a Game is a high octane thriller that involves gaming, the global economy and four people who were close friends in college and their connections with one another. I think that anyone who’s into gaming would like this. The first part of it really sucked me in. Dagmar, the “puppetmaster” for Great Big Ideas gets stuck in Indonesia as the currency crashes and looting and violence take over the streets. When it appears that the strike force her boss has hired to extricate her from Indon...more
...If you enjoy a good (techno) thriller this book is as good as it gets. Events frequently outpace the main character keep her, and to an extend the reader, off balance. Williams captures the paranoia, desperations and frustration of the main character very well, without making her completely helpless. Dagmar is used to being in control of the game, when she eventually cuts the strings that move her the result in interesting, unexpected even. In short, I thought This Is Not a Game was a very en...more
Okay book, but only those fluent in internet, games, and memes are likely to get a lot of the references or really feel the premise of a multiplayer game crossing into reality has any validity. The beginning is promising and enticing, then the middle of the book slows down to fill in the backstory to the actual plot: the relationship between the four old friends as it works out in the present-day corporate structures and financial catastrophes that are sweeping the world. Towards the end, it see...more
I love most of WJW novels and some like Aristoi, Metropolitan, City on Fire are among my top sff books, with Dread Empire and Implied Spaces close also, but sadly this one should be entitled "Not a Novel"
I fast plowed through it to see if it has anything of interest to me; it was just unreadable and boring - artificial, could not connect with the characters or the setting, seemed just a "game" so to speak, not "real"
A while ago I would have ...more
I fast plowed through it to see if it has anything of interest to me; it was just unreadable and boring - artificial, could not connect with the characters or the setting, seemed just a "game" so to speak, not "real"
A while ago I would have ...more
I've never read Mr Williams before, but the subject matter was too intriguing to pass up. I've found myself thinking about the ever-thinning boundaries between reality and construct. Since the advent of Photoshop, no one can truly believe the images they see. In a setup like this, anonymous strangers suspending reality and eagerly tackling puzzles and quests dictated by characters reading from a script, how would you know when the game has been compromised by reality? This book handled the subje...more
This was great! Real world, bots, net gaming, social networking, murder, Russian mafya, national economies attacked, this book ties them all together. It started off kind of slow and odd, with the main character in a 3rd world country that was collapsing. But once she got back to LA, the main story took off. The ending was a bit rushed, imo. Basically, an overlapping and intertwining of the real world and the networld. It was a cool ride. However, due to the slow start and rushed, almost simplis...more
This Is Not A Game by Walter Jon Williams, is a novel of greed, betrayal, and social networking, as clearly seen on the cover of the book. It's not just that though, its a mystery of who killed who. We start of our book with Dagmar, our main protagonist, who is a game designer trapped in Jakarta, Indonesia in a government and economic crash. Her boss Charlie, is having some problems with money, in fact she has 4.3 billion in an account. The vice president of the company, Austin is trying to keep...more
It's an entertaining romp through the world of the ARG. Likeable characters, interesting situations, but there are points where the plot goes 'whu?' and you wonder why stuff is taking so long. Bit like in Harry Potter and the Endless Camping, where H, R & H spend *weeks* bumming around in tents rather than, you know, doing something useful. That said, I quite enjoyed it, polished it off in a couple of days. If you want a really good book (or books) on games, look no further than Larry Niven & S...more
This book would fit in the genre that Clancy or Grisham fall in. Classified as Science Fiction presumably because Williams is a SF writer, but it is not SF.
If I had been the editor, I would have advised to eliminate the first part of the book. It wasn't bad, it just read as a novella, having ended and then the book started.
In summary, it was hard to put down.
Instead of a virtual game, the company ran a game that had real world portions. Because of some unusual...more
If I had been the editor, I would have advised to eliminate the first part of the book. It wasn't bad, it just read as a novella, having ended and then the book started.
In summary, it was hard to put down.
Instead of a virtual game, the company ran a game that had real world portions. Because of some unusual...more
In general I'm a fan of Walter Jon Williams, but This is Not a Game left me feeling disappointed. The story is strongest at the beginning, as the main character, Dagmar, attempts to escape her hotel room in Jakarta after the civilian government has collapsed. Her alternating fear and boredom feel very real, and the trickle of information available from brief phone calls and limited internet access adds to the tension.
After escaping Jakarta, the story never regains the tension and excit...more
After escaping Jakarta, the story never regains the tension and excit...more
‘This Is Not A Game’ explores the extent to which online gaming and, as a by-product, social networking can be exploited to serve an individuals interest. Collectively controlled by a puppet master, participants of games that routinely blur the line between fact and fiction are caught up in a complex web of mystery and intrigue as they seek the killer of Big Game Ideas founding member, Charlie. The protagonist, Dagmar, essentially a second-in-command figure at Big Game Ideas, went to college wit...more
The first third of this book seemed like it may have been a novelette published in an SF magazine, and then re-purposed as the jumping-off point for this novel. That isn't a huge complaint; just an observation that this book seems to have two very definite "acts". The latter "act" is the more compelling because the plot is more twisty and devious: this is a tech-based intrigue story in which our heroine is trying to solve murders, save the world economy, run a huge real-tim...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This is not science fiction.
Well, it might have been when it was published - in 2008 - but I'm fairly sure that the requisite technology actually exists in the real world, now, to make everything (except maybe for the twist, but I'm not sure) actually work.
Dagmar Shaw's job is writing ARGs - massively multi-player games where players access information etc on the web, but sometimes partake in real-world and real-time events, too. It's all about puzzle-solving and cross-refere...more
Well, it might have been when it was published - in 2008 - but I'm fairly sure that the requisite technology actually exists in the real world, now, to make everything (except maybe for the twist, but I'm not sure) actually work.
Dagmar Shaw's job is writing ARGs - massively multi-player games where players access information etc on the web, but sometimes partake in real-world and real-time events, too. It's all about puzzle-solving and cross-refere...more
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| Top of Utah Dinne...: This Is Not a Game | 10 | 6 | Sep 20, 2011 08:37am |
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Walter Jon Williams has published twenty novels and short fiction collections. Most are science fiction or fantasy -Hardwired, Voice of the Whirlwind, Aristoi, Metropolitan, City on Fire to name just a few - a few are historical adventures, and the most recent, The Rift, is a disaster novel in which "I just basically pound a part of the planet down to bedrock." And that's just the openin...more
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