Re:Play: Game Design and Game Culture

by Amy Scholder (Editor), Eric Zimmermann (Editor)

Computer and video games are only a few decades old, but in that short time they have exploded into our culture – as high-tech playtoys, as controversial popular media, and as a major economic force. brings together game designers, new media artists, interdisciplinary curators and players in debate and conversation about technology and design, gaming addictions and geek subcultures, the aesthetics of violence, gender transgressions, the erotics of gaming, and the business of play – capturing the zeitgeist that is digital games.
User-friendly and fully illustrated, includes a comprehensive game glossary.

Genres: Game Design

268 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2003

About the author

Amy Scholder was the editorial director of the Feminist Press for six years. She has also served as editor-in-chief of Seven Stories Press, US publisher of Verso, founding co-editor of HIGH RISK Books/Serpent’s Tail, and editor at City Lights Books. Over the years, she has published the work of Sapphire, Karen Finley, June Jordan, Kate Bornstein, Kathy Acker, David Wojnarowicz, Joni Mitchell, Jill Johnson, Kate Millett, Elfriede Jelinek, Muriel Rukeyser, Laurie Weeks, Justin Vivian Bond, Virginie Despentes, Ana Castillo, and many other award-winning authors. She lives in New York and Los Angeles.

Reviews

[Jlawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of posts from video game developers and academics from a online conference in 1999, discussing various aspects of digital game design, online communities, etc. Interesting as a time capsule because now it seems like the serious study of games has been blooming for awhile, but this was at a stage where it was still an anomaly.

There's a nice balance of industry veterans - Warren Spector, Richard Garfield, Greg Costikyan, Chris Crawford, etc - and academics and more obscure multimedia artists. The developers help keep the academics from spiraling too far into the theoretical ether and the academics help the developers push beyond grousing about the industry.

Participants basically took turns posing questions (within 4 main themes) that anyone interested could answer, usually gaining 3-8 replies that are printed in the book, sometimes forming a heated discussion. The loose nature of the discussion is frustrating at times - a very interesting point can get lost in some bickering, but overall, lots of interesting stuff.