Not seen anything on this forum about the book, so thought I'd give a head's up even though it's fairly old now.
From the author's site http://tomchatfield.net
Reader review
Print publications about games and technology seem like a backwards step. Once words are converted to print they become immediately historic. How can a book about games tell us anything that can't be found on newer media like YouTube videos, or blogs? Well, the answer is simple. Tom Chatfield, the author of a new(ish) book about our greatest past-time, besides picking our feet, gets straight to the point with rule number one of the writer's code: Know Your Audience.
The primary audience isn't really us, it's our friends, relatives and elderly neighbours who look down at their noses as they see us with a bright purple plastic bag hanging from our hand. You know the ones, those that you're stuck in perpetual merry-go-round debates with, those that get angry when you make a point, those that just WON'T listen, those that HAVE to be RIGHT! Yeh, we've all encountered those people. However, that doesn't mean Fun Inc has nothing to teach us, in fact it taught me a lot, and I'm a fairly seasoned video gamer. The gamers need to read this as much as the sceptics. It WILL improve your arguments, as the bigger picture unravels with each page turn. I know I've made it sound a lot like a self-help book for Dungeons and Dragons addicts but trust me, it isn't. It's completely non-obligational.
So what is it then? Well, essentially it's a philosophical and sociological book. No, don't stop reading! It's a chronicle of video games from a viewpoint that rarely makes it out of the gaming community. It's about the role of video games in modern culture, our use of them as educational and training tools, our reliance on them to find, connect with, and keep in contact with others, sharing information and interacting socially. In this book about the technological marvels of our time, the technology itself is barely mentioned. It just isn't that important, really.
Chatfield is a people person, our uses, abuses and musings of video games say everything about us as a society. The technology has, and always will, just help us realise our dreams and fantasies. But it's just a mediator, what's important is people. With this in mind, the book covers all aspects of human culture relating each part to a video gaming marvel. We have videogames as art (hello Flower!), we have videogames in schools (Brain Training and America's Army are two of the many examples listed), we have videogames as charity work, videogames as CV bolsters, videogames as matchmakers. The list goes on.
Within 250 pages Chatfield manages to cover: the history of video games, political issues, censorship, business models, social sciences, psychological addiction, games in the media, technological adoption and philosophy. It really is a whistle-stop tour, but it covers all bases in just enough depth to make them worthwile. There is also much name-dropping in the form of recognisable titles that made me smile and my eyes glaze over.
The avid gamer will know a lot of the examples mentioned in the book, but there are some surprises hidden in there that will make you head straight to your nearest search engine. Also, the many philosophical and social points mentioned would never have been made aware to me had someone not tied it all together. Who would have thought Hinduism, dopamine, 19th Century german thinkers and TripAdvisor would find their way into a book about gaming? It's not as tenuous as it seems.
For us gamers it gives us optimism as our much maligned and misunderstood hobby gets such reverent and respectful treatment, it's something I'm not used to seeing much.
For those unconvinced by the dawn of videogaming it offers competent, 'real-world' arguments.
Lastly, if you're like me and haven't read anything 'proper' in a while I urge you to pick this up, read it, then pass it on to your friends and relatives. I presented one excellent chapter about the adoption of new media to a nay-saying friend of mine (unfortunately the ability to reprint a paragraph here is long and laborious due to the publisher's copyright rules), who after watching me play GTA IV launched into a diatribe about violent games breeding violent behaviour. Admittedly I had just stolen a car and had (accidentally) run over the owner's foot as I reversed it out of a traffic jam. He was taken aback and he had to think for a while. For the first time he was stumped, but after a while he had gathered his thoughts and on it went.
And this is what this book is all about, the discussion of such topics. The more we talk about it, the more we debate and the better we argue, the better our understanding of this world will eventually become.
Synopsis said:
About the Author said:
From the author's site http://tomchatfield.net
Critic reviews from Amazon said:
Reader review
Print publications about games and technology seem like a backwards step. Once words are converted to print they become immediately historic. How can a book about games tell us anything that can't be found on newer media like YouTube videos, or blogs? Well, the answer is simple. Tom Chatfield, the author of a new(ish) book about our greatest past-time, besides picking our feet, gets straight to the point with rule number one of the writer's code: Know Your Audience.
The primary audience isn't really us, it's our friends, relatives and elderly neighbours who look down at their noses as they see us with a bright purple plastic bag hanging from our hand. You know the ones, those that you're stuck in perpetual merry-go-round debates with, those that get angry when you make a point, those that just WON'T listen, those that HAVE to be RIGHT! Yeh, we've all encountered those people. However, that doesn't mean Fun Inc has nothing to teach us, in fact it taught me a lot, and I'm a fairly seasoned video gamer. The gamers need to read this as much as the sceptics. It WILL improve your arguments, as the bigger picture unravels with each page turn. I know I've made it sound a lot like a self-help book for Dungeons and Dragons addicts but trust me, it isn't. It's completely non-obligational.
So what is it then? Well, essentially it's a philosophical and sociological book. No, don't stop reading! It's a chronicle of video games from a viewpoint that rarely makes it out of the gaming community. It's about the role of video games in modern culture, our use of them as educational and training tools, our reliance on them to find, connect with, and keep in contact with others, sharing information and interacting socially. In this book about the technological marvels of our time, the technology itself is barely mentioned. It just isn't that important, really.
Chatfield is a people person, our uses, abuses and musings of video games say everything about us as a society. The technology has, and always will, just help us realise our dreams and fantasies. But it's just a mediator, what's important is people. With this in mind, the book covers all aspects of human culture relating each part to a video gaming marvel. We have videogames as art (hello Flower!), we have videogames in schools (Brain Training and America's Army are two of the many examples listed), we have videogames as charity work, videogames as CV bolsters, videogames as matchmakers. The list goes on.
Within 250 pages Chatfield manages to cover: the history of video games, political issues, censorship, business models, social sciences, psychological addiction, games in the media, technological adoption and philosophy. It really is a whistle-stop tour, but it covers all bases in just enough depth to make them worthwile. There is also much name-dropping in the form of recognisable titles that made me smile and my eyes glaze over.
The avid gamer will know a lot of the examples mentioned in the book, but there are some surprises hidden in there that will make you head straight to your nearest search engine. Also, the many philosophical and social points mentioned would never have been made aware to me had someone not tied it all together. Who would have thought Hinduism, dopamine, 19th Century german thinkers and TripAdvisor would find their way into a book about gaming? It's not as tenuous as it seems.
For us gamers it gives us optimism as our much maligned and misunderstood hobby gets such reverent and respectful treatment, it's something I'm not used to seeing much.
For those unconvinced by the dawn of videogaming it offers competent, 'real-world' arguments.
Lastly, if you're like me and haven't read anything 'proper' in a while I urge you to pick this up, read it, then pass it on to your friends and relatives. I presented one excellent chapter about the adoption of new media to a nay-saying friend of mine (unfortunately the ability to reprint a paragraph here is long and laborious due to the publisher's copyright rules), who after watching me play GTA IV launched into a diatribe about violent games breeding violent behaviour. Admittedly I had just stolen a car and had (accidentally) run over the owner's foot as I reversed it out of a traffic jam. He was taken aback and he had to think for a while. For the first time he was stumped, but after a while he had gathered his thoughts and on it went.
And this is what this book is all about, the discussion of such topics. The more we talk about it, the more we debate and the better we argue, the better our understanding of this world will eventually become.