Grasping for the Wind

Book Review: This Gaming Life by Jim Rossignol

* Genre: Nonfiction, Video Games
* ISBN: 0472116355
* ISBN-13: 9780472116355
* Format: Hardcover, 224pp
* Publisher: digitalculturebooks
* Pub. Date: May 2008
* Author Blog

The thesis of Jim Rossignol's This Gaming Life boils down to one sentence, "games are an antidote to boredom, and excellent cure for a seriously debilitating malaise." (p.29) Rossignol then goes to undermine this very thesis by pointing out all the ways that games can change our lives for the better.

The book is broken into three major sections, cordoned off by the names of three major cities in the gaming world, "London", :"Seoul", "Reykjavik", the final and fourth being a conclusion titled simply "Home". Rossignol uses each section to explore some aspect of gaming culture; things that are unique to or began in these areas, but that are spreading elsewhere in small trickles.

In the section titled "London", Rossignol explores how games self-propagate, using a personal example as the primary story. Rossignol lost a job as a journalist on a financial newspaper, because he was obsessed with the video game Quake. But through some creativity and a stroke of luck, he was able to turn this obsession into a job writing for Wired, the BBC, and PC Gamer among other publications. He also explores how gamers have become game designers, turning their passion into a career.

The second section, "Seoul", looks at the unique gaming culture of South Korea, where gamers gather together, much like we do at Starbucks in the Western world, but instead of talking, they play video games. These gaming "baangs" as they are called, are communities, entire social groups centered on games. But not in a geeky way. Apparently the entire country sees gaming as a professional sport, and the games are televised and sponsors pay for gamers to wear their logos, much like in NASCAR. Starcraft has become the number one most watched sport in S. Korea, strange as it may seem. This is an interesting and unique type of gaming, and this section is worthwhile to read just for its unusual nature.

The final key section, "Reykjavik" moves from the social communities that require physical proximity, to the virtual communities produced by video games such as EVE Online and World of Warcraft. Rossignol explores how games played over the Internet in real time are creating entire communities, allowing people to add to them through MODS or simple creativity, are creating communities outside of the game itself.

All if this ends up being very fascinating, and as a book about gaming culture, This Gaming Life is excellent. But as far as supporting his original thesis, that games are good simply because they alleviate boredom, the book falls apart. All of the good things that Rossignol points out are usually products of the game, but are results outside of the game itself, even when most of the action takes place inside the game. Meaning, that if Rossignol wants to make the case that video games are good because they alleviate boredom, he cannot point to the good things that games are doing outside of the game.

Besides, is the alleviation of boredom such a noble goal? Rossignol assumes that his readers will think that it is. But in truth, boredom is symptomatic of deeper issues, such as a lack of interest, or an interest in too many things, information overload, too much leisure time, and our post modern culture's lack of purpose. This Gaming Life shows how many people are finding purpose in games, not to alleviate boredom per se, although it does that to a point, but rather that it fulfills the deep need people have for purpose.

Essentially, Rossignol is on the right track, he just didn't dig deeply enough into the hu8man psyche. He saw alleviation of a symptom as games highest and best use. But what if games give people purpose, as it seems to have done in Rossignol's own life.

Rossignol can be a witty writer, and This Gaming Life is entertaining to read. It is a good entry book for those trying to understand the culture of gaming and useful for its analysis of some the anecdotal evidence for the effect of gaming in the lives of people. The book falls short in actually making an argument for its thesis, and so as an apologetic for gaming as an art form, it needs more development. Rossignol is too much of a gamer to look at it objectively. He sometimes makes some valuable insights, especially when he discusses the future of social gaming like EVE Online and World of Warcraft, but he is too much in love with the medium to really assess it clearly.

This Gaming Life is a worthwhile read for those who want a good overview of some gaming history, gaming culture, and some nebulous predictions about the future of gaming. I found it enjoyable and interesting, but not convincing.

This is Genius Book Marketing

According to the Guardian, Charlie Hidgson, author of the "Young Bond" books for young adults, has created a computer game that ties into his books. Kids are not just encouraged, but are forced to read his books in order to play the game. Says Hidgson in his defense of this idea ""Kids can get as engrossed in a football magazine as they can in a history book or novel. We shouldn't be dismissive of other forms of literature - I used to read tons of comic books when I was a kid."

Good point, and genius marketing.

After all, if the old Wheel of Time video game had integrated better with the books, building on knowledge gleaned from reading them rather than being a separate story, they would have been much better. What if the popular Lord of the Rings games from Electronic Arts had not just let you play through the story, but had in fact used facts that could only be gotten from reading the books to help you solve puzzles in that world?

I always liked the old school Nintendo games that required you to read the "spoken" words of the characters. Early Final Fantasy, King's Quest, Legaia, and Wild Arms all required this. I was reading, and doing all the thinking about intent and tone, etc that goes along with it. Today's video games don't require reading much becasue the technology has progressed far enough to allow voices. You have to turn on closed captioning to read the words of the characters.

But beyond it having a positive effect, it also is genius marketing. Book sellers and publishers have been bemoaning for years the loss of readers to video games and their kin. Well, Hidgson looks to be taking the best of both worlds and combining them. This way, he gets kids to buy his books (with a character lots of boys are interested in, and some older men). This guy should make money hand over fist.

The game, called Shadow War, is available for free online play at www.youngbond.com until October 8,"when Higson will take part in a live event during which players will be able to influence the end of the game."

And I say, more power to him. I like both mediums, so a combination thereof, I am all for!

Tobias Buckell reveals next project

Tobias Buckell has revealed that he will be writing the sixth Halo novel, to be named The Cole Protocol.

I Am No Longer a Man-Child

In a private discussion with some of my fellow fantasy reviewers, we were talking about how a tastes change over time. For instance, as a young man, I enjoyed Star Wars a great deal. I collected newspaper clippings and announcements, bought the customizable card game, the toys, the novels, the Legos, and the movies in many variations. And yet all that remains to me is the Legos and the movies in one version. Everything else was sold off to other fans. I lost interest as I grew older. My tastes changed, and I found fulfillment in other hobbies and other worlds.

The changing tastes and interests of people was really brought home to me last night. My wife and I went out to dinner for her birthday, and we stopped in at Michael's Hobby Store afterward to let her use her gift card she had received from my parents. There is a Gamestop nearby, so while the wife was spending time shopping at the craft store I thought I would pop in there to see what they had in the way of cheap video games. (I have a gift card with a few bucks from trade-ins I thought I might spend.) I hadn't bought one in at least a year.

I spent an hour in there. Yet I found nothing I wished to purchase. It was strange, because in my young adulthood, when I was playing Nintendo from the first US version on up, and the Playstation, Gameboy, and Sega Genesis; I would have bought any number of games.

Yet not one in the thousands of titles in the store was of interest to me. I only own a Playstation 2 and computer for playing video games anymore. But only one title looked even remotely interesting to me, and that was Neverwinter Nights 2, only because I don't own it yet and love Forgotten Realms. But it was too expensive for me at the moment. And it wasn't cause the games weren't good either. The looked awesome actually, I just kept thinking about the hours I would spend playing it. I thought about how my wife feels neglected when I spend too much time playing video games (this has happened once before, when Neverwinter Nights was selling downloadable expansions about a year ago), and I just couldn't generate enough interest in sacrificing her happiness for my own, no matter how fun the games looked.

I chose not to buy any games because my gift card only had a couple of bucks and most of the titles cost $10 and up, I saw nothing that interested me, and I thought about the fact that I never play video games anymore. Once, I would have spent 100 hours playing Final Fantasy, but now I think that time could be spent in other ways. Not necessarily more productive, but more fulfilling at least. These three factors combined caused me to leave the store empty-handed, something I never would have done in my teen years, even in my early twenties.

I remarked to my wife later, "Does this mean that I am no longer a man-child? Have I become a man?" Since in my society, video games are generally a young man's pursuit.

My tastes had changed, and those tastes and personal likes had moved due to responsibility, lack of time, and the finding of more fulfilling pursuits. I used to try and keep up with the Joneses in the video game world. Now I find the pursuit of reading a more fulfilling and profitable enterprise. Its strange how th change came so subtly, I didn't really even notice it.

Tastes change, personal likes and dislikes grow and develop. What we enjoy doing twenty years from now may be vastly different from what we enjoy now. Yet that does not mean that what we enjoy now is wasted. It is a step in the growth of me, of who I am as a person.

Last night's event left me feeling I have truly left boyhood and adolescence behind me. I was always a sober child, but now I look forward to the great adventure that is manhood. (Even if it took 27 years to get there. :-)

R.A. Salvatore on the Role of the Writer in Video Games

I knew my job as a novelist, as I said before. I invite you the reader to adventure along with my characters on some epic quest. In a video game such as the one I'm now working on with 38 Studios, that job changes profoundly, because the most important character in this adventure will be, has to be, the one you, the player, creates.

R.A. Salvatore, best-selling author and creator of Drizzt, wrote an interesting article on the role of the writer in video games and how online games like EverQuest or Ultima have changed fantasy.