Play Between Worlds: Exploring Online Game Culture Review

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Play Between Worlds: Exploring Online Game Culture ReviewIn her book on the MMO gaming world, Taylor brings an ethnographic approach to the game Everquest. Through interviews and personal experience, she gives an insight into the gaming world that portrays it for the rich, complex, social world that it is. A gamer herself, Taylor does an excellent job shining new light on the "frowned upon" gaming world. She also goes beyond the gaming world to show how things are connected through the internet and "in real life" to things within the game.
As far as this being too "basic" in covering the genre - this wasn't aimed to be a book only for advanced gamers. For those of the academic world, who have no experience whatsoever with games, the chapters provide sufficient information about the games to allow understanding. The summary/analysis is as comprehensive as it is rich. There are parts that she could have gone further and I do hope she does write a second book (although she does have articles on this topic as well).
All in all, this is an absolutely fantastic book for academics (or just interested people) who want an ethnographic approach to the gaming world that treats it not as a deviant, subersive "alternate" reality. Gamers and academics alike can appreciate it. Think Jenkins' Textual Poachers (written about the fan world) for gamers.
I sincerely hope this is the tip of the iceberg for this serious academic research into the community, social aspects of MMOs.Play Between Worlds: Exploring Online Game Culture Overview

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Developing Virtual Reality Applications: Foundations of Effective Design Review

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Developing Virtual Reality Applications: Foundations of Effective Design ReviewVirtual Reality is a subdivision of computer graphics and the latter is intensely mathematical. But this book eshews a mathematical bent. Instead it offers a sweeping survey of recent [2008-9] applications of VR. You can easily read this and get a good understanding of where VR is being used. The survey spans both academic and industrial/commercial efforts.
The book is also aided by a heavy use of illustrations, many in colour. Quite appropriate given that we are talking about graphics. The figures greatly help the understanding of the text.
One interesting subtopic is augmented reality. Where typically a user wears a special pair of glasses and walks around the real world. Depending on her location and perhaps orientation, the glasses communicate wirelessly with a GIS-aware database that downloads information to be displayed in an overlay fashion on her vision.Developing Virtual Reality Applications: Foundations of Effective Design Overview
Virtual Reality systems enable organizations to cut costs and time, maintain financial and organizational control over the development process, digitally evaluate products before having them created, and allow for greater creative exploration. In this book, VR developers Alan Craig, William Sherman, and Jeffrey Will examine a comprehensive collection of current,unique, and foundational VR applications in a multitude of fields, such as business, science, medicine, art, entertainment, and public safety among others.

An insider's view of what works, what doesn't work, and why, Developing Virtual Reality Applications explores core technical information and background theory as well as the evolution of key applications from their genesis to their most current form. Developmental techniques are cross-referenced between different applications linking information to describe overall VR trends and fundamental best practices. This synergy, coupled with the most up to date research being conducted, provides a hands-on guide for building applications, and an enhanced, panoramic view of VR development. Developing Virtual Reality Applications is an indispensable one-stop reference for anyone working in this burgeoning field.


Dozens of detailed application descriptions provide practical ideas for VR development in ALL areas of interest!
Development techniques are cross referenced between different application areas, providing fundamental best practices!
Includes a media-rich companion website with hours of footage from application demonstrations


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The Meaning of Video Games: Gaming and Textual Strategies Review

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The Meaning of Video Games: Gaming and Textual Strategies ReviewNot only is this an extremely interesting, readable account of textual strategies in video games (and associated media), but it's a model Kindle edition. The footnotes are hyperlinked and many of the cited web-pages in the notes can also be accessed directly from the Kindle. Even the index is hyperlinked. In the index, the original page numbers are retained but linked to the right locations in the Kindle edition. Somebody put a lot of attention into this and it makes this the most usable Kindle edition I have.The Meaning of Video Games: Gaming and Textual Strategies OverviewThe Meaning of Video Games takes a textual studies approach to an increasingly important form of expression in today's culture. It begins by assuming that video games are meaningful-not just as sociological or economic or cultural evidence, but in their own right, as cultural expressions worthy of scholarly attention. In this way, this book makes a contribution to the study of video games, but it also aims to enrich textual studies.Early video game studies scholars were quick to point out that a game should never be reduced to merely its "story" or narrative content and they rightly insist on the importance of studying games as games. But here Steven E. Jones demonstrates that textual studies-which grows historically out of ancient questions of textual recension, multiple versions, production, reproduction, and reception-can fruitfully be applied to the study of video games. Citing specific examples such as Myst and Lost, Katamari Damacy, Halo, Façade, Nintendo's Wii, and Will Wright's Spore, the book explores the ways in which textual studies concepts-authorial intention, textual variability and performance, the paratext, publishing history and the social text-can shed light on video games as more than formal systems. It treats video games as cultural forms of expression that are received as they are played, out in the world, where their meanings get made.

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The Video Game Theory Reader Review

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The Video Game Theory Reader ReviewThis book is an introduction to a nascent field within new media studies: video game theory, or ludology. As such, many of the essays contained herein are trying to get a grasp on what constitutes video game studies, period. Some of the questions broached are as follows:
What would constitute a formal analysis of a video game?
What features do all video games share (what can we classify as a video game, anyhow?)
Which approaches are best for the analysis of video games: semiotics, psychoanalysis, cinema studies, cognitive psychology?
This volume takes a few baby steps towards answering those questions. Gonzalo Frasca, for instance, makes the important argument that even the simplest games cannot be considered in mere narratological terms, but must be considered as a simulation. He then uses Roger Caillois's terms paidia and ludus to establish a tentative typology of video games.
Other essays, such as Mia Consalvo's essay on the Sims and Final Fantasy IX, are more shallow and contribute little beyond a superficial plot analysis and trite comments about how radical it is that a guy can have a girl avatar (and vice-versa) in a video game.
I found Patrick Crogan's essay on Combat Flight Simulator 2 and Pearl Harbor (the movie) especially insightful, as it drew some fascinating connections between Manuel De Landa, Paul Virilio, and the simulation representational ethos (as opposed to narrative).
In conclusion, this is a really hit-or-miss collection, which is perhaps to be expected considering how marginal video game studies currently is within the academy. Nevertheless, it contains some valuable contributions to this inchoate field between its covers, which will certainly help to legitimate game studies in the future.The Video Game Theory Reader OverviewThe Video Game Theory Reader brings together exciting new work on video games as a unique medium and nascent field of study - one that is rapidly developing new modes of understanding and analysis, like film studies in the 1960s and television studies in the 1980s. This pioneering collection addresses the many ways video games are reshaping the face of entertainment and our relationship with technology. In the volume, leading media studies scholars develop new theoretical tools and concepts to study video games. Drawing upon examples from a number of popular games ranging from Space Invaders to Final Fantasy , the contributors discuss the relationship between video games and other media; the shift from third- to first-person games; gamers and the gaming community; and the important sociological, cultural, industrial, and economic issues that surround gaming.

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The Game Design Reader: A Rules of Play Anthology Review

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The Game Design Reader: A Rules of Play Anthology ReviewThis book collects a wide variety of critical thought on game design and the theory of games. As the subtitle states, it's a nice companion to "Rules of Play", but "Rules of Play" is by no means necessary to appreciate this book.
I like that it has a broad mix of theoretical articles from academics and more practical discussions from practicing game designers. It has most of the seminal articles I would expect to find in a summary of the field, as well as some I was not previously familiar with, but still enjoyed. As with any collection, not every piece was my cup of tea, but the overall quality was higher than I expected.
If you like games, this will make you think about how they work. It won't give you much day to day practical advice on making games, but sometimes it's good to think outside the practical. As a professional video game designer, I like things that make me think in new ways.The Game Design Reader: A Rules of Play Anthology OverviewThe Game Design Reader is a one-of-a-kind collection on game design andcriticism, from classic scholarly essays to cutting-edge case studies. A companionwork to Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman's textbook Rules of Play: Game DesignFundamentals, The Game Design Reader is a classroom sourcebook, a reference forworking game developers, and a great read for game fans and players.Thirty-twoessays by game designers, game critics, game fans, philosophers, anthropologists,media theorists, and others consider fundamental questions: What are games and howare they designed? How do games interact with culture at large? What criticalapproaches can game designers take to create game stories, game spaces, gamecommunities, and new forms of play?Salen and Zimmerman have collected seminalwritings that span 50 years to offer a stunning array of perspectives. Gamejournalists express the rhythms of game play, sociologists tackle topics such asrole-playing in vast virtual worlds, players rant and rave, and game designersdescribe the sweat and tears of bringing a game to market. Each text acts as aspringboard for discussion, a potential class assignment, and a source ofinspiration. The book is organized around fourteen topics, from The PlayerExperience to The Game Design Process, from Games and Narrative to CulturalRepresentation. Each topic, introduced with a short essay by Salen and Zimmerman,covers ideas and research fundamental to the study of games, and points to relevanttexts within the Reader. Visual essays between book sections act as counterpoint tothe writings.Like Rules of Play, The Game Design Reader is an intelligent andplayful book. An invaluable resource for professionals and a unique introduction forthose new to the field, The Game Design Reader is essential reading for anyone whotakes games seriously.

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Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games Review

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Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games ReviewI expected something a little more "rigorous" from Dr. Ed. I believe though that he takes an excellent first swipe at virtual worlds.
For people already playing these games the first 50 or so pages are boring. But he obviously covers this material so that even lay people can quickly be brought up to speed on his other topics. He sometimes slips back into these rudimentary explanations but I believe it is an effort to help the larger market.
He covers a wide variety of topics in this book. Discussions of property rights within VR worlds, violence within VR worlds, and the actual value of VR money and items. The variety of topics leads to a slight rambling feel in the book and some thiness on the arguements. However, I thought everything was adequately covered. I was looking for something of a "truer" economic discussion of synthetic worlds but he teased me. He does write an explanation, and defense, of synthetic economies and problems within them. For me though, I thought this was going to be all 300 or so pages when it was just about 75.
If there were more books like this published I would have given him 3 stars but since this is going to be the start in a long, long, long series of books I will give him 4 for breaking ground. He probably should have milked the material for two books. :)
If you have play these games and have and a tidbit of economics in you then buy the book and enjoy. I am going to read his papers now in an effort to get that fix.
SeanSynthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games OverviewFrom EverQuest to World of Warcraft, online games have evolved from the exclusive domain of computer geeks into an extraordinarily lucrative staple of the entertainment industry. People of all ages and from all walks of life now spend thousands of hours—and dollars—partaking in this popular new brand of escapism. But the line between fantasy and reality is starting to blur. Players have created virtual societies with governments and economies of their own whose currencies now trade against the dollar on eBay at rates higher than the yen. And the players who inhabit these synthetic worlds are starting to spend more time online than at their day jobs.In Synthetic Worlds, Edward Castronova offers the first comprehensive look at the online game industry, exploring its implications for business and culture alike. He starts with the players, giving us a revealing look into the everyday lives of the gamers—outlining what they do in their synthetic worlds and why. He then describes the economies inside these worlds to show how they might dramatically affect real world financial systems, from potential disruptions of markets to new business horizons. Ultimately, he explores the long-term social consequences of online games: If players can inhabit worlds that are more alluring and gratifying than reality, then how can the real world ever compete? Will a day ever come when we spend more time in these synthetic worlds than in our own? Or even more startling, will a day ever come when such questions no longer sound alarmist but instead seem obsolete?With more than ten million active players worldwide—and with Microsoft and Sony pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into video game development—online games have become too big to ignore. Synthetic Worlds spearheads our efforts to come to terms with this virtual reality and its concrete effects."Illuminating. . . . Castronova's analysis of the economics of fun is intriguing. Virtual-world economies are designed to make the resulting game interesting and enjoyable for their inhabitants. Many games follow a rags-to-riches storyline, for example. But how can all the players end up in the top 10%? Simple: the upwardly mobile human players need only be a subset of the world's population. An underclass of computer-controlled 'bot' citizens, meanwhile, stays poor forever. Mr. Castronova explains all this with clarity, wit, and a merciful lack of academic jargon."—The Economist "Synthetic Worlds is a surprisingly profound book about the social, political, and economic issues arising from the emergence of vast multiplayer games on the Internet. What Castronova has realized is that these games, where players contribute considerable labor in exchange for things they value, are not merely like real economies, they are real economies, displaying inflation, fraud, Chinese sweatshops, and some surprising in-game innovations."—Tim Harford, Chronicle of Higher Education

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How to Do Everything with Second Life® Review

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How to Do Everything with Second Life® ReviewThis book offers sound advice on almost all aspects of Second Life from social interaction to scripting, building, and texturing. It goes into fine detail on the workings of the user interface with great time saving tips and tricks for all levels of experience. It's by no means a dry technical read. The author does a good job of tying all of the topics together through examples of practical experience within Second Life.
I keep this book on my computer desk for quick reference. As an experienced user with a bloated inventory I found the topics on asset backup, inventory searches, and inventory organization extremely helpful.How to Do Everything with Second Life® Overview
Filled with hundreds of hands-on tutorials, tips, and techniques, this is the thorough, in-depth reference that every Second Life resident needs. Learn how to create a unique avatar and then explore, build, socialize--and even earn real money. Inside, you'll find exclusive coverage of all the menus, features, and utilities. Whether you're a newbie or an old hand, this book will help you get the most out of Second Life.

Understand all the user interface features

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