The State of Play: Creators and Critics on Video Game Culture

Great

Compared to the likes of literature or film, video games are a relatively young medium, but they have nonetheless come in for a good deal of academic scrutiny. "The State of Play" is a collection of essays on the subject, edited by Daniel Goldberg and Linus Larsson, and is an ideal read for people with an interest in academic concerns about gaming but without a deep theoretical background.The essays are by a number of established commentators and creators, including the likes of Anita Sarkeesian and Zoe Quinn. The subjects are varied, but many deal with ways in which games interact (or fail to interact, or could interact) with issues of race, gender, and sexuality. For example, Hussein Ibrahim, who is of Arabic descent, discusses the widespread use of quasi-Arab enemies in games, while Merritt Kopas considers how sex and relationships might be handled in a manner that doesn’t emphasize “winning,” and Sarkeesian and Katherine Cross examine the forms misogyny can take in the gaming community.A few of the essays slip into jargon or heavy-handedness, but only a few; for the most part these are remarkably accessible explorations of complex topics. That means all gamers can read and benefit from them. As the title suggests, the essays as a whole paint something of a picture of where we are, with a few hints of where we could go from here. It’s not exhaustive, but it is telling, and for gamers who are curious about the bigger issues games can and do point to, it’s a good place to start.~

I was hoping for new insights and opinions, unfortunately the majority of the book is blog posts and articles I've already read online. While I enjoyed many of those articles, I feel slightly cheated that I just purchased a book containing things I've already read and that I still can read for free elsewhere. I want to support the authors and I agree with most of what they say, but once again I bought much of what I had already read for free.

A nice introduction to a lot of games criticism conversations. Not earth shattering, but you should read the author's other stuff to dig deeper into the topics introduced here.

A thoughtful and excellent collection of essays, by people making and playing games, and pushing the boundaries of how we think about the worlds and interactions portrayed.

Interesting collection of essays on gaming. There are many different voices represented, so some essays are stronger than others, but overall an interesting read. A bit on the academic side for casual game fans, but a good choice for those who are more invested in the field.

Filled with astute, thoughtful writing on video game culture. I found it hard to put down. I'd recommend the print edition--what a beautiful little book.

A solid collection of essays and a good entry point if you're looking for people to follow and concepts to further research in what games can be (and are becoming).Ignore the 1-star reviews, GamerGate realized that leaving them for the book "being about ruining games" was too obvious, and started leaving them under the guise of the book "being a ripoff."Seriously, go through the reviews chronologically, and tell me someone in /gamergate/ didn't go "you can find some of these online, that should be our tactic!"

Our son like bed this book!