Customer Reviews

Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This is a book that tries to be four different things and, surprisingly, manages to succeed at all of them. Bart Motes took it as a series of essays to be read for enjoyment and insight into the experience and meaning of video games. I agree with what he wrote from that perspective.

My interest is broader and shallower. I am interested in games and play in general, and also in the technology used to create deeply interactive computer software. I only dabble at games at low difficulty levels and short attention span, more to satisfy curiosity than for enjoyment. I have never been stirred by in-game events, it's all pixels to me. Nevertheless, I see their great power, and respect that they are an important part of our evolving culture. You don't understand the world today unless you have at least nodding acquaintance with these games, and this book offers considerably more than a nodding acquaintance. The less you know about video games, the more you need this book.

The ostensible topic of the book is critical analysis of video games. It is an exploration, not a conclusion, and as such it is tentative and dialectical at many points, but can suddenly switch to positive certainty, backed by the authority of the native speaker. I disagree with Bart Motes that the author is apologetic, he is a rigorous advocate for both the games and traditional standards of criticism. The two often conflict, and the book makes only suggestions about potential resolutions. You won't find the answer here, but you will find the question poked hard from a lot of non-obvious angles.

Finally this book is a fascinating piece of autobiographical fiction. I don't mean that I disbelieve the personal anecdotes, only that they are clearly chosen for dramatic effect rather than illumination of the author's personality or career. I was strongly reminded of one of my favorite works, A Drifting Life. The parallel is not obvious, as Yoshihiro Tatsumi wrote his explanation of what fascinated him with manga and how it fit into the world as a whole after a 60-year career of extraordinary achievement in what is now universally acknowledged as a serious art form. At one third the age, with zero achievement in creating video games, which are still more often classified as silly or dangerous commercial toys for kids and slackers than culturally important art; Bissell is no grandmaster. But the Bissell-point-of-view that narrates this book gripped me in the same way that the young Tatsumi did. Tatsumi draws a cherry blossom to describe how he felt trashing his university entrance exams, and goes brilliantly outside panel to evoke the facial expression of the older waitress who tries to seduce the drunk and inexperienced teenager. Bissell uses his exceptional writing talents to make running a virtual semi truck over a helpless virtual derelict or diving into a virtual pool in a desperate search for a virtual sword (inadvertently virtually dropped) convey both personal and general meaning. I remain more impressed by the former than the latter, but Bissell is young yet. There are also echoes of the disruptive cultural analysis of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

I won't argue with anyone who gives four stars from any of the individual perspectives, but I think it takes a five-star book to do this many things, this well.

I'm surprised that this book is rated (relatively) highly by reviewers. In my opinion, the writing is slapdash, the research non-existent, and valuable insights few.

As other reviewers have noted, the title was a problem for me. "Why video games matter" implied to me a thoughtful discussion of video games as an art form, instead I found the book to be a disconnected, meandering series of personal observations about specific titles. It's like titling a book "why film matters" and then filling it with essays about how you really, really liked "back to the future" and "titanic." Yes, it felt that random.

The writing quality seemed contrived to me as well. The second chapter (about "Resident Evil" (aka "Biohazard")) switches to second person for no particularly good reason. It feels forced- like a precocious junior high school student showing off in an essay contest. I also made the mistake of reading the comments on the dust jacket of the hard cover edition. Bisell is described as an "award winning" author. While I read, I was haunted by the question "what awards? Can you take them back?"

There's much better writing out there about games- see the New Yorker magazine's 2011 profile on Shigeru Miyamoto for an example of good writing. That single article contains more insight and research than this entire book.

Are video games art? Or, perhaps more importantly, is it possible for an author to write a book about video games that might appear interesting to someone who doesn't play games and could care less about them? Reviewing a book about video games is kind of like review a book about sports. Most sports books are written for fans, and it is rare the sports book that even a non-fan can enjoy. The same holds true here.

If you have enjoyed playing video games at all, whether you are a hard-core fanboy or merely an occasional Wii dabbler, you will likely greatly enjoy this book. Bissell writes with a keen eye for the zeitgeist of the video game world, as well as a sarcastic sense of humor that should appeal to both the gamer and non-gamer alike. His descriptions of the artistic creativity and the "theory of play" that goes into the games, as well as the sublime experience actually playing will strike a chord. Bissell writes in an accessible style that can be followed even by those who are not versed in the arcana of the gaming world.

In addition to gamers themselves, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in creative development, as well as those who are friends (or relatives) of gamers and wonder how people can get so lost in these artificial worlds. Even if you have no interest in games, you might still find the book an interesting look at a how entertainment is created and what the experiencing of gaming is like for those who play.

The subtitle for "Extra Lives" is "Why Video Games Matter." I feel like I never really got a clear answer for that statement.

Tom Bissell is a pretty good writer, but his approach is entirely too academic in order to establish any flow in the reading process. Consider this sentence from page 112:

"Despite science fiction's sui generis presumptions, most sci-fi worlds -- imagined at the balance point of the evolutionary and point-mutational, the cautionary and the aspirational -- imitative."

It's sentences like the above, even if I know the meaning behind a majority of the words here, that make me have to reread them again and again, stifling any momentum. Bissell seems to be afraid that games aren't urbane enough for the academic crowd. But he also feels that he's in danger of being too sophisticated for the gaming community. Thus, his persona goes back and forth between I'm-a-very-learned-fellow-and-know-of-what-I-speak versus I-like-to-digitally-shoot-people-in-the-head-while-I-do-cocaine-with-my-friend.

"Extra Lives" is largely unconnected theories on why people enjoy video games so much. Specifically, video games made within the past ten or fifteen years. There is no sociological umbrella theory at work here, just Tom Bissell's own experiences. I was interested in reading a book about video games and why they matter, but Bissell just seems to come up with a lot of armchair theories on why he likes them, phrased about as fancily as possible.

Here's another nugget of clarity from page 122:

"RPGs that lack Mass Effect's ear for dialogue are often written too broadly for any sense of potential gamer agency to take hold, in which cases interactivity becomes a synonym for 'cudgel.'"

Until Bissell makes his points a little more clearly, I'm waiting to hear some real explanations on why games matter.

As a casual gamer, I enjoyed parts of Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter. Tom Bissell attempts to answer questions such as are video games art, why are they so engrossing, and how does the experience of playing a video game differ from other media (such as book and films?) Most of the chapters focus on a particular game that marked a significant advance in gaming technology or format, such as Gears of War or Grand Theft Auto.

Bissell is at his most interesting when he is interviewing developers and execs from the gaming industry, taking the reader behind the scenes of game development and marketing. Unfortunately, there are many lengthy descriptions of Bissell's personal experiences playing particular games. I recall that as a child I would get very bored and frustrated waiting my turn to play Centipede on the Atari 2600, while my older neighbor played for what seemed like ages. Reading Bissell's account of one of his XBox Live team's thrilling victories felt the same.

Bissell's book is sure to be a hit with people who are already gamers, and appreciate the uniquely immersive experience that a good game allows. The Appendix includes a Metal Gear discussion intended for hard core gamers only and an interview with Fable II's developer, which suggests that experienced gamers are his intended audience. It would have been interesting if Bissell had expanded his scope by addressing people who are not gamers or who have not played since the Nintendo 64. Parents who are concerned about the amount of time their children spend gaming and the content of the games they play will find no understanding or comfort here, especially when the author links his days of heavy gaming to his cocaine addiction! It is too bad that the author allows his personal in-game and real life experiences to distract from the text because there is good content here. Waiting for the good parts In Extra Lives is like waiting for your turn at the joystick; time passes slowly watching someone else play.

Bissell is ashamed that he's a gamer.

That's the first impression I received from the author, who seems to have written much of the first part of the book as an apology: "I know I wrote that gaming wasn't art, but I was wrong."

Bissell's self-flagellation seems to be largely driven by his ego. Writing a book-length apology for castigating video games as low art assumes we cared about his opinion in the first place. Bissell is an accomplished author, but his gaming credentials are few - he seems to have decided to write this book because he can. I don't recall anyone clamoring for Bissell's head for turning up his nose at video games.

The picture Bissell paints of himself: of his knowledge of videogames (passable), of his approach to multiplayer (he's not much of a team player), of his drug-fueled binges (he's a coke addict), all paint an unflattering portrait of the author. His profile seems to be that of a solo player largely disconnected from his fellow gamers - as evidenced by his belief that an amazing experience in a player vs. player match of Left4Dead cannot be replicated by World of Warcraft.

I've played nearly all the games Bissell has played. He takes pains to introduce each of them with a chapter cleverly named after the game he's discussing. The problem is that this isn't really a book for gamers, because anyone who enjoys games doesn't need to be told "why videogames matter" or an introduction to each one. Bissell's prose is exhausting in its literary references - he's obviously an accomplished author, but he's writing at a level far beyond your casual gamer's capacity for patience.

Bissell is an accomplished journalist - his access to gaming gurus of all stripes is impressive - but he writes his introductory pieces as if he's a fashion reporter. We're repeatedly told that every gamer he interviews "doesn't look like your typical gamer" - a group, we get the sense, that Bissell secretly believes is far too uncool for him to be a part of. Bissell seems to be trying to elevate the gaming subculture -- that'd be you and me, the uncool kids who aren't as worldly as he is - so that being associated with us isn't so...embarrassing.

And that's a shame. Bissell flirts with some compelling arguments, like the fact that there are no writers on the staff of many gaming companies, or that his ability to personally connect with characters has an almost accidental, magical quality. But then he ties it all back to himself and we're reminded that this is Bissell's equivalent of a Dear Diary - he's annoyed that there are no writers on staff because, ya know, HE'S a writer! He's annoyed that there's no real sense of art in gaming, cause, ya know, HE knows art! Bissell's book is less an unbiased perspective on games as it is a counterargument to the hype machine that treats games like movies, all special effects and big budgets. He wants to experience an interactive world that makes him think - that is art, in other words - but he doesn't really have any answer as how to the rest of us gaming rubes will get there.

And so we come to what Extra Lives is really about: Bissell. We get glimpses of his weirdly disconnected but exciting life, from the formidable list of publications under his belt to his globetrotting adventures to his aforementioned drug addiction. Bissell never addresses these issues head on, which unfortunately means we get them filtered through his engagement of video games instead. Considering Bissell ends with the conclusion that a video game experience is in the eye of the beholder, the book would have benefited from a lot more about him.

This is a novel idea - the appreciation of video games as art on the same level as novels and films. The idea of questioning how games make you feel, as opposed to how long they last and how good the graphics are, is a very good one.

It is an interesting and engaging read, but feels more like a travelogue and a series of interviews welded (80% satisfactorily) together. Bissell asks some unique questions of the architects and authors of the games he profiles, but never really manages to achieve his goal of critiquing them as art. He almost tells us why, as the subtitle suggests, games matter, but beyond stating that many people spend a long time playing them and the people creating them treat it seriously, doesn't quite succeed.

The most interesting areas are those regarding storytelling and plot, the challenges of doing those things well in an interactive medium, and why most games fail to grip narratively.

Also, Bissell limits this analysis of an art-form to the last fifteen years for the most part, since the debut of the Playstation in the mid-90's. Considering video games existed for twenty years before that, it's a strange omission. And in the appendix he interviews a gaming legend, Peter Molyneux, yet seems unaware that Molyneux was once a bedroom coder who produced the genre defining games Populous and Syndicate. If it weren't for that interview I would presume Bissell deliberately limited the scope of the book, but those final pages make me wonder if he simply doesn't know enough about gaming history to be the best author on this subject.

Despite its flaws, this is an accomplished book, and deserves to be recognized for what it attempts to achieve. I hope others follow in Mr Bissell's footsteps and produce a library of work to rival the music and movie sections of most bookshops.

I'd love to be able to recommend this book as a gift for non-gamer loved-ones of gamers to explain why we do what we do. Unfortunately, unless you want them to think gaming is akin to drug addiction, this is not the book to use.

Nonetheless, for gamers wanting to understand how gaming fits into our history, how games steal from and stack up against other forms of entertainment, this is well worth the time. The book is an easy read, always interesting and often surprising. It is always partly autobiographical, and becomes moreso as it progresses, but the alternative would be a dry discussion of games in the abstract, or merely a historic compendium of game names.

Another feature of the book, which will please some and disappoint others, is that "video games" is meant to distinguish console games (which this book is about) from computer games (which it is not). So there is little said about the online world other than a reference here or there to FPS teams and competition. There are worthwhile books, written and not-yet-written, about the extra life that many people find online. This is not one of them.

Nonetheless, as a PC gamer who is not a shooter fan at all (my kids watched me finally defeat another player in Wolfenstein Enemy Territory online, when the fight was over, my son, eyes fixed on my dead opponent, said "thank you for sucking") I found the book to be quite good. I carried it around with me on vacation and read it every chance I got. I won't be going back to FPSs anytime soon, but this is an intelligent discussion of where they fit, what they mean, and why so many people find them so compelling.

Before I say anything else, I'll preface this review with the fact that this really isn't for gamers. If you already play games, know games, study games, etc., this book really isn't for you. You know why games matter (or simply don't care whether they do or not). While Bissell's enthusiasm and experience for video games is obvious, some segments are almost written like an apology for being so enamored with the medium. Others are written using needlessly big words that would seem to be aimed at a more critical audience (basically the intelligentsia to whom Bissell is trying to prove the merits of his entertainment medium of choice). Ultimately, it seems as if Bissell isn't so much concerned with trying to prove the worth of games so much as he's pleading for the approval that they have any worth at all.

I honestly enjoy Bissell's writing style when he's actually talking about his experiences playing games. He recounts them with detail and in such a way that if you've played the game before, your memories are instantly jogged and you're right there reliving that shared memory. That's the high point of this book and the parts that gamers will enjoy (although gamers are also the ones who'll notice his occasional mistakes; for instance, Resident Evil was not the first survival horror game, Alone in the Dark predates it by four years and features similar controls and aesthetics). It's when Bissell starts trying to explain and examine gamings worth that things change, because the audience basically changes. The recounting of the gameplay and the emotional experiences attached with it will appeal to gamers which any other readers would be left scratching their heads wondering what it is that they're reading (they have none of the necessary shared experiences to have that common starting point). The problem is that then he goes into his pleas to those that would decide the worth of games and becomes overly verbose, using words that you'll need to look up (I like to think I have a decent vocabulary, but Bissell has shown me otherwise). This is usually when he again sheepishly states that video games are in some way some lower art, apparently while hoping that the gods of approval are coming to correct him of their now higher status. I was put off by these segments and I'd imagine that most gamers who delve into this would have similar feelings. I could be reading too much into it, but I don't need higher approval to enjoy the games I play.

Ultimately, I just couldn't bring myself to like Extra Lives (outside of the recounted game sessions), nor do I have an inkling as to why games matter outside of what I already had decided prior to cracking this one open. Maybe the whole point is to ask the questions to ourselves as to why they matter and to make those decisions based on the feelings and experiences that have been had, the relationships created and touched, etc. If that had been the case, then I think Bissell succeeds. Unfortunately, it just feels like he's looking for societal approval here and I could really care less about the collective opinion of an entity that wonders why I spend so much time playing my "stupid games." Games matter because they give me diversion, escape and entertainment. Games matter because they give creative people an outlet. Games matter (and ARE indeed art) because many of them merge many art forms that are not in dispute. Games matter, quite simply, because they are fun, even at times when life, as a whole, is not.

I wasn't sure what to make of this book. Was it a serious investigation of video games as an art form, comparable to film or literature, or was it an autobiography of the author and his addiction to video games? Primarily the former, and occasionally the latter. The comparison was a wonderful book, and the autobiography, well, just wasn't that engaging. You did coke and played video games? Wow. Color me impressed.

The author did do an excellent job skewering and complimenting the video game industry on their attempts to make games more serious and better able to emotionally connect with their customers. Unfortunately, it usually ends in high melodrama, bad acting, and terribly written lines. The book recalls Fallout 3, Resident Evil (the first one), Grand Theft Auto, and more. The result - they're working on it, but have a long way to go.

The one chapter that could have been better, due to the autobiography stuff, was on Grand Theft Auto. The author essentially says he blew months of his life doing drugs and playing this game. I'd have loved to see this as a serious investigation of "life replacement via video game" - similar to World of Warcraft players who spend their entire lives in game, rather than interaction with the real world. Instead, it becomes how it was hard for him to stop, and he would do coke benders, etc. Not a pleasant chapter, and certainly not very interesting to me.

Overall, a good book worth picking up at the library, but probably not worth purchasing.