This Gaming Life: Travels in Three Cities (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: splash damage, guitar hero, other gainers, World of Warcraft, Second Life, Star Wars (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"We need more writers like Jim Rossignol, writers who are intimately familiar with gaming, conversant in the latest research surrounding games, and able to write cogently and interestingly about the experience of playing as well as the deeper significance of games."
---Chris Baker, Wired

Product Description

"In May 2000 I was fired from my job as a reporter on a finance newsletter because of an obsession with a video game.

It was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

So begins this story of personal redemption through the unlikely medium of electronic games. Quake, World of Warcraft, Eve Online, and other online games not only offered author Jim Rossignol an excellent escape from the tedium of office life. They also provided him with a diverse global community and a job—as a games journalist.

Part personal history, part travel narrative, part philosophical reflection on the meaning of play, This Gaming Life describes Rossignol’s encounters in three cities: London, Seoul, and Reykjavik. From his days as a Quake genius in London’s increasingly corporate gaming culture; to Korea, where gaming is a high-stakes televised national sport; to Iceland, the home of his ultimate obsession, the idiosyncratic and beguiling Eve Online, Rossignol introduces us to a vivid and largely undocumented world of gaming lives.

Torn between unabashed optimism about the future of games and lingering doubts about whether they are just a waste of time, This Gaming Life also raises important questions about this new and vital cultural form. Should we celebrate the “serious” educational, social, and cultural value of games, as academics and journalists are beginning to do? Or do these high-minded justifications simply perpetuate the stereotype of games as a lesser form of fun? In this beautifully written, richly detailed, and inspiring book, Rossignol brings these abstract questions to life, immersing us in a vibrant landscape of gaming experiences.

“We need more writers like Jim Rossignol, writers who are intimately familiar with gaming, conversant in the latest research surrounding games, and able to write cogently and interestingly about the experience of playing as well as the deeper significance of games.”
—Chris Baker, Wired

“This Gaming Life is a fascinating and eye-opening look into the real human impact of gaming culture. Traveling the globe and drawing anecdotes from many walks of life, Rossignol takes us beyond the media hype and into the lives of real people whose lives have been changed by gaming. The results may surprise you.”
—Raph Koster, game designer and author of A Theory of Fun for Game Design

“Is obsessive video gaming a character flaw? In This Gaming Life, Jim Rossignol answers with an emphatic ‘no,’ and offers a passionate and engaging defense of what is too often considered a ‘bad habit’ or ‘guilty pleasure.’”
—Joshua Davis, author of The Underdog

“This is a wonderfully literate look at gaming cultures, which you don't have to be a gamer to enjoy. The Korea section blew my mind.”
—John Seabrook, New Yorker staff writer and author of Flash of Genius and Other True Stories of Invention

digitalculturebooks is an imprint of the University of Michigan Press and the Scholarly Publishing Office of the University of Michigan Library dedicated to publishing innovative and accessible work exploring new media and their impact on society, culture, and scholarly communication. Visit the website at www.digitalculture.org.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: University of Michigan Press (May 29, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0472116355
• ISBN-13: 978-0472116355
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #756,038 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars PC Gaming and its Cultural Context, July 12, 2008

By	David Berck "cruecut" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is a basic overview of different aspects of gaming. It discusses some cultural differences in the way Westerners game vs. those from the East (with the possible general exception of Japan). It is interesting to note the difference not only in game style preferences, but the way gamers are perceived in Western vs. South Korean culture, specifically.

The author also examines what he calls emergent gaming. These are methods of gaming and actions within the game that the designers did not anticipate. He goes on, at length, about the evolution of EVE Online and how it is the players that have largely driven that change rather than developers. He also waxes philosophical when it comes to what games mean in a larger context. Are games merely a waste of time and energy better spent on other endeavors or do they ultimately represent something else? This discussion is not very deep, but he does give reference to some other works that delve deeper into this debate.

Besides the few annoying grammatical errors, the tone is kept fairly light, yet you can tell Jim Rossignol is passionate about his current chosen focus in life. There is some good information here, but it really is best for someone who is looking for a PC-gaming biased overview of what gaming has been, is in its current state, and could possibly be. Console gaming is touched upon, but not discussed in any great detail. Those looking for minute detail and insights into the gaming industry won't find them here. But he does point the way to others who discuss his more philosophical points at length. This Gaming Life is certainly worth a read if you're interested in gaming no matter what level you wish to explore, unless you've already delved into this field.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Step Forward in Writing about Games, August 4, 2008

By	Travis Hawks (Texas, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Rossignol has crafted a nice little book that exudes the feel of a series of expanded magazine articles. The stories he tells of his travels related to gaming and how these stories address his larger theses and sub-theses are engaging and insightful. Even though many "gamers" of today's ilk think more of the living room console when they consider their beloved activity, This Gaming Life centers on PC gaming. This is a fair enough choice as these are the experiences Rossignol has the largest revelations about and they do drive the points home.

The way the book is promoted makes one think that it will be an autobiographical look at one person's adventures with games, but really the personal tales are just a nice starting point for his larger arguments. The book is well written and enjoyable. It is quite an easy read and its short length keeps it from really losing any punch as you continue through it.

The only quibbles I have with the book are largely technical ones. As the book progresses and it begins to refer to its own previous sections, the choice was made to place parenthetical references back to those sections. Although this doesn't sound like a big issue, it is quite the distraction and somewhat insulting. An additional technical gripe is the misuse of the phrase "begs the question." This is a common mistake, but it shouldn't show up in a book from a professional writer, reviewed by professional editors. It just looks sloppy and detracts from Rossignol's authority. The concluding bits of the book are a tad meandering and don't really tie together the previous sections that were overall well thought out and almost poignant.

All in all, this is a good read for anyone who enjoys gaming or tech and pondering the effect they have on our lives. There isn't an "inside baseball" feel to the book that should scare off non-gamers, but it is still unlikely that many who aren't gamers will pick it up and read it. This is another book, like Chris Kohler's Power-Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life, that is working to create a discourse on games beyond screenshots and history lessons. This Gaming Life is a fun step in the right direction.

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Look At The Gaming Culture, June 17, 2009

By	T. Quiring (Vancouver, BC Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

There is much about this book which I liked, particularly the fairly in-depth look at the Korean gaming culture and how it differs from that in the west. It was also interesting to read about the political movements within games and how they have been used as protest platforms. I feel that as a person who is both a gamer and a person who works in the gaming industry, This Gaming Life brings to light many of the reasons why people play video games - for the challenges, social experiences or to simply escape the stresses of every day life. One of the other reasons given by the author is that gamers game to stave off boredom.

Jim Rossignol raises some very valid points on how the activity of playing video games has grown to become a central part of today's culture, such as the social components in today's games and the scientific studies being conducted to better understand the effect of video games on the human countenance. He examines at length the pros and cons of becoming engrossed in games, as well as some of the educational aspects. Topics also covered are the varying levels of importance some game development studios put on gamer interaction with development through gamer-made mods or playing the game in ways not expected by the developers. This is something which I have heard discussed at many game development conferences - that gamers will always find some way to play the game that was outside of the project vision.

The one aspect of this book which I didn't enjoy was the amount of time spent discussing the game play and player experience in EVE Online. In some ways I felt that due to this, the book became more about EVE than about the lives of gamers on a whole. While the book is meant to speak about Mr. Rossignol's own experiences in the game world, the first chapter or so of This Gaming Life leads the reader to believe that the book will look at the inner psyche of the gamer community. In this aspect I was somewhat disappointed in the book's content, as there was so much material left uncovered.

All in all, though, this is still a book I would recommend, particularly to those who are or want to be game developers. Through the coverage of such topics as Second Life and the EVE Online convention in Iceland, This Gaming Life does bring to the forefront the importance of games to the people who play them. Also of importance are the possibilities of becoming involved in the game development industry by beginning as a modder, an activity which carries its own importance within the gaming community, and which Mr. Rossignol demonstrated through the founding and growth of the UK studio, Splash Damage.