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The Toxic Meritocracy of Video Games: Why Gaming Culture Is the Worst Hardcover – February 20, 2018
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Christopher A. Paul
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Print length280 pages
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LanguageEnglish
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PublisherUniv Of Minnesota Press
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Publication dateFebruary 20, 2018
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Dimensions5.5 x 0.9 x 8.5 inches
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ISBN-101517900409
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ISBN-13978-1517900403
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Christopher A. Paul is an incisive critic, and The Toxic Meritocracy of Video Games is essential reading for researchers, industry professionals, and players trying to make sense of gaming's culture wars."—Carly A. Kocurek, author of Coin-Operated Americans: Rebooting Boyhood at the Video Game Arcade
"Paul offers a compelling and carefully supported argument to deconstruct and reconsider meritocracy in video game culture. An engaging read."—CHOICE
"This is a carefully considered book that shines a much-needed light on the toxicity of video game culture and presents some earnest suggestions for how to reform it and the games that inspire it." —First Person Scholar
About the Author
Christopher A. Paul is associate professor in the communication department at Seattle University. He is author of Wordplay and the Discourse of Video Games: Analyzing Words, Design, and Play.
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Product details
- Publisher : Univ Of Minnesota Press; 1st edition (February 20, 2018)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 280 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1517900409
- ISBN-13 : 978-1517900403
- Item Weight : 13.6 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.9 x 8.5 inches
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Best Sellers Rank:
#9,069,297 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4,580 in Social Aspects of Technology
- #5,406 in Poverty
- #14,682 in Video & Computer Games
- Customer Reviews:
Customer reviews
Top reviews from the United States
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It's a toxic environment, where only the strongest survive; an environment where the Mario Party casual spends one's day gathering food and essentials for the Dark Souls griefer who believes one's sole purpose in life is to make the former wish he was never born. It's an economic system straight out of The Walking Dead.
And you know what? We love it.
Gamers bemoan this book and its author, when in all truthfulness, we appreciate writers like Mr. Paul. Mr. Paul highlights the very reason for why gaming culture is toxic and why we want to keep it that way. But, more importantly, Mr. Paul and those who think like him (please, be gamers) prove that one of the very reasons we play is still true today; that we can still get a reaction from scrubs who don't know how to GIT GUD.
For this reason, I hope Mr. Paul writes more on the subject. If anything, the reviews of his book give us a way to delineate the herbivores from the apex predators. Write on, Mr. Paul, write on, and perhaps we'll see each other online.
Come at us, bro.
The book starts with a thorough look into the origins of meritocracy in society, and debunks the idea of a pure meritocracy with gaming and non-gaming examples. The book then proceeds to examine inequality that fuels toxicity in various aspects of gaming: who studies games, who creates them, who has access to play them and who is considered skillful, and therefore rewarded, when playing them. Each chapter is well-argued and flows naturally. The conclusion ties the narrative together neatly, and provides a convincing call-to-action to do better so that everyone benefits from this industry and culture.
Paul's writing is tightly-woven and largely non-academic. It will appeal to gamers and non-gamers alike. Check it out, you won't be disappointed!









