Download or read book Extra Lives written by Tom Bissell and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2011-06-14 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Extra Lives, acclaimed writer and life-long video game enthusiast Tom Bissell takes the reader on an insightful and entertaining tour of the art and meaning of video games. In just a few decades, video games have grown increasingly complex and sophisticated, and the companies that produce them are now among the most profitable in the entertainment industry. Yet few outside this world have thought deeply about how these games work, why they are so appealing, and what they are capable of artistically. Blending memoir, criticism, and first-rate reportage, Extra Lives is a milestone work about what might be the dominant popular art form of our time.
Download or read book Against Flow written by Braxton Soderman and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2021-04-13 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A critical discussion of the experience and theory of flow (as conceptualized by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi) in video games. Flow--as conceptualized by the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi--describes an experience of "being in the zone," of intense absorption in an activity. It is a central concept in the study of video games, although often applied somewhat uncritically. In Against Flow, Braxton Soderman takes a step back and offers a critical assessment of flow's historical, theoretical, political, and ideological contexts in relation to video games. With close readings of games that implement and represent flow, Soderman not only evaluates the concept of flow in terms of video games but also presents a general critique of flow and its sibling, play.
Download or read book Power Play written by Asi Burak and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2017-01-31 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “An insider’s view of the good things that can emerge from being glued to a screen. . . . A solid piece of pop-culture/business journalism.” —Kirkus Reviews The phenomenal growth of gaming has inspired plenty of hand-wringing since its inception—from the press, politicians, parents, and everyone else concerned with its effect on our brains, bodies, and hearts. But what if games could be good, not only for individuals but for the world? In Power Play, Asi Burak and Laura Parker explore how video games are now pioneering innovative social change around the world. As the former executive director and now chairman of Games for Change, Asi Burak has spent the last ten years supporting and promoting the use of video games for social good, in collaboration with leading organizations like the White House, NASA, World Bank, and The United Nations. The games for change movement has introduced millions of players to meaningful experiences around everything from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the US Constitution. Power Play looks to the future of games as a global movement. Asi Burak and Laura Parker profile the luminaries behind some of the movement’s most iconic games, including former Supreme Court judge Sandra Day O’Connor and Pulitzer Prize–winning authors Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. They also explore the promise of virtual reality to address social and political issues with unprecedented immersion, and see what the next generation of game makers have in store for the future.
Download or read book The Psychology of Video Games written by Celia Hodent and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-10-07 with total page 105 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What impact can video games have on us as players? How does psychology influence video game creation? Why do some games become cultural phenomena? The Psychology of Video Games introduces the curious reader to the relationship between psychology and video games from the perspective of both game makers and players. Assuming no specialist knowledge, this concise, approachable guide is a starter book for anyone intrigued by what makes video games engaging and what is their psychological impact on gamers. It digests the research exploring the benefits gaming can have on players in relation to education and healthcare, considers the concerns over potential negative impacts such as pathological gaming, and concludes with some ethics considerations. With gaming being one of the most popular forms of entertainment today, The Psychology of Video Games shows the importance of understanding the human brain and its mental processes to foster ethical and inclusive video games.
Download or read book What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy Second Edition written by James Paul Gee and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2014-12-02 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cognitive Development in a Digital Age James Paul Gee begins his classic book with "I want to talk about video games–yes, even violent video games–and say some positive things about them." With this simple but explosive statement, one of America's most well-respected educators looks seriously at the good that can come from playing video games. This revised edition expands beyond mere gaming, introducing readers to fresh perspectives based on games like World of Warcraft and Half-Life 2. It delves deeper into cognitive development, discussing how video games can shape our understanding of the world. An undisputed must-read for those interested in the intersection of education, technology, and pop culture, What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy challenges traditional norms, examines the educational potential of video games, and opens up a discussion on the far-reaching impacts of this ubiquitous aspect of modern life.
Download or read book Lost in a Good Game written by Pete Etchells and published by Icon Books. This book was released on 2019-04-04 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Etchells writes eloquently ... A heartfelt defence of a demonised pastime' The Times 'Once in an age, a piece of culture comes along that feels like it was specifically created for you, the beats and words and ideas are there because it is your life the creator is describing. Lost In A Good Game is exactly that. It will touch your heart and mind. And even if Bowser, Chun-li or Q-Bert weren't crucial parts of your youth, this is a flawless victory for everyone' Adam Rutherford When Pete Etchells was 14, his father died from motor neurone disease. In order to cope, he immersed himself in a virtual world - first as an escape, but later to try to understand what had happened. Etchells is now a researcher into the psychological effects of video games, and was co-author on a recent paper explaining why WHO plans to classify 'game addiction' as a danger to public health are based on bad science and (he thinks) are a bad idea. In this, his first book, he journeys through the history and development of video games - from Turing's chess machine to mass multiplayer online games like World of Warcraft- via scientific study, to investigate the highs and lows of playing and get to the bottom of our relationship with games - why we do it, and what they really mean to us. At the same time, Lost in a Good Game is a very unusual memoir of a writer coming to terms with his grief via virtual worlds, as he tries to work out what area of popular culture we should classify games (a relatively new technology) under.
Download or read book Redeeming Productivity written by Reagan Rose and published by Moody Publishers. This book was released on 2022-10-04 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Feeling overwhelmed and unproductive? The answer isn’t to do more. What image forms in your mind when you think of productivity? An assembly line? Spreadsheets? Business suits or workplace uniforms? In the ancient world, productivity didn't conjure images like these. Instead, it referred to crop yield and fruit bearing. This agrarian imagery helps us understand productivity through a biblical lens. Jesus taught, By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit (John 15:8). Who doesn’t want to have a truly productive life—to bear much fruit? But how does this happen in the places we hold dear—the home, workplace, and in our communities? We often feel overworked and overrun, defeated and discouraged. The world says be productive so that you can get all you can out of this life. The Bible says be productive so you can gain more of the next life. In Redeeming Productivity, author Reagan Rose explores how God’s glory is the purpose for which He planted us. And he shows how productivity must be firmly rooted in the gospel. Only through our connection to Christ—the True Vine—are we empowered to produce good fruit. This book shows how we can maintain the vitality of that connection through simple, life-giving disciplines. Readers will discover manageable applications like giving God the first fruits of our days. Additionally, Reagan discusses how our perspective on suffering is transformed as we see trials as God’s pruning for greater productivity.
Download or read book The PlayStation Dreamworld written by Alfie Bown and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2017-10-16 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From mobile phones to consoles, tablets and PCs, we are now a generation of gamers. The PlayStation Dreamworld is – to borrow a phrase from Slavoj Zizek – the pervert's guide to videogames. It argues that we can only understand the world of videogames via Lacanian dream analysis. It also argues that the Left needs to work inside this dreamspace – a powerful arena for constructing our desires – or else the dreamworld will fall entirely into the hands of dominant and reactionary forces. While cyberspace is increasingly dominated by corporate organization, gaming, at its most subversive, can nevertheless produce radical forms of enjoyment which threaten the capitalist norms that are created and endlessly repeated in our daily relationships with mobile phones, videogames, computers and other forms of technological entertainment. Far from being a book solely for dedicated gamers, this book dissects the structure of our relationships to all technological entertainment at a time when entertainment has become ubiquitous. We can no longer escape our fantasies but rather live inside their digital reality.
Download or read book Virtually You The Dangerous Powers of the E Personality written by Elias Aboujaoude and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2012-02-06 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Instantly engaging and eminently accessible . . . . an enlightening and cautionary exploration of an increasingly intrusive aspect of modern society." —Booklist While the Internet can enhance well-being, Elias Aboujaoude has spent years treating patients whose lives have been profoundly disturbed by it. Part of the danger lies in how the Internet allows us to act with exaggerated confidence, sexiness, and charisma. Aboujaoude dubs this new self our “e-personality” and argues that its traits are too potent to be confined online. Offline, too, we’re becoming impatient, unfocused, and urge-driven. Virtually You draws from Aboujaoude’s personal and professional experience to highlight this new phenomenon. The first scrutiny of the virtual world’s transformative power on our psychology, Virtually You demonstrates how real life is being reconfigured in the image of a chat room, and how our identity increasingly resembles that of our avatar.
Download or read book Death by Video Game written by Simon Parkin and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2017-06-13 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The finest book on video games yet. Simon Parkin thinks like a critic, conjures like a novelist, and writes like an artist at the height of his powers—which, in fact, he is." —Tom Bissell, author of Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter On January 31, 2012, a twenty-three-year-old student was found dead at his keyboard in an internet café while the video game he had been playing for three days straight continued to flash on the screen in front of him. Trying to reconstruct what had happened that night, investigative journalist Simon Parkin would discover that there have been numerous other incidents of "death by video game." And so begins a journey that takes Parkin around the world in search of answers: What is it about video games that inspires such tremendous acts of endurance and obsession? Why do we so thoroughly lose our sense of time and reality within this medium? How in the world can people play them . . . to death? In Death by Video Game, Parkin examines the medical evidence and talks to the experts to determine what may be happening, and introduces us to the players and game developers at the frontline of virtual extremism: the New York surgeon attempting to break the Donkey Kong world record . . . the Minecraft player three years into an epic journey toward the edge of the game's vast virtual world . . . the German hacker who risked prison to discover the secrets behind Half-Life 2 . . . Riveting and wildly entertaining, Death by Video Game will change the way we think about our virtual playgrounds as it investigates what it is about them that often proves compelling, comforting, and irresistible to the human mind—except for when it’s not.
Download or read book Pause and Reset written by Nancy M. Petry and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-01-07 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over 90% of children and adolescents play electronic or computerized games, and 25% play for three hours a day or even longer. Although some degree of video game playing is normal, excessive playing can negatively impact schoolwork, kids' social lives, and even their health. Pause and Reset is aimed at parents concerned about the role of gaming in their children's lives. In this informative, reader-friendly book, addiction expert Dr. Nancy Petry sheds light on what constitutes problematic video gaming and what does not, how to determine whether a child, adolescent or young adult may be "addicted" to gaming or developing problems with it, and when to seek professional help. Setting this book apart from others on the subject, the author also provides accessible explanations of the latest science behind how gaming addiction impacts children, adolescents, and families; she also explores the question of whether gaming may have positive effects in certain situations. Finally, Dr. Petry offers three simple, easy-to-implement steps parents can take to reduce and reverse the harmful effects of gaming: Record, Replace, and Reward. Pause and Reset also provides exercises and worksheets to support parents' efforts to help their kids.
Download or read book The Comic Book Story of Video Games written by Jonathan Hennessey and published by Ten Speed Graphic. This book was released on 2017-10-03 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A complete, illustrated history of video games--highlighting the machines, games, and people who have made gaming a worldwide, billion-dollar industry/artform--told in a graphic novel format. Author Jonathan Hennessey and illustrator Jack McGowan present the first full-color, chronological origin story for this hugely successful, omnipresent artform and business. Hennessey provides readers with everything they need to know about video games--from their early beginnings during World War II to the emergence of arcade games in the 1970s to the rise of Nintendo to today's app-based games like Angry Birds and Pokemon Go. Hennessey and McGowan also analyze the evolution of gaming as an artform and its impact on society. Each chapter features spotlights on major players in the development of games and gaming that contains everything that gamers and non-gamers alike need to understand and appreciate this incredible phenomenon.
Download or read book Writing Interactive Music for Video Games written by Michael Sweet and published by Pearson Education. This book was released on 2015 with total page 513 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first complete guide to composing interactive scores for video games. Authored by the developer of Berklee College of Music's pioneering Game Audio program, it covers everything professional composers and music students need to know, and contains exclusive tools for interactive scoring previously available only at Berklee. Drawing on his experience as an award-winning video game composer and in teaching hundreds of music students, the author brings together comprehensive knowledge presented in no other book.
Download or read book Everything Bad is Good for You written by Steven Johnson and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2006-05-02 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the New York Times bestselling author of How We Got To Now and Farsighted Forget everything you’ve ever read about the age of dumbed-down, instant-gratification culture. In this provocative, unfailingly intelligent, thoroughly researched, and surprisingly convincing big idea book, Steven Johnson draws from fields as diverse as neuroscience, economics, and media theory to argue that the pop culture we soak in every day—from Lord of the Rings to Grand Theft Auto to The Simpsons—has been growing more sophisticated with each passing year, and, far from rotting our brains, is actually posing new cognitive challenges that are actually making our minds measurably sharper. After reading Everything Bad is Good for You, you will never regard the glow of the video game or television screen the same way again. With a new afterword by the author.
Download or read book Drama Menu written by Glyn Trefor-Jones and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Packed full of drama games, ideas and suggestions, Drama Menu is a unique new resource for drama teachers.
Download or read book Video Games Your Kids written by Hilarie Cash and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Video Games & Your Kids is for parents who are worried that their children may be spending too much time playing video games. Based on research and the authors' clinical experience, the book explains what gaming addiction is, how much gaming is too much, and the affects gaming has on the body and brain. The authors give gaming advice on each stage of life; birth-2 years, ages 2-6, elementary school years, adolescence, and adult children still living at home. Where there is a problem, the authors provide parents with tools that will help the them successfully set appropriate limits for their children.
Download or read book Love Is What It Does written by Laura Ann Hargrove and published by Xulon Press. This book was released on 2004-05 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jalesia Brantz is a junior in college who has an overwhelming passion for God, family, and friends. She strongly believes that "Love Is What It Does." And even though she doesn't confess to be perfect, she still believes that if Christ is living on the inside, there should be some kind of evidence working on the outside. When Derrick Dubois meets Jalesia, he knew from that very moment that he would do whatever it takes to win her over. Jalesia finds her walk with the Lord put through the fire and tested for its true authenticity following a life-changing tragedy.Will this unexpected tragedy test the bond of Jalesia and Derrick's love for one another? The road to love is not always an easy one. As the two soul mates struggle with deception and devastation, betrayal and aggravation, will they still be able to stand in the end and proclaim, "Love Is What It Does"? Laura Ann Hargrove is a single Christian. She is a native of Tampa, Florida. She has an overwhelming passion for the Lord. There is nothing more worth mentioning than her love for Jesus Christ.
