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Electronic Mediations
How to Do Things with Videogames
In recent years, computer games have moved from the margins of popular culture to its center. Reviews of new games and profiles of game designers now regularly appear in the New York Times and the New Yorker , and sales figures for games are reported alongside those of books, music, and movies. They are increasingly used for purposes other than entertainment, yet debates about videogames still fork along one of two accusations of debasement through violence and isolation or defensive paeans to their potential as serious cultural works. In How to Do Things with Videogames , Ian Bogost contends that such generalizations obscure the limitless possibilities offered by the medium’s ability to create complex simulated realities. Bogost, a leading scholar of videogames and an award-winning game designer, explores the many ways computer games are used documenting important historical and cultural events; educating both children and adults; promoting commercial products; and serving as platforms for art, pornography, exercise, relaxation, pranks, and politics. Examining these applications in a series of short, inviting, and provocative essays, he argues that together they make the medium broader, richer, and more relevant to a wider audience. Bogost concludes that as videogames become ever more enmeshed with contemporary life, the idea of gamers as social identities will become obsolete, giving rise to gaming by the masses. But until games are understood to have valid applications across the cultural spectrum, their true potential will remain unrealized. How to Do Things with Videogames offers a fresh starting point to more fully consider games’ progress today and promise for the future.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
37 people are currently reading
1047 people want to read
About the author
Ian Bogost
123 books138 followersIan Bogost is a video game designer, critic and researcher. He holds a joint professorship in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication and in Interactive Computing in the College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he is the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts Distinguished Chair in Media Studies.
He is the author of Unit Operations: An Approach to Videogame Criticism and Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames as well as the co-author of Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System and Newsgames: Journalism at Play. Bogost also released Cow Clicker, a satire and critique of the influx of social network games. His game, A Slow Year, won two awards, Vanguard and Virtuoso, at IndieCade 2010.
He is the author of Unit Operations: An Approach to Videogame Criticism and Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames as well as the co-author of Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System and Newsgames: Journalism at Play. Bogost also released Cow Clicker, a satire and critique of the influx of social network games. His game, A Slow Year, won two awards, Vanguard and Virtuoso, at IndieCade 2010.
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August 5, 2013
Ian Bogost comes across as an interesting guy: judging from this book, he seems to divide his time between reading media theory, history and philosophy on the one hand, and designing videogames on the other. Starting from a Marshall McLuhan-style analysis, his goal here is to demonstrate that videogames are already becoming just another type of media, like print or film. As with more traditional media, they can basically be used to do anything. The main reason that most people aren't already aware of this is that videogames are still fairly new, and gamers tend to be a closed community. People outside that community (I am one) are unaware of how rich videogame culture has already become. We only see the biggest commercial games; imagine what your view of literature would be if you thought it consisted exclusively of Dan Brown, James Patterson, J.K. Rowling and E.L. James.
Bogost aims to correct that, and in about 20 short chapters shows you many less obvious directions in which videogames can be developed. You have conceptual art games, like a reworked Super Mario where you can't do anything, and Mario inevitably dies each time; or, more subtly, another hacked version where all the standard conventions of the game have been subverted so that you need to do the opposite of what you normally would. He has political statement games designed to awaken empathy, like one where a girl in Darfur has to find water while hiding from Janjaweed patrols. There are electioneering games - the most common theme seems to be parodies of Space Invaders - and some extremely tasteless and disturbing erotic games. There's a terrifying dueling game called PainStation where players can inflict real injuries on each other.
Throughout, there are many interesting discussions of videogame ethics. Bogost, who like most literary theorists enjoys paradoxes, argues quite plausibly that the NRA's hyperrealistic gun game is a good thing, since it shows people what guns are really like (you spend most of your time reloading). Similarly, his main criticism of a notorious Wii-based simulated torture game is not that it's too realistic, but rather that it's not realistic enough. The dangerous thing, he argues, is to present torture as a pleasantly sanitized activity; if you could live through an accurately simulated experience of waterboarding someone or sawing through their leg, you probably wouldn't want to do it and you would oppose torture more strongly. I'm not sure I agree, but he has clearly thought a lot about these issues.
The book is literate and well-written. Even people who don't play videogames at all may well like it; if you're a gamer yourself, and don't already know about him, you should really consider checking him out.
Bogost aims to correct that, and in about 20 short chapters shows you many less obvious directions in which videogames can be developed. You have conceptual art games, like a reworked Super Mario where you can't do anything, and Mario inevitably dies each time; or, more subtly, another hacked version where all the standard conventions of the game have been subverted so that you need to do the opposite of what you normally would. He has political statement games designed to awaken empathy, like one where a girl in Darfur has to find water while hiding from Janjaweed patrols. There are electioneering games - the most common theme seems to be parodies of Space Invaders - and some extremely tasteless and disturbing erotic games. There's a terrifying dueling game called PainStation where players can inflict real injuries on each other.
Throughout, there are many interesting discussions of videogame ethics. Bogost, who like most literary theorists enjoys paradoxes, argues quite plausibly that the NRA's hyperrealistic gun game is a good thing, since it shows people what guns are really like (you spend most of your time reloading). Similarly, his main criticism of a notorious Wii-based simulated torture game is not that it's too realistic, but rather that it's not realistic enough. The dangerous thing, he argues, is to present torture as a pleasantly sanitized activity; if you could live through an accurately simulated experience of waterboarding someone or sawing through their leg, you probably wouldn't want to do it and you would oppose torture more strongly. I'm not sure I agree, but he has clearly thought a lot about these issues.
The book is literate and well-written. Even people who don't play videogames at all may well like it; if you're a gamer yourself, and don't already know about him, you should really consider checking him out.
January 20, 2015
An enriching take on mutiple facets of what contemporary games are capable of (or can strive for).
The 'Empathy' chapter helped me define what makes defenceless protagonists in recent horror games (such as Amnesia: The Dark Descent) more appealing than chainsaw-yielding machos.
Rez sounds like a title I'd like to try. With or without the trance vibrator. ;)
The 'Disinterest' chapter makes the provocative claim that game violence should be portrayed as realistically as possible in order to make players feel the consequences of harming another being, de-trivializing death and torture. This set me thinking: doesn't continual exposure to realistic violence harden the viewers against its effects? The same way that people become inured to the sight of dead bodies in areas where death is more commonplace? (A friend of mine described evolving such a mental screen after spending several weeks in a poorer town in India where the dead are not immediately carried away but often left to lie in the streets for a few days.) I wonder if there're any serious studies on the existence of such a correlation.
As a whole, I wish the book went into more detail for all of its arguments and gave more examples. As it is now, it provides good starting points.
The 'Empathy' chapter helped me define what makes defenceless protagonists in recent horror games (such as Amnesia: The Dark Descent) more appealing than chainsaw-yielding machos.
Rez sounds like a title I'd like to try. With or without the trance vibrator. ;)
The 'Disinterest' chapter makes the provocative claim that game violence should be portrayed as realistically as possible in order to make players feel the consequences of harming another being, de-trivializing death and torture. This set me thinking: doesn't continual exposure to realistic violence harden the viewers against its effects? The same way that people become inured to the sight of dead bodies in areas where death is more commonplace? (A friend of mine described evolving such a mental screen after spending several weeks in a poorer town in India where the dead are not immediately carried away but often left to lie in the streets for a few days.) I wonder if there're any serious studies on the existence of such a correlation.
As a whole, I wish the book went into more detail for all of its arguments and gave more examples. As it is now, it provides good starting points.
March 26, 2015
Overall, an interesting book that game designers should read. Some parts are slow or shallow, though.
+ Nice, albeit not unique or even innovative, comparison of game with other media. Core idea: a medium leads to a spectrum of expression, of things that can be done with it. As the different ranges of the spectrum are explored, the medium ceases to be a place for innovation, of doing new things, and becomes standardized, even boring. This book is about surveying the important ranges in the expression spectrum of games.
+++ A surprisingly well-written and accessible book of game critique. Ian Bogost is a game developer with broader interests talking to other game developers with broader interests.
+++ Many concepts have been successfully applied by the author in developing games with a purpose. As a limitation, many of the applications are advergames or sims, especially political. I'd like to try Persuasive Games' The Arcade Wire: Airport Security.
+++ Idea that people will stop calling themselves "gamers", much as they do not call themselves "TVers" or "readers" (with the exception of fanatic bookworms, such as the Goodreads crowd).
+++ The chapter on kitsch is very interesting, and explains well why FarmVille and other social games succeed so well commercially, while being relatively unappreciated (or simply frowned upon) by both hardcore gamers and game critics: it is "an art they [me, you, the masses of gamers around the world] can understand". There's even a hint of religion in there, especially Puritanism.
+++ Very interesting and inspiring analysis of zen games, for relaxation and reflection. Selection and analysis of prior zen games also very useful. I really loved Flow, although I've played it only in a museum.
+++ Very good coverage of vignette games.
++ Good selection of games for change, including Darfur is Dying.
++ Good chapter on newsgames. Interesting idea in tabloid games, see Zidane Head-Butt. Me: what would be a The Sun of games? Interesting idea in editorial games.
+ The review of artgames. Many excellent examples when discussing artgames, including Jason Rohrer's.
+ Nice contrast: casual games are lean back, hardcore games are lean forward.
+ The speculation on what should constitute a casual game is interesting.
+ The notion of proceduralist games, which favor introspection over immediate gratification, is also interesting in the context of creating ethical gameplay experiences -- this book offers imo a much better theory on the topic, than Miguel Sicart's in Beyond Choices The Design of Ethical Gameplay.
+ The idea that lower resolution GFX and SFX can reflect design goals, not lower production quality.
+ Interesting idea in snapshot games -- games of facile use, little content, useful for a fleeting moment. Not something I'd like to explore, but interesting concept taken from the world of photography, nevertheless.
+ "The feat made Obama the first presidential candidate to advertise inside a videogame."
+ The notion of "sublime mastery" and the discussion about how "a low, rather than high, ceiling to mastery might offer greater rather than less appeal". Are we thrill seekers or mastery seekers? Ask players of Candy Crush, Bejeweled, Zuma, etc.
+ Take on education and training games interesting. (But take on serious games overall too shallow, see negative point.)
+/- The chapter on titillation is not deep or thoughtful.
+/- The coverage of games with a purpose (gwap) could have been deeper and broader.
--- The book slows down considerably at times, especially in music and travel-related chapters.
--- Some of the theories are particularly thin. Who can decide if a game is primarily proceduralist or, the contrary, its visual/aural/textual presence is predominant. Except for the artgames that purposely reduce or remove the other elements, different people would experience the games in different ways, and likely not as proceduralist games. Is go, due to its "easy to learn, hard to master" philosophy, a casual game? Is "catchiness" an useful and needed concept?
- The references to other media are nicely explained for everyone, but could seem shallow to an art critic. (It is difficult to be an art critic of several media.)
- The take on metaphores in games is rather thin.
- Shallow survey of serious games. The next edition of the book could cover UN's use of Minecraft.
+ Nice, albeit not unique or even innovative, comparison of game with other media. Core idea: a medium leads to a spectrum of expression, of things that can be done with it. As the different ranges of the spectrum are explored, the medium ceases to be a place for innovation, of doing new things, and becomes standardized, even boring. This book is about surveying the important ranges in the expression spectrum of games.
+++ A surprisingly well-written and accessible book of game critique. Ian Bogost is a game developer with broader interests talking to other game developers with broader interests.
+++ Many concepts have been successfully applied by the author in developing games with a purpose. As a limitation, many of the applications are advergames or sims, especially political. I'd like to try Persuasive Games' The Arcade Wire: Airport Security.
+++ Idea that people will stop calling themselves "gamers", much as they do not call themselves "TVers" or "readers" (with the exception of fanatic bookworms, such as the Goodreads crowd).
+++ The chapter on kitsch is very interesting, and explains well why FarmVille and other social games succeed so well commercially, while being relatively unappreciated (or simply frowned upon) by both hardcore gamers and game critics: it is "an art they [me, you, the masses of gamers around the world] can understand". There's even a hint of religion in there, especially Puritanism.
+++ Very interesting and inspiring analysis of zen games, for relaxation and reflection. Selection and analysis of prior zen games also very useful. I really loved Flow, although I've played it only in a museum.
+++ Very good coverage of vignette games.
++ Good selection of games for change, including Darfur is Dying.
++ Good chapter on newsgames. Interesting idea in tabloid games, see Zidane Head-Butt. Me: what would be a The Sun of games? Interesting idea in editorial games.
+ The review of artgames. Many excellent examples when discussing artgames, including Jason Rohrer's.
+ Nice contrast: casual games are lean back, hardcore games are lean forward.
+ The speculation on what should constitute a casual game is interesting.
+ The notion of proceduralist games, which favor introspection over immediate gratification, is also interesting in the context of creating ethical gameplay experiences -- this book offers imo a much better theory on the topic, than Miguel Sicart's in Beyond Choices The Design of Ethical Gameplay.
+ The idea that lower resolution GFX and SFX can reflect design goals, not lower production quality.
+ Interesting idea in snapshot games -- games of facile use, little content, useful for a fleeting moment. Not something I'd like to explore, but interesting concept taken from the world of photography, nevertheless.
+ "The feat made Obama the first presidential candidate to advertise inside a videogame."
+ The notion of "sublime mastery" and the discussion about how "a low, rather than high, ceiling to mastery might offer greater rather than less appeal". Are we thrill seekers or mastery seekers? Ask players of Candy Crush, Bejeweled, Zuma, etc.
+ Take on education and training games interesting. (But take on serious games overall too shallow, see negative point.)
+/- The chapter on titillation is not deep or thoughtful.
+/- The coverage of games with a purpose (gwap) could have been deeper and broader.
--- The book slows down considerably at times, especially in music and travel-related chapters.
--- Some of the theories are particularly thin. Who can decide if a game is primarily proceduralist or, the contrary, its visual/aural/textual presence is predominant. Except for the artgames that purposely reduce or remove the other elements, different people would experience the games in different ways, and likely not as proceduralist games. Is go, due to its "easy to learn, hard to master" philosophy, a casual game? Is "catchiness" an useful and needed concept?
- The references to other media are nicely explained for everyone, but could seem shallow to an art critic. (It is difficult to be an art critic of several media.)
- The take on metaphores in games is rather thin.
- Shallow survey of serious games. The next edition of the book could cover UN's use of Minecraft.
July 13, 2012
Enjoyed this, though it really ought to have been called something like ‘What Games Do and How They Do It’. For the most part it’s more descriptive than it is prescriptive, which is fine: Bogost is a smart and engaging writer willing to take on most common videogame criticisms while adding a few of his own to the mix. I was surprised to see that while Bogost is still perhaps most famous for labelling gamification as ‘bullshit’, a great many of the games written about here are what might be called ‘serious’ games or independent ‘concept’ games. And often I got the feeling that he is rather more interested in games as concepts rather than the more popular trends in gaming.
But while games like the original ‘E.T.: the Extra-Terrestrial’ might make for good stories about the burial of thousands of unwanted cartridges in a New Mexico landfill site, plus the difficulties of game design, the nature of individual creativity and the sheer weirdness of those early titles, many of those games just aren’t much fun to play in practice. Of course there are plenty of exceptions which are far more playable (‘Braid’, ‘Passage’ et al) and I don’t really think there ought to be any distinction between games that are fun and games that try to be something else, something more. Certainly I would like to see more games like the ones the author admires.
I found his conclusion puzzling. ‘Soon gamers will be an anomaly,’ he writes: ‘If we’re very fortunate, they’ll disappear altogether. Instead we’ll just find people, ordinary people of all thoughts. And sometimes those people will play videogames. And it won’t be a big deal, at all’. What he means is that the ‘gamer’ as we now know him/her will become an anachronism; everybody will play games in the future, some more than others. Already the games industry rivals the movies in terms of prestige and revenue, and a lot of people sure do play those facebook and iPhone games; but equally it seems to me that the hardcore subset of gamers aren’t going away either. Even as games are getting bigger and wilder and weirder, game culture is become progressively more varied, less dominated by a few select figures and influences. The idea that everyone might one day play games is promising, and I do think we’re going that way, but the sheer range of stuff that games can demand of a player mean that there’ll always be a pretty big market for the most obsessive of gamers.
But while games like the original ‘E.T.: the Extra-Terrestrial’ might make for good stories about the burial of thousands of unwanted cartridges in a New Mexico landfill site, plus the difficulties of game design, the nature of individual creativity and the sheer weirdness of those early titles, many of those games just aren’t much fun to play in practice. Of course there are plenty of exceptions which are far more playable (‘Braid’, ‘Passage’ et al) and I don’t really think there ought to be any distinction between games that are fun and games that try to be something else, something more. Certainly I would like to see more games like the ones the author admires.
I found his conclusion puzzling. ‘Soon gamers will be an anomaly,’ he writes: ‘If we’re very fortunate, they’ll disappear altogether. Instead we’ll just find people, ordinary people of all thoughts. And sometimes those people will play videogames. And it won’t be a big deal, at all’. What he means is that the ‘gamer’ as we now know him/her will become an anachronism; everybody will play games in the future, some more than others. Already the games industry rivals the movies in terms of prestige and revenue, and a lot of people sure do play those facebook and iPhone games; but equally it seems to me that the hardcore subset of gamers aren’t going away either. Even as games are getting bigger and wilder and weirder, game culture is become progressively more varied, less dominated by a few select figures and influences. The idea that everyone might one day play games is promising, and I do think we’re going that way, but the sheer range of stuff that games can demand of a player mean that there’ll always be a pretty big market for the most obsessive of gamers.
June 4, 2013
It’s not thrilling, but taking a measured, thoughtful position on a subject rarely is. Dismisses critics of videogames and boosters both as forgetting that each game comes from a unique place and will be read, sorry, played, in ways in which make their impact complicated, if not impossible, to deduce. Each chapter is titled by a single word (Snapshots, Music, Pranks, Exercise) that Bogost relates to the past or future of gaming. Some of the chapters seemed pretty unnecessary, but that might be personal bias—anyone who opens a chapter on exercise by declaring, “Exercise is boring” has already lost me. Still, it’s scholarly without being overloaded with references, engagingly written (if you’re a loafer!), and short. I would check out Bogost’s blog before diving in.
May 16, 2019
A fantastic collection of observations about how video games are used, both knowingly and unknowingly, in our daily lives. And this ignorance is exactly want the book hopes for. Being a "gamer" is an identity because games have reached social ubiquity yet. But when they do, people won't need the term "gamer" because the medium will be as integrated in our lives as every other popular medium. At least, that's the hope.
gave-up-on
June 23, 2015zzzzz
December 17, 2022
Bogost provides some decent surveys of various things that video games "do" through a series of tiny essays. While this book has some neat and interesting points, especially in the introduction and conclusion, most of the essays don't really delve deeply enough into the topic to generate a tonne of though (though I guess that's the point?). Unsurprisingly with the rapidly changing media and video games landscape, many points in this book are quite dated - and oftentimes politically dubious (he even seems to sweep away the fact that he personally worked on a game that was funded by the Republican party by presenting the game as somehow bipartisan). The conclusion, however, is great - and signals towards a post-gaming media ecology that we currently seem to exist within - at least, partially.
October 6, 2023
Bogost’s main intent with “How to Do Things With Videogames” is in “demystifying” (150) videogames so that the term “gamer” erodes until players of videogames are merely people, such as movie fans and critics are simply people in those seats.
The entirety of the book unravels 20ish threads on videogames that prove useful to hopeful videogame critics, like myself, but is also certainly accessible to the average reader and player of games as well. Each thread provides new videogames to approach, new methods in which they can be analyzed, and further appreciation for the medium.
As Bogost himself writes, this is not the end-all be-all of videogame criticism, it is instead just another step towards opening the doors for would-be players.
The entirety of the book unravels 20ish threads on videogames that prove useful to hopeful videogame critics, like myself, but is also certainly accessible to the average reader and player of games as well. Each thread provides new videogames to approach, new methods in which they can be analyzed, and further appreciation for the medium.
As Bogost himself writes, this is not the end-all be-all of videogame criticism, it is instead just another step towards opening the doors for would-be players.
August 11, 2020
I love the framing of the world of games within a microecological context, but wanted more about the connections between games/what games do within that habitat. Bogost sets out to write an unjudgmental book accomplishing its titular purpose and succeeds - I learned a lot of fun things about games that I hadn’t known before! Some sections are more successful than others, to a frustrating degree. A few chapters are succinct, informative and imaginative, a few feel like throwaways, and some - especially the chapter on titillation which I was so stoked for - are compacted to the point of seeming irresponsible. I enjoyed what I learned here but I wanted more.
June 5, 2018
This isn't quite what I expected, as nearly every game referenced in this book is an extremely rare art-piece mini-game created solely to prove some sort of point. I'd be intrigued to try lots of the wacky concept games mentioned in the book, but I'm sure I'll never actually come across any of them.
Still, this book provides an interesting perspective on how videogames are simply another type of media like music, books, and movies, and how they can move their audience in different ways. I would've enjoyed it more if the author didn't constantly flaunt a ridiculously expansive vocabulary.
Still, this book provides an interesting perspective on how videogames are simply another type of media like music, books, and movies, and how they can move their audience in different ways. I would've enjoyed it more if the author didn't constantly flaunt a ridiculously expansive vocabulary.
August 4, 2019
This is the first book I’ve read that’s featured a gameography. It was cool to see how many video games had such a wide range of uses, and how thy could be applied to and related to in the real world. Also it was nice to be see some actual criticisms of games that aren’t just “its bad because it’s bad” or “I didn’t like the story” but instead were based on a complete breakdown on game mechanics and game designing philosophies. Cool book
September 1, 2017
Good read!
I'm not generally a fan of some of Bogost's other works, but this is honestly quite compelling. Simple, good analysis on games that fall into a variety of themes based on how they interact with the outside world.
I'm not generally a fan of some of Bogost's other works, but this is honestly quite compelling. Simple, good analysis on games that fall into a variety of themes based on how they interact with the outside world.
November 20, 2017
A fairly enjoyable and brief look into video games and how they are used in unconventional ways (for instance in political campaigns). Perhaps not as enlightening as the title would have you believe but a nice collection of writings all the same.
March 14, 2017
I really enjoy Bogost's writing about videogames. This book charts all the different directions videogames will flow as a medium as they seep into mundanity.
March 16, 2021
2.5* some genuinely interesting thoughts mixed with completely hermetic or uninspiring ones. I do not recommend reading this book to be honest.
July 3, 2022
short form vignettes on curiosities in gaming; got me excited to read longer essays about video games
Read
February 28, 2023How to Do Things with Videogames (Electronic Mediations) by Ian Bogost (2011)
January 31, 2020
this book is 100% wonderful
March 24, 2017
Reading this book gave me flashbacks to my undergraduate thesis at Ohio State University and my attempt at graduate school in the digital humanities at University of Maryland. In a good way. It was good to see how much the field of video game studies and digital humanities has changed from 2005/2006 to 2011, when this book was written, even if some of the things he mentions have changed, and other things have come along that would probably shifted his argument if he wrote the book now (mobile gaming is way more prevalent now than it was in 2011, for instance).
I read this for the Read Harder Challenge 2017 ("Read a nonfiction book about technology.")
I read this for the Read Harder Challenge 2017 ("Read a nonfiction book about technology.")
November 3, 2013
How to Do Things With Videogames might not be the book you're expecting it to be. It's not a game design book that discusses technical solutions, neither is it a book of videogame criticism focused on the effectiveness of individual titles. Rather, it's an eye-opener book meant to show anyone and everyone what has been done with videogames so far in their relatively short history. Indeed, a better title for this book might be How Things Have Been Done With Videogames. As such, it reads more like a highlight reel of Bogost's blog posts on videogames than a single argument that unfolds from chapter to chapter.
While the individual chapters do not linearly unfold a single argument, Bogost frames the collection as evidence for one major point he wishes to make. He states this point explicitly in the introduction: "We can understand the relevance of a medium by looking at the variety of things it does." The collection of essays that follows this introduction proves this point, which in turn is used to argue his final point in the conclusion: "Soon gamers will be the anomaly. If we're very fortunate, they'll disappear altogether. Instead we'll just find people of all sorts. And sometimes those people will play videogames. And it won't be a big deal, at all."
It may seem contradictory to write a book about videogames just to suggest that the gamer community will die out, but really what Bogost is trying to do is show how games will only continue to increase in use and relevance in our society such that we will no longer consider those who play videogames as some kind of specialized hobbyists. It's an interesting blend of hope and submission that Bogost presents the reader; videogames will indeed continue to grow in scope and legitimacy in society, but at the same time they will lose their edgy appeal and excitement until they become just another medium we interact with.
Read my full review here: http://complicatethenarrative.blogspo...
While the individual chapters do not linearly unfold a single argument, Bogost frames the collection as evidence for one major point he wishes to make. He states this point explicitly in the introduction: "We can understand the relevance of a medium by looking at the variety of things it does." The collection of essays that follows this introduction proves this point, which in turn is used to argue his final point in the conclusion: "Soon gamers will be the anomaly. If we're very fortunate, they'll disappear altogether. Instead we'll just find people of all sorts. And sometimes those people will play videogames. And it won't be a big deal, at all."
It may seem contradictory to write a book about videogames just to suggest that the gamer community will die out, but really what Bogost is trying to do is show how games will only continue to increase in use and relevance in our society such that we will no longer consider those who play videogames as some kind of specialized hobbyists. It's an interesting blend of hope and submission that Bogost presents the reader; videogames will indeed continue to grow in scope and legitimacy in society, but at the same time they will lose their edgy appeal and excitement until they become just another medium we interact with.
Read my full review here: http://complicatethenarrative.blogspo...
September 22, 2012
An interesting look at the possible uses for video games, Bogost considers a variety of topics ranging from the mundane to the shocking. Of particular interest to me was the chapter on Reverence in which he considers the reaction of the church to the use of Manchester Cathedral in the game Resistance: The Fall of Man. Despite the free branding and the accessibility of a worldwide audience being able to view the church, the clergy was unhappy with the structure being used in a violent video game. This calls into question the moral implications for using images. Is it wrong to input reproductions of public cultural structures? Or, is it acceptable because it is being used as a symbol for good? In my mind, the latter is true.
I also enjoyed the chapter on Empathy and the Conclusion because both address the possibility of games working toward social improvement. It came as no suprise to me that Bogost is affiliated with Jane McGonigal, in making the game Cruel 2 B Kind. This idea of games as potentially changing the world is an interesting one that I look forward to seeing more research about.
I didn't give this book five stars because of the inclusion of the chapter on pranks and titillation. Both I found ridiculous, but this may be my aversion to both things in reality, and less to do with his writing.
Overall, I'm pleased with this book and will keep it on the front of my bookshelf for easy reference when it comes time to write my own pieces on games and literacy. I appreciated his unique perspective and broad research base.
I also enjoyed the chapter on Empathy and the Conclusion because both address the possibility of games working toward social improvement. It came as no suprise to me that Bogost is affiliated with Jane McGonigal, in making the game Cruel 2 B Kind. This idea of games as potentially changing the world is an interesting one that I look forward to seeing more research about.
I didn't give this book five stars because of the inclusion of the chapter on pranks and titillation. Both I found ridiculous, but this may be my aversion to both things in reality, and less to do with his writing.
Overall, I'm pleased with this book and will keep it on the front of my bookshelf for easy reference when it comes time to write my own pieces on games and literacy. I appreciated his unique perspective and broad research base.
February 12, 2024
Bogost covers a lot in this collection of essays, and much I had never thought about before. Each of these could be expanded and updated and studied. This was published in 2011 and indie game development has exploded since then. So there is a lot more to talk about in almost every category here (electioneering, titillation, music, etc.). VR offers more to think about. Some of the chapters were standouts for me (empathy, reverence). Some chapters are more straightforward video game analyses while others take a more literary or aesthetic approach. That Bogost shows have video games are relevant in so many domains is really impressive and thought-provoking.
When I read the relaxation chapter, I was intrigued that he used flOw because I recently purchased it. That chapter is a good example of some good counterintuitive analysis. flOw is marketed as this nice, relaxing game in the "eat other things and get bigger" genre. The visuals and sound are really nice, but the mechanics of the game are in fact not relaxing, as Bogost argues. However, there have been numerous games released since the 2011 publication of this book that do a much better job of being relaxing to play. Abzu is one that comes to mind.
Anyway, worth picking up to browse through and find some discussion that interests you.
When I read the relaxation chapter, I was intrigued that he used flOw because I recently purchased it. That chapter is a good example of some good counterintuitive analysis. flOw is marketed as this nice, relaxing game in the "eat other things and get bigger" genre. The visuals and sound are really nice, but the mechanics of the game are in fact not relaxing, as Bogost argues. However, there have been numerous games released since the 2011 publication of this book that do a much better job of being relaxing to play. Abzu is one that comes to mind.
Anyway, worth picking up to browse through and find some discussion that interests you.
January 19, 2016
Despite its title, How to Do Things with Videogames is not a how-to guide. What it is, instead, is a fantastic primer for the capabilities and potentials of videogames, as well as the current state of affairs, of what video games are already doing. Each essay in this book, of which there are twenty, addresses a small, approachable problem, talks about why it is important in some way, and examines what games are doing. Largely, Bogost isn't concerned with games MIGHT do, but is interested in looking at what they're already doing, with a large part of his focus being on the academic community to look at games more seriously and address them for what they are, in an intellectual way, rather than simply as entertainment products, or as an inferior version of some future utopia. Largely this works.
While this is not nearly as in-depth or based in the ideas of rhetoric and comprehension as Persuasive Games, the text of Bogost this most closely resembles, it is supremely more approachable, intersting, and useful. More books like this, that straddle the academic and the layman and hope to bridge them together, are certainly needed, and that this does this without dumbing down the conversation for one or speaking down to the other is quite a feat.
While this is not nearly as in-depth or based in the ideas of rhetoric and comprehension as Persuasive Games, the text of Bogost this most closely resembles, it is supremely more approachable, intersting, and useful. More books like this, that straddle the academic and the layman and hope to bridge them together, are certainly needed, and that this does this without dumbing down the conversation for one or speaking down to the other is quite a feat.
December 27, 2013
Bogost does exactly what he sets out to do in this book: show readers the many ways in which video games are used in society. As someone who enjoys video games, I found the book to be a refreshing perspective on an often misunderstood media. He examines video games as mediums of expression, beyond the basic approach of video games as an example of escapism. I truly enjoyed Bogost's writing style and format for the book. Each chapter begins providing the historical narrative for the chapter's topic in gaming. For example, in his chapter "Transit," Bogost shares the way in which the industrial revolution has changed culture's concept of the space between destinations. I can get on an airplane in Harrisburg and step off in London. Bogost argues that the imagery of the journey is lost because of its brevity (as this journey would have taken over a year at one point). Video games restore the lost appreciation of the art of transit and the experience of moving from place to place. In addition to the layout of his book, Bogost's sometimes funny style is a nice reprieve from the typical academic text.
February 13, 2017
A good and strange read.
August 19, 2014
Ian Bogost is the Chuck Klosterman on video game theory.
This is not a compliment.
There are some great arguments in this book, however they are bogged down by inserting himself (and the games he has helped to develop) in his research. I love the idea of media ecology, and the need to figure out how games are a part of our culture and influence our actions. I love the idea of the extinction of the "gamer" as video games become just another way the masses consume media, that is very cool. And there are some great nuggets about how games shape our physical space (gender, bodies, etc.), and how video games can replicate spaces of reflection or meditation, but it is bogged down by Bogost inserting himself into the argument. What may work for some authors (like Susan J. Douglas in Where the Girls are) weakens his positionality. Also, the chapter on "Kitsch" may just make you scream.
This is not a compliment.
There are some great arguments in this book, however they are bogged down by inserting himself (and the games he has helped to develop) in his research. I love the idea of media ecology, and the need to figure out how games are a part of our culture and influence our actions. I love the idea of the extinction of the "gamer" as video games become just another way the masses consume media, that is very cool. And there are some great nuggets about how games shape our physical space (gender, bodies, etc.), and how video games can replicate spaces of reflection or meditation, but it is bogged down by Bogost inserting himself into the argument. What may work for some authors (like Susan J. Douglas in Where the Girls are) weakens his positionality. Also, the chapter on "Kitsch" may just make you scream.
October 5, 2011
Here is what drives me nuts about the larger, academic conversation about games: incestuous anecdotes are provided to support a position and/ or authors grapple for territory by introducing new terminology - even when the old terminology will do. While Bogost has done a lot for the ongoing discussions and heightened academic attention afforded games, I often find that he does more to derail raising the level of conversation out of a laundry list of games that exemplify his argument; here, that argument is essentially "games do things." Well, duh. I'm still waiting on the book where someone takes the conversation to a new place or gets us really digging into an interesting debate. This entry in the pantheon of VG texts is not it.
Best sections: Empathy, Throwaways
Best sections: Empathy, Throwaways
January 19, 2014
An interesting (partial) tour of the various functions that Games have already fulfilled as a medium.
Thankfully, the author does not dwell long on the question of "Are Games Art?" but instead moves on to enumerate the ways in which we've used them to capture different ideas, roles, and models.
A chapter of particular interest was on the subject of empathy. A number of Serious Games are discussed that deal with lessening player power (an uncommon thing in AAA games). The chapter even proposes that the notorious E.T. Atari game, whose cartridges now occupy a landfill, may actually have been a game in this category and that the consumer market was not yet ready for a game that models an experience of alienation and persecution (as the movie did).
Thankfully, the author does not dwell long on the question of "Are Games Art?" but instead moves on to enumerate the ways in which we've used them to capture different ideas, roles, and models.
A chapter of particular interest was on the subject of empathy. A number of Serious Games are discussed that deal with lessening player power (an uncommon thing in AAA games). The chapter even proposes that the notorious E.T. Atari game, whose cartridges now occupy a landfill, may actually have been a game in this category and that the consumer market was not yet ready for a game that models an experience of alienation and persecution (as the movie did).
May 8, 2012
Bogost's book provides a great, interesting introductory examination of the many different kind of things that can be and have been done with videogames now that they're breaking out of their stigmatized shell.
Short illustrative chapters center around various themes, & ultimately broadened my own understanding of the media. Info is presented with little critical assessment or moral judgment on Bogost's part, though he does point to many references outside the book that dish that sort of dirt, if you're so inclined.
Great resources inside, too, including a game bibliography, enabling some real post-reading digging for those not thrilled with the book's lack of depth.
Short illustrative chapters center around various themes, & ultimately broadened my own understanding of the media. Info is presented with little critical assessment or moral judgment on Bogost's part, though he does point to many references outside the book that dish that sort of dirt, if you're so inclined.
Great resources inside, too, including a game bibliography, enabling some real post-reading digging for those not thrilled with the book's lack of depth.
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