Actual reading about games thread

[brkl]

So the last thread went way off the rails (sorry about that). I've collated the suggestions mentioned in that thread into a list. I'll try to add others when they are mentioned. Let's keep the suggestions to the format of 1. What is it? 2. Why did you find it interesting? Debate should be handled by night-time back alley meetings organized through private messaging. That is, not here.
 
tberton

Academic journal: Games and Culture

 

Dinosaurs 

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-11-02-the-seven-year-shadow-left-by-modern-warfare

 

ReyTurner

Rob Sherman: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/11/03/i-did-a-thing-on-a-hill/#more-245459

 

TychoCelchuuu

http://altgamescrit.tumblr.com/
http://www.critical-distance.com/
http://iam.benabraham.net/
http://nightmaremode.net/
http://this.isnotablog.com/freeplay/ 
http://goodgameswriting.com/
http://www.hitselfdestruct.com/ (see the "video games" section in the bottom right)
http://exploringbeli...y.blogspot.com/
http://gamesthatexist.com/
http://www.reactionzine.com/
http://twofoldsilenc...enes-lamp.info/
http://www.codeofhonor.com/blog/
http://thiscageisworms.com/ 
http://www.critical-distance.com/2013/12/30/this-year-in-video-game-blogging-2013/

 

juv3nal
GDC talk: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/228400/Video_Why_everything_and_nothing_is_killing_the_game_industry.php
http://www.lostgarden.com/
http://www.psychologyofgames.com/
http://emshort.wordpress.com/
http://www.filfre.net/
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/
http://www.playthepast.org
http://gamestudies.org/
http://critical-proximity.com/ & http://www.twitch.tv/criticalproximity/profile/pastBroadcasts

 

jmbossy
Tim Bissell: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8157257/
 
elmuerte
GDC Vault: http://www.gdcvault.com/
Game Dev Magazine: http://www.gdcvault.com/gdmag
  

sclpls
Jon Shafer of Civ5: http://jonshaferondesign.com/page/7/
Robert Yang: http://www.portfolio.debacle.us/
 
 
The Cineaste
Leigh Alexander: http://leighalexander.net/
Chris Franklin: http://www.errantsignal.com/blog/
George Wiedman: http://www.youtube.com/user/bunnyhopshow?feature=watch
Mattie Brice: http://www.mattiebrice.com/
 
clyde
Jon Ingold writing about text-games: http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1019346/A-World-from-Words-Highly
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/video-games/10610001/How-Octodad-works-as-an-analogy-for-invisible-illnesses.html
 
Lacabra 
Claire Hoskins: http://clairehosking.tumblr.com/
 
 
ihavefivehat
Narrative in games: http://www.ludology.org/articles/VGT_final.pdf
 
Impossidog
Tom Francis: http://www.pentadact.com/
 
gray117
Marshal Mucluhan: Understanding Media
Neil Spiller (ed): Cyber_Reader
Jesper Juul: Half Real
 
aperson
Tom Bissell: http://www.brainygamer.com

http://www.brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/2013/06/the-games-we-deserve.html

 
Jesse Schell: The Art of Game Design - A Book of Lenses
 
brkl
Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman: Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals
Ian Bogost: Persuasive Games (interesting, but I read Bogost with a pinch of salt handy)
Tristan Donovan: Replay (video game history)
Steve Ince: Writing for Video Games (maybe)
 
prettyunsmart[/size]
Kurt Squire: [/size]http://website.education.wisc.edu/kdsquire/
Ian Bogost: http://www.bogost.com/
Journal of Games Criticism: http://gamescriticism.org/
 
SpennyDubz
Ian Bogost: Playing Politics: video games for Politics, Activism, and Advocacy
 
Tim Bissell

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
Ian Bogost: How to Do Things with video games
Johan Huizinga: Homo Ludens
Jane McGonigal: Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World
I. Bogost, S. Ferrari, B. Schweizer: Newsgames: Journalism at Play
D.B. Weiss: Lucky Wander Boy
Tristan Donovan: Replay: The History of Video Games
Tom Bissell: Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter
Mary Flanagan: Critical Play: Radical Game Design
Koster: Theory of Fun for Game Design
Jesse Schell: The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses
S.Swink: Game Feel: A Game Designer's Guide to Virtual Sensation
McKenzie Wark: Gamer Theory
Alexander R. Galloway: Gaming: Essays On Algorithmic Culture
Ian Bogost: Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of video games

Edited November 11, 2014 by brkl

[Jake]

Proposed rule for this thread: if you're going to write a take-down of someone else's suggestion, you must offer something you recommend reading in return, AND it must be proposed on its own terms and not in reference to the work you are taking down (so that your referral cannot just become further dumping). I think the problem with the last thread was that it turned into telling everyone why they were wrong without actually offering anything new to the conversation.

I used to read a lot of critical writing about games but have fallen out of it over the years, so I'm glad this (and the old thread) exist. I've been trying to get back into it so thanks - it's been helpful to be able to see some reading referrals and why people are referring them/what they get out of them.

[aperson]

IIRC the OP of the first thread was interested in Tom Bissell, so I would suggest:

http://www.brainygamer.com (terrible name though!)

It's both a blog and a podcast. (Currently "on hiatus", whatever that means) Tom Bissell has been on the podcast a couple times, as has Steve Gaynor and some other familiar names. It's similar to Bissell's writing in that it's more personal and about the experience than some sort of more specific "game design" analysis.

I appreciate that it's critical and thoughtful without falling into the trap of treating mainstream games as some sort of adversary by default or by adopting a tiresome "I'm outraged!" persona. In fact, one of the most recent posts basically nails the previous "reading about games" thread (of course I am one of the guilty parties there):

http://www.brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/2013/06/the-games-we-deserve.html

It's all worth reading but I particularly like the writing on No More Heroes 1 and 2 (and related links) that really captures the spirit of the first game and also gives one of the most easily digestible explanations for how a sequel that is ostensibly better in every way can not be as good - a concept I think many people get but that is hard to articulate.

Edit:

Editing my post to agree with Spenny. I checked out http://iam.benabraham.net and I don't even see how it's even really game related. Maybe there is some good content there but I need a little help finding it. Debating individual pieces may be a topic for a different thread, but at least linking to them is helpful. (Epecially for blogs)

[Spenny]

If you'll allow me, I have a suggestion for this thread, and that would be instead of linking to outlets, link to specific articles.

 

I think that would first help with actually engaging with the previously listed outlets. I have heard Tim Bissell is good but when you give me a link to his entire body of work, where do I start? Sell me on the outlet by hooking me with the first hit.

 

Secondly it seems the previous thread got derailed as people were arguing over opinions, and not debating ideas. If I link a single article directly, the discussion should naturally direct to debate over the presented ideas in the article. In my short time on these forums I've witnessed amazing debate over potentially highly inflammatory content (the recent Loadout thread [nsfw] comes to mind), why should this thread be any exception?

 

As this is an idea I'm proposing, I will lead by example.

 

Playing Politics: video games for Politics, Activism, and Advocacy by Ian Bogost 

If you have never read Bogost before I think this article is a great place to start understanding what the guy is about. In that article Bogost analyzes some games which he believes are able to inform knowledge of historical events through simulation of them. He then goes on to explain how the same ideas can be used to instead inform a political stance. I think the article starts out pretty dense and dull, but the idea of Procedural Rhetoric he is building up to makes it well worth the read.

[brkl]

I think that's a good idea. It would make a lot of sense to organize the OP entirely differently. Perhaps I will do that in the far-flung future. Anyway, I've updated it. 

 

I like Bogost's idea of procedural rhetoric (I have linked to his book), although he's not the most astute in applying it, IMO. He criticized Gone Home in a manner which to me meant he missed his own point of procedural rhetoric.

 

EDIT: Actually, I'm going to do a thing and just copy Tom Bissell's Bookshelf-section to the OP because it's ridiculous(ly good). Go read Homo Ludens, it's pretty out there.

[Dinosaursssssss]

This hasn't been posted in for a while but the op seems like a good resource so I'm gonna sorta-necro (4 months isn't THAT old, right) this thread to give props to two pieces I like a lot.

 

Embed With...Brendon Chung - Cara Ellison

Between the Embed With series and the S.EXE columns she wrote for RPS Cara is pretty rapidly becoming one of my favorite games writers. I particularly love this piece because rather than focusing very directly on what Brendon is working on, she talks a lot about Glitch City (the indie dev collective where Brendon works) and the people that work there. It feels very personal, and gives some insight into his process that you don't get from most interviews. Obviously Cara also talks a bit about Quadrilateral Cowboy as well, but it feels secondary to situating the reader in his work space and its tone. This piece made me desperately want to go spend some time working at Glitch City LA.

 

Dear Space Marine - JP Grant Aurelius Ventro

This column isn't directly about video games, but I'm also gonna use it to say that if you like Idle Thumbs you would probably really enjoy the Unwinnable Weekly. I think the Thumbs suggested backing the kickstarter on one of the casts but might be wrong. If you enjoy the sort of critical analysis that you hear on Idle Thumbs, you will probably enjoy Unwinnable. A favorite of mine (that's only available if you pay for the issue or subscribe) was written by Jill Scharr and made a strong argument that there is in fact a ghost in Gone Home. Anyway, Dear Space Marine is an advice column written by a Warhammer 40k Space Marine, a concept that is absolutely delightful to me. This piece is written in-character, has some great tonally appropriate jokes, and (I think) is still accessible to a non-fan. You can also directly ask Aurelius for advice on twitter here https://twitter.com/DearSpaceMarine

 

[Bjorn]

A favorite of mine (that's only available if you pay for the issue or subscribe) was written by Jill Scharr and made a strong argument that there is in fact a ghost in Gone Home.

 

WAT?!

 

You can order back issues for $3.50.  Issue 2 has the Gone Home piece in it.  I just bought my first video game magazine in a decade.

[Tanukitsune]

I recently read a book in parts called "Ocho Quilates (8K)" about the history of video games in Spain, it's in Spanish, but it was nice to learn about the history of games in my own country. Wouldn't you know it, it talks a lot about piracy and oddly enough the biggest game store franchise started because some pirates turned a new leaf and also fought for cheaper games.

[namman siggins]

Thread is a treasure cove!

[juv3nal]

I don't know that it's particularly incisive, but this gdc talk is pretty entertaining:

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/228400/Video_Why_everything_and_nothing_is_killing_the_game_industry.php

[Dinosaursssssss]

This piece in Eurogamer from the weekend was interesting. It talks about writing and design in COD4: Modern Warfare and how later games differed from it, and starts to examine how that series has portrayed soldiers over time. Some very interesting thoughts, though it only talks about single player and I imagine one could easily write another article just to tackle the legacy of the multiplayer component.

 

 http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-11-02-the-seven-year-shadow-left-by-modern-warfare

[TychoCelchuuu]

Hey since this thread is up here I can link to Alternative Games Crit, a sweet website that posts cool writing about games:

 

http://altgamescrit.tumblr.com/

[tberton]

I just discovered that there's a scholarly journal dedicated to games. It's called Games and Culture. Unfortunately, like most scholarly journals, I'm not sure if it's accessible outside of a university library system, which is too bad because it seems really interesting.

[Reyturner]

Rob Sherman meditates on the connections between writing and games. "This difficulty lies in the very word “games”, this glyph that we all accept to stand for something greater, and its association, in our culture, with another word. Play."

(Blatantly stolen from Metafilter)

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/11/03/i-did-a-thing-on-a-hill/#more-245459

[Bolegium]

Just came across this article on Eurogamer about Never Alone: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-11-20-never-alone

 

The opening paragraph alone is amazing and prompted me to share before actually finishing the article. The author is Daniel Starkey (https://twitter.com/dcstarkey) and he seems like a really interesting writer. Doing some research on where else he is published (destructoid, kotaku, eurogamer etc.) led me to: http://fiveoutoftenmagazine.com/about/ which also looks like an interesting publication.

 

Also I realised I had read one other amazing article by him a few years ago: http://www.gameranx.com/features/id/11144/article/my-mother-commander-shepard/

 

Going to be keeping an eye out for his writing.

[TychoCelchuuu]

New York Times Magazine article about Porpentine and Twine.

[Bjorn]

Just came across this article on Eurogamer about Never Alone: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-11-20-never-alone

 

The opening paragraph alone is amazing and prompted me to share before actually finishing the article. The author is Daniel Starkey (https://twitter.com/dcstarkey) and he seems like a really interesting writer. Doing some research on where else he is published (destructoid, kotaku, eurogamer etc.) led me to: http://fiveoutoftenmagazine.com/about/ which also looks like an interesting publication.

 

Also I realised I had read one other amazing article by him a few years ago: http://www.gameranx.com/features/id/11144/article/my-mother-commander-shepard/

 

Going to be keeping an eye out for his writing.

 

I didn't realize Never Alone was already out. Need to play that.

That Mass Effect piece actually got me to tear up a little bit, particularly as I watched my god mother struggle for a long time with rheumatoid arthritis. She's been gone a few years now, and I miss the shit out of that badass old lady.

I also like that he identifies that what we need are authentic female characters, not "strong" ones. It's a better word and descriptor.