Terms of Play: Essays on Words That Matter in Videogame Theory

Not what I was expecting. I requested the title because I'm interested in certain aspects of video game studies, and in linguistics. I was a participant and data point in a lot of studies from Nick Yee's "Daedalus Project," so I'm not unfamiliar with some of the work being done on using games as a microcosm from which we can better understand prejudices, behavior, language, and so on, and I was hoping that this book would be using games on a similar vein.

I didn't realize that I was getting a more prescriptive, rhetoric focused book. There are a two chapters based on terms as they are used by gamers, one on the term "huntard," and the other on "QQ." The vast majority of chapters appear to be additions to a conversation about how to show more describe video games, what terms to use when describing video games, and what those terms should actually encompass. I don't mind navel gazing at that level of depth most of the time, but for these chapters the academese felt so thick that I can't say I managed to read a single chapter all the way through, even though I gave it a good try. One other chapter, on the categorization of videogames, straddles the line a little between these two.

I don't think I can give this book a rating, because so much of it was written in a language I don't speak. I can say that unless you are aiming for a PhD in video game studies, you should probably be wary of this title. show less

I have a mixed reaction to this book. I found all of the essays ultimately interesting, to a point, but many of them were very dry and hard to get through with many partial references to other works, implying you had already had access to those, and many dense and convoluted words and sentences. While reading this book I kept flashing back to a Early Childhood Education teacher I had many years ago who encouraged us all to use big difficult words and to reference educations philosophies when talking to the parents of the children in our care in an effort to make them more impressed with us so they will respect our industry more. I felt like that was what was happening throughout much of this book.

That said, I did find many interesting show more ideas in each of the essays even if I didn’t always agree with them and I was exposed to quite a few different ways of seeing and thinking about games that I had never considered before and it was good to see gaming getting treated to not just a more serious approach but ones that were not typical such as violence and sexism.
Overall this book was well worth reading, it was just very hard to get through. show less

I think this book wants to be *a text book on rhetoric* with regard to videogames, instead of a book about videogame language. Be warned, this isn't about say, the role of a 'tank' in a game, but rather 'ergodics', 'noematic' and 'diegetic' and other words that weren't explicitly defined *in the book up front*. I'm not opposed to looking words up but if the book is supposed to be about "Words That Matter in Videogame Theory"...wouldn't you help the layman out by at least defining how you, the author, are using those terms?

I know a lot about video games. Really. I have extensive knowledge about the history, economics, culture, etc of video gaming. My brain contains a plethora of fairly useless information on this topic. I also have a degree in English. This means I can mix drinks and I have more than a passing understanding of academia. I wanted to point that out to give you an idea of where I am coming from with this review. I know exactly what this book is, a vanity project. It was created by a professor for a specific class, and if you are not in said class it is of no use to you. It is INCREDIBLY dense and contains the most navel-gazing essays on the subject I have ever read. Why this would be offered to reviewers is a bit baffling to me. I expect show more this book will only be purchased by people taking the aforementioned class because they have to buy it. I doubt anyone else will ever look at these essays. Nor should they, the book lacks the context to make it understandable. show less

Terms of Play is not for the casual gamer, or even the casual game designer. If “ergodics” means something to you, this will be useful and interesting. As with any collection of essays, the writing quality varies from essay to essay.

Contents
Introduction: Words Matter (Even When Playing with Them) (Zach Waggoner)
Ergodic Effort: Dynamism and Auto-Generated Path-Making (Jeffrey S. Bryan)
To Configure or to Navigate? On Textual Frames (Daniel Golding)
Rule-Playing: Gamers’ Roles in Interacting with the Rules of Play (Engel and Gerben)
Hunting for Identity: Community, Performance and the Curious Case of the "Huntard" in World of Warcraft  (Jeff Holmes)
From Social Realism to Allegorithms of Assemblage as Gaming Activism show more in Minecraft (Holmes)
After Ergodics: Noematic Work and the Function of Diegetic Information in Computer Roleplaying Games (Terrence E. Schenold)
Seeking the Exotic: Orientalist Agency and Space in Adventure Games  (Stephanie Scott)
QQMore: An Examination of the Origins and Modern Usage of QQ in an Online Game Forum (Jon Bakos)
Using Components to Describe Videogames and Their Players (Michael Thomet)
Procedurality and the Problem of Defining Game Mechanics (Richard Colby) show less

Terms of Play: Essays on Words that Matter in Videogame Theory
by Zach Waggoner, editor
McFarland Books, 2013
$40.00; 244 pages
ISBN 978-0-7864-9670-3

I received this book for free as part of LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.

I have been sitting on this book for two years, so that finally became the basis for my review. I just can't read this book. I picked it up and put it down several times during the past two years, and I am now willing to consider the book unreadable and move on.

I have a confession to make. At one point, during a slough of despond, I actually considered doing something like this book as a career. I looked into graduate programs, went to a conference, I even did some thesis work. Thankfully, nothing ever came of it, show more and I regained my senses. Seeing this book, I was fortunate indeed. There are interesting things to say about videogames, but I don't think you will find them here. show less

Interesting look at video games and the words used in development. A good read for anyone interested in game development.