Dungeons and Dreamers: The Rise of Computer Game Culture from Geek to Chic

by Brad King

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This work is a study of the subculture of electronic gaming. It uses the story of an individual, Richard Garriott, as a lens through which to tell the inside story of a marginal subculture that has grown to be part of the mainstream.

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4 reviews
I was there. I was sitting in my friend's basement playing Ultima on a Commodore 64 with a tape drive. I was "inserting cassette 4" to get to the next section/part of the story. I was the one playing Dragon Warrior on the first Nintendo when I realized the sun was coming up. I was the one who was totally happy to be playing as a little square in "Adventure" on my Atari 2600. And yes I was one of those leaning in my seat to peer around corners in Doom. After Doom I kind of backed off video games until City of Heroes and then WOW, both of which I played for about 6 months. Then I went back to WOW a couple times and then I played Skyrim. So my first 15 years of life had a lot more to do with video games than the next 35, but they were show more fun.

I got this book as part of an online secret Santa thing and I originally thought it was about D&D. I love this kind of stuff though and, as mentioned, video games had a lot to do with my life growing up (then D&D took over). I was actually never part of the LAN parties or any of the "community" outside of me and my friends playing the same games or playing them together. Even guilds in WOW didn't really appeal to me because I never seemed to connect with people who had the same ideas about video games that I did, they always seemed to take it too seriously.

Reading books like this about "movements" or events/inventions that changed the world is just really cool to me and I'm always wondering what the next one will be and hoping to be part of it.
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A good book, an important topic. But mislabeled.

It's a history if FPS and MMOs. Which it fine. But it take till page 202 for Myst to even be mentioned.

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8+ Works 232 Members

Brad King is a LibraryThing Author, an author who lists their personal library on LibraryThing.

Common Knowledge

Original title
Dungeons & Dreamers: The Rise of Computer Game Culture from Geek to Chic
Original publication date
2003; 2003-10
Dedication
For mom, dad, Cheri, and Kendra.
All my love.
--BK
To my parents and my brother.
--JB
First words
(Prologue): On a cool fall afternoon in 1972, a trio of Minnesotans pulled into Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, a picturesque lakeside town about an hour north of Chicago.
Richard Garriott flopped onto his bed in the small, two-bunk dorm room at Oklahoma University and surveyed his options.
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"Now that our games are online, we figured it out."
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)(Epilogue): The decision of what new virtual worlds to colonize and build will ultimately lie with gamers themselves.
Blurbers
Hilll, Brad; Martin, Richard A.

Classifications

Genres
Nonfiction, General Nonfiction, Technology, History, Biography & Memoir
DDC/MDS
794.809Arts & recreationRecreation, sports, and performing artsChess, Computer Games / Card GamesElectronic gamesVideo Game History
LCC
GV1469.15 .K56Geography, Anthropology and RecreationRecreation. LeisureRecreation. LeisureGames and amusementsIndoor games and amusementsComputer games. Video games. Fantasy games
BISAC

Statistics

Members
184
Popularity
177,290
Reviews
3
Rating
½ (3.57)
Languages
English
Media
Paper, Ebook
ISBNs
3
UPCs
1
ASINs
3