Overview

The American ""game economy"" has become an enormous enterprise, devouring roughly one-ninth of America's entire economic output. This overview of arguably the most influential segment of the entertainment industry examines the perspectives of gaming enthusiasts, addicts, designers, arcade owners, psychologists, philosophers, and more. Weighing the positive and negative aspects of games, the author considers their effect not only upon the players but upon culture and society. What trade-offs are being made when people play games for twenty-plus hours a week? The author puts particular emphasis on Candy Crush, whose enormous popularity has left all other games far behind. Since 2013 it has been installed over a billion times and its simplicity has disrupted previous game-design assumptions, proving new games don't have to be sophisticated and graphically immersive. He also offers insights from interviews with experts on the mechanics of manipulation. Sophisticated psychological tools are used to design games that are compelling, irresistible, and possibly addicting. In a few case, obsessive game-playing has been the cause of death. Whether you enjoy games as a harmless pastime or are suspicious of their effects on the quality of your family's life, you'll want to read this wide-ranching exploration of the growing game phenomenon.

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9781633883796

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In this delightfully readable book, Eric Geissinger undertakes an exploration of the universal experience of play and its transformation within the digital era. His key insights around the erosion of play across generations, from unstructured imaginative play free of adult supervision to the hyper-structured, over-surveilled, very narrowly proscribed rules based gaming of today is instructive, in terms of the kinds of children and young adults it produces: What we may have gained in safety (or the illusion of it) we've lost in allowing children to engage the world in creative ways; reducing their freedom and challenges has undermined their development of resiliency, leaving a generation of young people stressed and woefully underprepared to navigate an increasingly complex world on their own. Geissinger suggests we take a step back from the virtual, breaking the spell of games, in order to lead a more balanced and happier life. --Dr. Julie M. Albright, digital sociologist, University of Southern California, and author, Left to Their Own Devices

In this delightfully readable book.... Geissinger suggests we take a step back from the virtual, breaking the spell of games, in order to lead a more balanced and happier life. --Dr. Julie M. Albright, digital sociologist, University of Southern California, and author, Left to Their Own Devices In this delightfully readable book, Eric Geissinger undertakes an exploration of the universal experience of play and its transformation within the digital era. His key insights around the erosion of play across generations, from unstructured imaginative play free of adult supervision to the hyper-structured, over-surveilled, very narrowly proscribed rules based gaming of today is instructive, in terms of the kinds of children and young adults it produces: What we may have gained in safety (or the illusion of it) we've lost in allowing children to engage the world in creative ways; reducing their freedom and challenges has undermined their development of resiliency, leaving a generation of young people stressed and woefully underprepared to navigate an increasingly complex world on their own. Geissinger suggests we take a step back from the virtual, breaking the spell of games, in order to lead a more balanced and happier life. --Dr. Julie M. Albright, digital sociologist, University of Southern California, and author, Left to Their Own Devices

Author Information

Eric Geissinger is the author of Virtual Billions- The Genius, the Drug Lord, and the Ivy League Twins behind the Rise of Bitcoin. He has worked as a technical writer for Silicon Valley software companies for seventeen years. His short fiction and poetry have appeared in several literary journals. He lives in the Finger Lakes region of New York with his wife and two daughters.

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