Overview

What if life is a game? Are you winning? Have you even decided what ‘winning’ is? Game design could be defined in many ways, but here the term is used to denote the practice of creating choices. Designing a game, in this sense, involves crafting limits, rewards, incentives, and risks in such a way that the person who interacts with the game – the player – makes choices that have consequences. Edward Castronova urges readers to think about the fundamentals of the human condition and compare them to different games that we all know. In some ways, life is like an idle game: providing unchallenging distractions that fit easily into a person's daily routine. In other ways, life is like the game Minesweeper: You poke in different places to learn about what you don’t know, taking care to avoid big explosions. Or, life is like a role-playing game: You adopt a persona and speak your part, always seeking adventure. Bringing together questions relating to diverse fields – such as politics, economics, sociology and philosophy - Castronova persuades readers to broaden the scope of game design to answer questions about life’s everyday obstacles. The object of this book is to take seriously the idea that life is a game. The goal is not to make readers wealthier or healthier. Its goal is to go on a journey into the human condition, with game design as a guide.

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9781501359187

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Reviews

Life Is a Game goes beyond the new field of game design - beyond game theory and beyond the neurobiology of games ... Instead, the book centers on the human condition as it is reflected in game thinking ... Life Is a Game is inherently interdisciplinary, bringing together content from across academic fields, and appealing to any scholarly and lay readers with interests in politics, philosophy, economics, sociology, and of course, game design. * Popular Culture Studies Journal * Edward Castranova is one of the most brilliant minds ever to study games, so it's no surprise that his latest book, Life is a Game, is fascinating and wise. But it's more than that. It's also a hell of a lot of fun to entertain these mindblowing ideas - I couldn't put it down. This is must-reading for anyone who wants a a fresh philosophy on life, and a profound look at the deepest meaning of games. This book is grounded in history and centuries of wisdom, but at the same time bursts into the future with a visionary view of how we are all playing together, every human, every day. I truly love this book. * Jane McGonigal, author of Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Happy and How They Can Change the World (2011), USA * Can we win at the game of life? As Castronova writes with wisdom and humor, the game of life is not only about winning and losing, victories and defeats, but most of all why we play the game. For pleasure? Excellence? Faith? No matter what our life goal, Castronova brings strategic lessons learned from the field of game design and his own experience in the game of life to help us choose the kinds of games we play, and how to play hard for our victory conditions, quest, thrive, and win. * Joshua A.T. Fairfield, William Donald Bain Family Professor of Law, Washington and Lee University School of Law, USA *

Edward Castranova is one of the most brilliant minds ever to study games, so it's no surprise that his latest book, Life is a Game, is fascinating and wise. But it's more than that. It's also a hell of a lot of fun to entertain these mindblowing ideas - I couldn't put it down. This is must-reading for anyone who wants a a fresh philosophy on life, and a profound look at the deepest meaning of games. This book is grounded in history and centuries of wisdom, but at the same time bursts into the future with a visionary view of how we are all playing together, every human, every day. I truly love this book. * Jane McGonigal, author of Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Happy and How They Can Change the World (2011), USA *

Life Is a Game goes beyond the new field of game design – beyond game theory and beyond the neurobiology of games ... Instead, the book centers on the human condition as it is reflected in game thinking ... Life Is a Game is inherently interdisciplinary, bringing together content from across academic fields, and appealing to any scholarly and lay readers with interests in politics, philosophy, economics, sociology, and of course, game design. * Popular Culture Studies Journal * Edward Castranova is one of the most brilliant minds ever to study games, so it's no surprise that his latest book, Life is a Game, is fascinating and wise. But it's more than that. It's also a hell of a lot of fun to entertain these mindblowing ideas - I couldn't put it down. This is must-reading for anyone who wants a a fresh philosophy on life, and a profound look at the deepest meaning of games. This book is grounded in history and centuries of wisdom, but at the same time bursts into the future with a visionary view of how we are all playing together, every human, every day. I truly love this book. * Jane McGonigal, author of Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Happy and How They Can Change the World (2011), USA * Can we win at the game of life? As Castronova writes with wisdom and humor, the game of life is not only about winning and losing, victories and defeats, but most of all why we play the game. For pleasure? Excellence? Faith? No matter what our life goal, Castronova brings strategic lessons learned from the field of game design and his own experience in the game of life to help us choose the kinds of games we play, and how to play hard for our victory conditions, quest, thrive, and win. * Joshua A.T. Fairfield, William Donald Bain Family Professor of Law, Washington and Lee University School of Law, USA *

Author Information

Edward Castronova is Professor of Media at Indiana University, USA. He is the author of Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games (2006), Exodus to the Virtual World (2008) and Wildcat Currency: The Virtual Transformation of the Economy (2014). He specializes in Games, Technology, and Society, and has served in the past as Director of the BS degree program in Game Design, and Chair of the Department of Media Arts and Production.

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