Lost in a Good Game
Why We Play Video Games and What They Can Do for Us
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Lost in a Good Game
Buy Now for £21.99
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Narrated by:
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Ryan Burke
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By:
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Pete Etchells
About this listen
'Etchells writes eloquently ... A heartfelt defence of a demonised pastime' --The Times
'Once in an age, a piece of culture comes along that feels like it was specifically created for you, the beats and words and ideas are there because it is your life the creator is describing. Lost In A Good Game is exactly that. It will touch your heart and mind. And even if Bowser, Chun-li or Q-Bert weren't crucial parts of your youth, this is a flawless victory for everyone' --Adam Rutherford
When Pete Etchells was 13, his father died from motor neurone disease. In order to cope, he immersed himself in a virtual world - first as an escape, but later to try to understand what had happened. Etchells is now a researcher into the psychological effects of video games, and was co-author on a recent paper explaining why WHO plans to classify "game addiction" as a danger to public health are based on bad science and (he thinks) are a bad idea.
In this, his first book, he journeys through the history and development of video games - from Turing’s chess machine to mass multiplayer online games like World of Warcraft or Fortnite - via scientific study, to investigate the highs and lows of playing and get to the bottom of our relationship with games - why we do it, and what they really mean to us.
At the same time, Lost in a Good Game is a very unusual memoir of a writer coming to terms with his grief via virtual worlds, as he tries to work out what area of popular culture we should classify games (a relatively new technology) under.
©2019 Pete Etchells (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...
Having said that, the book was enjoyable, but maybe exactly because I wasn't expecting it to touch research on videogames so much. It has given me a very good view of how research is conducted and how hard it is to explain human behaviour through research and how quickly we can become biased to look for outcomes in the data that support our own beliefs. In other words, most research conducted will always be flawed in some way. Some very concerning examples were given about this as well.
The book seems to hang somewhere in between a light autobiography, insights in research methods and well, videogames themselves. Still, I was constantly left with the feeling that videogames were being pressed to the background in favour of discussing research methods and specifically to target a few people who are against videogames to point out their flawed logic. What I was really missing was: Why we play videogames and what they can do for us. I feel that when you use this subtitle for a book, the reader would think that this is going to be the subject of the book.
I'm glad I gave this book a read and I love the insights I gained about research, but if I had known beforehand just how much time would be spent talking about research on videogames and research methods in general, I would've probably picked another read. Still, this is a good book and I would recommend everyone to give it a try if you're interested in research about videogames.
Focuses a bit too much on research
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A mix of personal story and insight into research
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As another review mentions though, it is spoiled by the narration, with the narrator being a Canadian(?) who mispronounces many of the UK locations, making for a grating experience. Not only that, but strange emphases and emotionally devoid sentences too. I suspect that it is not just the narrators accent, but that he is not best placed for this genre, sometimes objectively mispronouncing words, e.g. "niche" as "ni-ch", which was frankly quite strange.
In any case, this is a book best read, not listened to, as despite its focus on research, the author is an excellent storyteller seamlessly seguing between industry interviews into relevant research, and painting emotional and relatable scenes.
A book best read, not listened to.
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I did find the narrator off putting though - although he reads well it was continually grating to hear a Bon written by someone who is British and which is set largely in the UK read by someone with such a broad American accent. His strange pronunciation of place names and odd emphasis made it difficult to listen to at times.
Having said that, the book was good enough for me to thoroughly enjoy it despite this and I’ll probably listen to it again.
Outstanding book spoiled by the narrator
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GGWP
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