Videogame books are edging towards a golden era. People are writing about everything under the sun: travelogues, deep analyses of EVE Online, sociocultural inspections, and narrative dissections. For those passionate about the medium, there’s been no better time to learn about it.
In this buyer’s guide, we’ve assembled a sampling of the best video game books we’ve read. The books listed are not necessarily PC gaming specific, as that would exclude an arbitrary portion of good writing for no good reason—all things in the games industry and creative culture influence one another. Included are links to where you can purchase the publications, with a brief summary of each.
Masters of Doom
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- Reloads your brain (with knowledge)
- A safe way to think about hell
- Is not the videogame Doom
- Cannot run Doom
It’s impossible to ignore the impact Doom had on video games. But it’s difficult to truly understand the impact without proper context. Masters of Doom is one of the most complete inside looks at what went into classic FPS from the get-go.
The original id Software chaps, Carmack and Romero, feel like characters experiencing new, astounding circumstances for the first time. Their methods for distribution, community building, and the technology of the game itself were all groundbreaking for the time, and set the stage for the industry as a whole for the foreseeable future. Take the safest, most interesting trip to hell while learning a thing or two in Masters of Doom.
Embed with Games
- Gives global perspective
- Details parties with Terry Cavanagh
- You are not partying with Cavanagh
Video game and travel writing mix like beer and whiskey, except the whiskey is Wild Turkey and the beer is a $20 bottle of the latest craft sour named after a dead dog. It tastes alright, a bit off, and is does a number on your gut. Ellison’s global game developer couch-surfing adventures are travelogues in the same feel-good-but-bad-for-you vein.
She sets out determined to see the industry from a bird’s eye view, and to figure out a bit about herself on the way. Her quick-witted, casual, yet deeply aware writing is an affable companion on a troubling journey through London, Japan, Singapore, Australia, and more. She eats, drinks, and dances with some of the best developers in the scene, from Terry Cavanaugh of VVVVVV and Super Hexagon to Ojiro Fumoto of the recent hit, Downwell. It’s an intimate inside look at what drives these people, and what drives Cara. As it turns out, they’re all a little lost, and as a result, a little driven to find their way. Games (and books about games) are the impromptu compass.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5 + RND(1)); : GOTO 10
- May be the hardest you think about old code
- Mazes are cool
- Impossible to Google
Despite having the hardest title to Google, 10 PRINT is a fascinating analysis of written code as a cultural object. The entire book is a series of essays that delve into aspects of a single line of BASIC that generates a maze-like image when executed. While examining something that is typically observed as purely functional—it works or it doesn’t—code contains a ton of clues into the personality of its writers, the time period of its writing, the implications of its function, and on and on.
The book title is actually a line of code that generates a maze-like image. From here, the team of authors take a stab at different angles of the seemingly insignificant line. There's an examination of every symbol in the code itself, there's a look at its utility, and there's even a short history of the cultural implications of mazes. The book may be small, but for the size of its subject matter, the breadth is astounding. An understanding of code isn’t necessary to appreciate the insights put forth, just an open mind.
Unwinnable
- A winning collection of writers
- Breezy and insightful
- Does not let you win
If you want to read a dissection of why the Iowa Caucus is one of the worst games ever and wash it down with a detailed list of valuable life lessons we can learn from Godzilla, then subscribe to Unwinnable. A weekly (now monthly) publication, Unwinnable examines both familiar and obscure pockets of game culture from diverse perspectives.
Insightful, funny, and accessible, the publication covers the breadth and depth of games and digital culture through three distinct sections: Thoughts, Theme, and Variation. Thoughts are columns from staff writers, Theme are longer essays that revolve around the month’s, well, theme (Women abroad, RoboCop, death, cities), and Variation is a “potpourri” of essays unconnected to the theme. It’s one of the more diverse, dependable doses of high quality games writing you can get each month.
Uncertainty in Games
- ???
- It's uncertain
- Read to find out
- The _____ is jarring
What will this paragraph be about? Who knows? Maybe you’ll find out if you keep reading. Here’s the answer: fooled you. That wasn’t the answer. Here’s the real answer: just kidding. That was another fake answer. The real answer? This paragraph is about uncertainty, an integral factor in good game design, or so argues Costikyan
In his book, he takes a look at a single, integral component of game design. The big starter question: what motivates us to play games? In an assemblage of otherwise abstract systems, what keeps a player invested, interested? It's usually some form of uncertainty, and Costikyan breaks down different kinds of uncertainty found throughout a few prominent genres. In FPS games, the uncertainty is tied to player performance or 'athleticism'. In an adventure game, it might be a narrative uncertainty. By taking a close look at game design mystery, Costikyan makes a clear and compelling case for what makes us play time and time again.
How to Do Things With Videogames
- Taught me to love video game buildings
- Widens perspective of game utility
- Made me Google 'games that do your taxes'
Bogost’s broad examination of the utility of video games will teach you what to play to prank your friends, whether or not a game can teach you how to do your taxes, and may instill a curiosity for how games translate the experience of travel and relative space—and, of course, he also touches on the entertainment utility.
Point is, games are often a set of systems and variables that can do so much more than entertain. Games can be used to make art, to express empathy, reverence, to make music, to build a brand, for political sway, to communicate abstract texture, to promote exercise habits, to practice otherwise inane tasks, and more. Bogost breaks down twenty different uses for games, explains the uses through example games, and pokes at the unexplored potential of each. It’s the perfect book to broaden one’s knowledge of the medium, and asks you envision games where they might not immediately fit.
Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World
- Teaches how to use games for the greater good
- Does not teach you how to hack the Matrix
McGonigal, a game designer, also writes about the utility of games, but specifically as vehicles for self-improvement and philanthropy. She takes similar ideas introduced in How to Do Things with Videogames and applies them to social problems, like depression, obesity, poverty, climate-change, and more.
MMOs and alternate reality games are the primary subjects here, though games as a wider medium are posited as good ways to promote happiness, motivation, and to build community. Obviously, none of it as simple as playing miracle games that solve the world’s problems with a simple button press, but McGonigal offers up some healthy methods for indulging in a hobby while also pulling yourself, or others, out of the muck bit by bit. For some feel good reading and challenging prompts, this book comes with a healthy, hearty recommendation.
The State of Play
- Diverse writers, diverse topics
- A clean snapshot of gaming culture today
- Play is not recognized as a state by federal government
With the ease of access to game development and learning tools, it’s no surprise that videogames are one of the most popular mediums around today. More games are being made than ever before, and more people are playing them than ever. But with the medium’s new reach, come some growing pains.
No longer are games strictly a novel form of entertainment, they’re vehicles for social and political commentary, utilities for expression and advertising. And with the new potentials come new responsibilities. State of Play is a collection of diverse voices speaking to some of these new truths. No two essays are alike. In one, race politics ignite in a lightsaber battle as the author reflects on his Jedi avatar, his own identity, expression in games, and the juxtaposition between a futuristic space battle and tired racism. In another, the author writes a nonlinear essay to show off their development platform of choice, Twine, and the capabilities of the lo-fi text design space. State of Play is a snapshot of the industry in all its forms, playful and pretty, old and ugly. For that alone, it's worth a read.
Extra Lives
- Stark, realistic take on games culture
- Easy to identify with author's perspective at times
- Drugs are bad
- Don't do drugs
Depression, cocaine, and Grand Theft Auto go together like peas in a pod—a withered pod, sure, but a few things can happen when they’re thrown together. You can keep doing cocaine, stay depressed, and keep playing Grand Theft Auto, or you can, in a spout of desperate invigoration, start to question exactly why you’re depressed, doing a ton of cocaine, and hopelessly addicted to Grand Theft Auto.
Tom Bissell tackles the topic in his semi-academic critique of video games as a medium. There’s no filter here, and it can be a bit oblique (it feels like he’s working through his own understanding as he writes instead of presenting the final truth nuggets up front) but Bissell spits grand truths about the massive achievement of games like GTA IV, while also acknowledging what a brain dead time sink they can be. It’s a book about a man at odds with himself, trying to pin down a medium that’s taking over faster than anyone can quite comprehend.
The Arcade Review
- Covers fringe games and art
- Cover art is almost too cool
- Is not a review for arcades
The Arcade Review is a quarterly publication that assembles essays, reviews, criticism, and interviews on experimental videogames and the digital arts into a digital collection. A given issue’s subjects might include the engagement of poetry through 3D space, how Her Story is in conversation with Satoshi Kon’s Millennium Actress, or good old fashioned robot erotica.
The Arcade Review is an intricate collection of the most in-depth, funny, intimate games writing bolstered by essays that examine old and emerging digital cultures. For those who want more from their media than what they see on the surface or find in stores, The Arcade Review is an easy recommendation.
Killing is Harmless
- Motivates reader to think harder about games
- Gives new perspective on player violence
- Turns out, killing isn't harmless
Spec Ops: The Line surprised a lot of people. It was an entry in a franchise that had been dormant for about 10 years, and used the expectation of ‘realistic’ tactical combat to sneak in a biting narrative, a near future take on Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. The game is an attempt to comment on the consistency with which players commit extremely violent acts in games, and Heart of Darkness’ journey upriver serves the video game format well.
You’re asked to do terrible things, then forced to visit the consequences of your violence, over and over again. Keogh takes the journey upriver, magnifying glass in one hand and a pen in the other.
He doesn’t lay down any hard truths from the get go. Instead, Keogh invites the reader to analyze the game with him. He reads into everything he can, sometimes to a seemingly absurd depth, but it’s from such scrutiny that his greatest insights emerge. Killing is Harmless is an amazing companion piece to Spec Ops: The Line, and compelling motive to examine every game with a comparable intensity.
Reading ahead
The books here won't fill up your library, but don’t worry, the list isn’t final. We’ll keep reading and updating until our organic eyeballs are replaced by whatever Google comes up with that aren’t embarassing cyber goggles. In the meantime, enjoy.
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