Topic: Books You're Currently Reading?

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@DrVenture69 I started listening to Coast 2 Coast AM again today after playing that game. It's early 90's talk-radio from America by the host Art Bell, he interviewed a lot of authors, scientists and even astronomers. I've been working through my list of who to write to again but his interviews were in the 90s and a lot of those people aren't here anymore. I did get a reply today from a NASA mathematician though, he's also an artist so we had two things to talk about. I have to work on the last couple of trophies today too then it's onto the next game, possibly also a walking simulator. There are surely more.

Also if you mean the book by Steven Kent? I've skimmed through this one a couple of times for reference. My last video-game book was (checks) This.

I don't read a lot of gaming reference history books but I do read a lot of 'the psychology of' gaming reference books so for example BioShock and Philosophy: Irrational Game, Rational Book by William Irwin. It talks about Marxism, propaganda, free will, morals, human advancement and enhancement through cutting edge technology. The more philosophical side focuses on Plato, Aristotle, Leibniz and of course de Beauvoir. I read similar books about other games and about the movies I watch, I don't always understand the in-game narrative and some of it gets lost in translation so books like that help to lay it all out in a format that I find more legible. With gaming reference books it's usually to find out about the history and that would be in the form of something like The A to Z of Sega or Nintendo Facts, when done right it builds a reference for people on here are talking about and makes that comments section less of a minefield. Some gaming books that stuck out were Moral Kombat, it talks about how violence in gaming isn't harmful to children or adults, Blood Sweat and Pixels was good too and gives a good look into the industry.

A slightly darker one was Hooked on Games: The Lure and Cost of Video Game and Internet Addiction, I don't use the internet except for what I'm doing right now but I have seen gaming addiction when I did play online. I saw someone lose their fiance over it, I think it's an area of the hobby that not a lot of people address.

The blurb says it all:

Hooked on Games is written by Brooke Strickland and Andrew Doan, MD, PhD, a physician with a research background in neuroscience, who battled his own addictions with video games. Dr. Doan was an addicted gamer, who at his peak, invested over 20,000 hours of playing games over a period of nine years. Dr. Doan's reckless compulsion to play games transformed him into a monster that almost destroyed his family, marriage, and career. He shares his expertise to educate others on the dangers of video game addiction and to provide hope for video game addicts and their families. Dr. Doan shares steps for gaming addicts to achieve recovery and steps for families and loved ones to intervene. Without attention to this quickest growing addiction, our society will suffer from the creation of Generation Vidiot, millions of people devoid of innovation and skills to live in the physical world.

It was a tough read, my gaming hours aren't that many, I have a lot of hobbies, interests and studies but I've seen people who don't. It's sobering to read about and learn about that side of gaming. I do think it's situational though, most people are responsible enough not to go down that road and like a lot of topics I'd rather know than not know, that's the best book I've read about such addiction.

A more recent good one would be Long Live Mortal Kombat: Round 1: The Fatalities and Fandom of the Arcade Era. I traced a lot of what I read back to similar books about censorship in the music and film industry. I think it did a really good job of capturing the atmosphere of the time and presenting it as factual and very approachable. I didn't feel lost in a series that I can't play (fighting games are impossible) instead it felt inclusive and relatable, definitely an important book for anyone who likes the series.

Here's the blurb:

To politicians and parents, Mortal Kombat was a menace to society. To gamers, it was a way of life. From dedicated hustlers who put thousands of miles on their odometers driving coast to coast to challenge the top players in arcades, to fans who devote their free time to collecting action figures, setting world records, and plumbing the depths of its lore, the Mortal Kombat franchise has topped sales charts for 30 years, and its popularity shows no signs of waning.

But before Mortal Kombat offended politicians, flooded arcades with quarters, and sold over 12 million units (and counting), executives at Midway saw it as filler—a stopgap between more promising games like NBA Jam. Co-creators Ed Boon and John Tobias felt differently. They believed their creation had potential. But not even they could have imagined the phenomenon Mortal Kombat would become when it hit arcades in October 1992, or the controversy that would follow in its wake.

Based on extensive interviews, Long Live Mortal Kombat: Round 1 chronicles the arcade era of the video game industry's most infamous fighting series, the creative and technical hurdles its team had to clear, and the personal stories of the fans whose passion has made Mortal Kombat a pillar of popular culture.