Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2017 -

This text examines the history of video games through layered lenses: historical, artistic, social, and personal. Ervin, renowned author of numerous books, essays, and reviews, interweaves personal experiences with video games, in both the past and present, with robust historical and social analysis. Demonstrating a refreshing recognition of gender, race/ethnicity, and other representation and social issues, as connected to gaming cultures and communities, the author effectively situates video games in a larger social context. At the same time, Ervin's inclusion of personal anecdotes and experiences tempers the text to make it approachable to a wide variety of readers while inviting their engagement. Notable about this text is the author's tracing of a game's genealogy through prior works of a creator; following a particular creator's thematic and programming style across several games offers a useful approach to examining games as art. At the same time, Ervin engages in a robust discussion about the conflicts involved in classifying games as art, arguing for them to sometimes not be treated as such. In this, video games are viewed through multiple lenses, making this text valuable across disciplines like art history, media studies, and game studies.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

Hepler's Women in Game Development is essentially a special interest discussion panel found at the Game Developer Conference in book form. The edited volume collects and presents experiences and career advice from a wide gamut of women involved in the video game industry, ranging from journalists to independent developers. Through their personal stories, the contributing authors acknowledge the gender inequality and the misogynistic attitudes and obstacles that women face in game development. Ultimately, the book is a call to action not only for women but for the industry as a whole to fight gender discrimination, workplace and internet harassment, and sexist video game content. This text is most strongly recommended for women hoping to enter or who are currently involved in the video game industry. Furthermore, it will be of interest to those individuals who are looking to learn more about gender issues and advocacy in relation to popular digital media.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.