Mind at Play: The Psychology of Video Games

Rating:
Summary: The first half is interesting and provocative but ...
Review: Among other available books about video games, the most important and unique contribution of this book is the attempt to discuss the video game phenomenon from a psychological perspective. For example, the theory of partial reinforcement is used to explain why people are hooked and addicted to the various video games. The author ascribed the cause to the rewarding but unpredictable feedback of a game, which gives the players a feeling of "almost getting there" and the victory is likely to be "right around the corner". This leads to the highest motivation and quitting the games becomes difficult. This book as a whole starts with similar arguments and explanations like this, which is interesting and illuminating. But, the latter half of the book is a bit irrelevant and disappointing, especially the last chapter about basic concepts of computer such as what are memory, input / output and CPU. This should no longer be able to interest the readers of today. Though it is understandable that there are actually not many serious researches and findings done about video games, the author seems to include this part in order to have enough to make up a book. Altogether, this book is a summary of psychological theories related to video games, and I think this book is a good background reading for studying video games.

Rating:
Summary: The first half is interesting and provocative but ...
Review: Among other available books about video games, the most important and unique contribution of this book is the attempt to discuss the video game phenomenon from a psychological perspective. For example, the theory of partial reinforcement is used to explain why people are hooked and addicted to the various video games. The author ascribed the cause to the rewarding but unpredictable feedback of a game, which gives the players a feeling of "almost getting there" and the victory is likely to be "right around the corner". This leads to the highest motivation and quitting the games becomes difficult. This book as a whole starts with similar arguments and explanations like this, which is interesting and illuminating. But, the latter half of the book is a bit irrelevant and disappointing, especially the last chapter about basic concepts of computer such as what are memory, input / output and CPU. This should no longer be able to interest the readers of today. Though it is understandable that there are actually not many serious researches and findings done about video games, the author seems to include this part in order to have enough to make up a book. Altogether, this book is a summary of psychological theories related to video games, and I think this book is a good background reading for studying video games.