Rock, Paper, Shotgun

A while back I wrote a book that I’m rather proud of. Although its net was cast wide to take in the whole spectrum of videogames, it was me writing it, so there’s an inevitable focus on PC gaming. Topics include Korea, China, Quake, Eve, human computation, modding, persistence, community, evolution, science fiction becoming reality, and all the other stuff about PC gaming that has kept me interested over the years. This Gaming Life was a partly travel book, a partly of kind of philosophy of fun, and mostly an examination of the relationship between gamers and the games they play. The hardback version of the book was lavish and, well, expensive. The considerably cheaper paperback version is out in the US now, and you can get it here. Frustratingly, the paperback has yet to be released in Europe, but this site will be distributing it when it is. More thoughts on all this below.
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Games are my bread and butter, but there are few other things I obsess over. Such as buildings. One of my favourite blogs on that particular subject is BLDGBLOG, written by Geoff Manaugh. It’s an extraordinarily omnivorous survey of architecture, buildings, landscapes, and the ideas that hook into these subjects from an alphabet of supplementary sources, all knitted together by Manaugh’s speculative imagination. Last week I was pleased to be able to contribute to that blog with a post on evil lairs in videogames. This week Manaugh has posted a conversation with me about my 2008 book, This Gaming Life, and related subjects.

Manaugh’s book – a heavy illustrated compilation and extrapolation of his astute blogging project – is out soon. If you have even the slightest glimmer of interest in the world around you, you’ll buy it.

I know, I know, I gotta stop the pimping. But I’ve been told that there are only a couple of hundred copies of the beautiful hardcover of This Gaming Life remaining, and at this stage there’s no guarantee that there will be another batch printed. If you want to get hold of my book on gaming and gamer culture then now would be a good time.

“This Gaming Life is a fascinating and eye-opening look into the real human impact of gaming culture. Traveling the globe and drawing anecdotes from many walks of life, Rossignol takes us beyond the media hype and into the lives of real people whose lives have been changed by gaming. The results may surprise you.”
—Raph Koster, game designer and author of A Theory of Fun

Links for the ordering after the jump.
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Thousands of satisfied gamers have been caressing their exquisite hardcover copies of my obscenely fascinating book about videogames, This Gaming Life, and you can too! It’s true. Click onwards for some more information on what some critics are calling “the best book that Jim wrote about videogames to be published this year”, as well as alternative ordering methods for folks unable to obtain a copy in Europe.
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I received a hardback copy of my book earlier this week, which is apparently an indication that it’s finally getting released, a couple of weeks late. Apologies to all those people who ordered it and expected their copy to arrive at the end of May, I have no idea why it was delayed. It looks like the UK and Euro distribution could take another couple of weeks, but the US copies should start turning up right about now. It’s in stock at Amazon.com.

Being a first time author has been an interesting experience. This page on Amazon.co.uk is particular interesting, as it shows random vendors selling it from anywhere between £7.50 and £127.59. If anyone went for the £127 copy, I suspect my cut would be fairly similar to that from the £7.50 version. Assuming you can actually get it £7.50. (And if you do want to spend over £100 on it, you can buy a signed copy directly from me…)

Anyway! Links, thoughts, and reviews beyond the jump.
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This Gaming Life is to be published towards the end of next month, and that means my first proper book on videogames is now available to order from both American and British varieties of Amazon. It’s as close to RPS: The Book as you’re going to get for a while, so if you’ve enjoyed what we’ve done here then please grab a copy. (That said, I haven’t limited myself to PC games, despite the major Quake and Eve Online touchstones that provide the backdrop for much of the book’s discussion.)

After the link I talk more about the idea behind the project and the long process of putting the beast together.
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