Gameology: Commentary and Resources for the Game Studies Community

Thanks, Christian, for a sorely needed injection of fresh blood into this rather anemic discussion. It would be impossible to discuss - or even list - all the important point that you raise, so let me just comment upon one or two.

The most important contribution of your review, in my opinion, is that it opens up the possibility of using Gamer Theory as a strategy guide, which is clearly a deludic move considering that the book explicitly claims to be "neither a strategy guide nor a cheat sheet." So the best way to engage with the book, then, might be to read it against itself.

You also brilliantly deconstruct some of the blanket statements in the book, such as the one about the commodification of play. This is actually a topos that has been gespensting around for quite some time (see e.g. Kline et al.'s Digital Play), but which is sold us here as fresh footage from a war-torn country (I like the image of the helicopter, by the way).

Your deployment of psycholudology against the topologisation of gamespace is also an impressive argumentative move, because it draws attention to the fact that gamespace always already encompasses internal and external spaces, and points to the way psychologies turn into topologies and vice versa. So do we need a ludotopology or a psychotopolysis? I think we might need both.

The main point of departure between my argument and yours lies in your claim that "the book is a playful and intelligent strategy guide for your upcoming conflict with the forces of neo-liberalism" - I neither see the playfulness nor the political efficacy. In fact, you draw attention to this yourself by citing Wark's assertion that a gamer theory cannot "achieve all that much when confronted with the digital indifference of gamespace."

That might be the case, but I'd rather go down with smoking guns than to disengage with gamespace and retreat to the position of an observer (although these white helmets are stylish). I guess I'd choose "realistic" over "normal" any day.