Great book for any member of these forums
- Thread starter KarishBHR
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Red Scarlet
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Are you goodcow in disguise?
SpeedingUptoStop
will totally Facebook friend you! *giggle* *LOL*
Looks like a good read. I guess I'll be heading to the library tomorrow.
Read a pre-release of this about 3 months ago. It's not very good.
Read the Scientific American review on that Amazon page. That sums up most of my qualms with the book. It's got a rather off-putting tone to it, too.
EDIT: Also, much like gaming's opponents, his major arguments are based on opinions that can't be proven, and things that can't be measured in any sort of meaningful way. It reads like someone going contrary to current thought just for the sake of being different.
Read the Scientific American review on that Amazon page. That sums up most of my qualms with the book. It's got a rather off-putting tone to it, too.
EDIT: Also, much like gaming's opponents, his major arguments are based on opinions that can't be proven, and things that can't be measured in any sort of meaningful way. It reads like someone going contrary to current thought just for the sake of being different.
KarishBHR said:
Cheeky. If the thread dies, it dies.
I've read this too, anyway, and it's not that good. It's all the kind of stuff gamers like us will know anyway. 'Games encourage map memorising skills and lateral thinking and the handling of complex chains of orders? Gee, no shit!'
Please. Reality TV is a reflection of our society - a society that has a sick obsession with these shows that influence a fake approach to life that brainwashes its hardcore viewers into stubborn, greedy, tasteless drones. I'm sick of it all.
I can't believe I watched Big Brother last year. Never again. Psychological expirement, MY ASS. It's a bunch of fools trying to look cool on TV, then when half of the houseguests are gone, trying not to look too stupid as they basically lose their mind because they're trapped inside of a box 24/7. I didn't learn anything beneficial from watching that show, other than the fact that everyone on it is a fucking poser.
I can't believe I watched Big Brother last year. Never again. Psychological expirement, MY ASS. It's a bunch of fools trying to look cool on TV, then when half of the houseguests are gone, trying not to look too stupid as they basically lose their mind because they're trapped inside of a box 24/7. I didn't learn anything beneficial from watching that show, other than the fact that everyone on it is a fucking poser.
Bluecondor
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White Man said:
It annoys me that Scientific American tried to review this book like it was a research article in an academic social science/education journal. Ya - sure - most of the guys' claims haven't been validated empirically, and have not been proven to be statistically significant at the .001 level. Blah blah blah.....
But - he never claimed to be writing a social science research book. He is exploring a public policy issue here, namely, the degree to which society ought to value video games. Certainly, it is an "issue tour", but, from all that I have read on this topic, it is probably the best "issue tour" on video games that I have read.
And - if a group of educational researchers took this book seriously, they could easily design a series of studies that would allow them to empirically test his claims.
But - like everything else with video games in the media - it's just not fashionable to take video games seriously. It's way more interesting to slam this interesting and well-written book in Scientific American, and then go back to another story on how GTA turns kids into killers.
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