Dungeons and Dreamers by Brad King, John Borland, Roger Stewart
Published August 2003
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Amazon Sales Rank: 476,844
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Summary The Rise of Computer Game Culture from Geek to Chic
This book covers the game industry from birth to present with incredible scope and clarity. Brad King and John Borland did an impressive job chronolizing the history of the culture behind the games, following the footsteps of many people including Richard "Lord British" Garriott, Richard Bartle and Roy Tribshaw (MUD creators), John Carmack and John Romero, Stevie "Killcreek" Case, Warren Spector, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneston (creators of D&D), Dennis "Thresh" Fong, Will Wright, Angel Munoz (founder of the CPL), and Henry Jenkins (stout games defendant during post-Columbine Senate hearings). The scope is truly daunting as the book covers just over three decades of gaming, from the origin of Dungeons & Dragons in 1972 to the rise of massively multiplayer games and competitive gaming of the present day. From cover to cover the pages within present plenty of entertaining history and little-known facts. My favorite is the fact that when Doom was released in December of 1993, poor Jay Wilbur from id Software couldn't upload the game to the servers for download because too many gamers were already online waiting to get it, meaning there were no slots for him! Even when the administrator freed up a few slots, people would take them before Jay even got close. The server administrator had to finally kick off everyone on the server to allow Jay to upload the game.
In short, this book provides you with a highly detailed, very insightful look at the history of the culture behind computer games. Any serious gamer or developer would benefit from reading this book, especially those just starting out in the industry, who missed the hey-day of the late 80's and early 90's. It's always good to know your roots, and this book certainly digs deep.
Southwest Gaming Expo
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