Book cover of Cheating: Gaining Advantage in Videogames

Book description

A cultural history of digital gameplay that investigates a wide range of player behavior, including cheating, and its relationship to the game industry.

The widely varying experiences of players of digital games challenge the notions that there is only one correct way to play a game. Some players routinely use…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Cheating as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This is one of the foundational books in game studies and will shake up how you think about why and how people play games.

Consalvo introduces a concept called ‘avatar capital,’ which is about the reputation and relative fame players can chase within a game and its community. To acquire that capital, players often remake rules and expectations to excel.

This book helped shape how I see games.

From Christopher's list on The best books to understand games.

If you love Cheating...

Book cover of December on 5C4

December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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