Missions for Thoughtful Gamers

Who am I? How do I live a good life? What is reality? Such perennial questions may seem remote from the pleasures of playing videogames for entertainment and fantasy. Yet gamers too, in the midst of having fun, are potentially embarked upon a quest for understanding and for meaning. Missions for Thoughtful Gamers presents a sequence of 40 challenges, ranging from thought experiments to design exercises, each one inviting players to become more creatively curious and self-aware. DEMO / The Gamer’s Oath TUTORIAL / Playthinking EPISODE 1: HIDDEN LANDS / Videogames as enquiry BOSS FIGHT / Exploring ‘violence’ EPISODE 2: THE INNERMOST CAVE / Gnōthi sauton (know thyself) SIDE QUESTS AND MINI-GAMES / Scholarly gaming EPILOGUE / Gaming’s highest ideals This is a ground-breaking book, providing inspiration for a new generation of designers, critics and educators as well as an humane introduction for non-gamers to why videogames matter.