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Imperial Library
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Index
Cover
Also by [Eric Geissinger]
Title Page
Copyright Page
CONTENTS
Introduction
What's “Play” and What's a “Game”?
Childish Play and Mature Games
The Unexpected Power of Games
Chapter One: Birds Do It, Bees Don't Do It, but Some Pig-Faced Turtles Do It
Birds at Play, or at Least Playing a Game
The Sad Tale of Pigface, and Happier Turtles
The Irresistible Appeal of Space [to] Geckos
More, More, and More
Giggling and Wrestling Rats
Chapter Two: All Work and No Unstructured Play Makes Jane Whiny
The Helicopter Parent Hypothesis
The Results of Unstructured Play, and the Inevitable Expansion of Perceived Harm
Something Is Up
Play Is Fundamental
Chapter Three: Massive Size Is Massive
YouTube Incentivizing Blandness
“Minecraft Is Love. Minecraft Is Life.”
Chapter Four: Anatomy of a Bestseller
How (Some) Things Are Done
Nothing's Good and (Pretty Much) Everything's Bad with Steven Johnson's Everything Bad Is Good for You
What Does the Book Actually Claim?
A Bestseller at Any Cost
Chapter Five: Candy Crush(ing) the Competition, and Harpooning Whales
Hate-Playing Candy Crush
Candy Crush Origins
The Good Old Days
How Las Vegas Sees the World
Learning from the Casinos
Slot Machines and Tetris
The (De)Evolution of Games
Old School Capitalism
Extracting Profit: When a Game Plays You
The Mechanics of Video-Game Manipulation
Others Jump on the Manipulation Bandwagon
Chapter Six: Professional Leagues and the Rise of Esports—Are They Still Games?
The Rise of EnVyUs
What to Make of Overwatch as a Spectator Sport?
Chapter Seven: The Dangers of the Virtual
More and More Games
Nabokov's The Luzhin Defense
Taking Games Far Too Seriously
What's “Real Life” and What's “Virtual”?
Let's “Gamify” the World! Everyone Wins!
Games to Improve the World
Chapter Eight: Keep Us Safe by Giving Them Games
The Comic-Book Code Comes to Video Games
Games Inspiring the Good Life
The Benefits of Sports
The Town That Killed Football
Chapter Nine: Flooding the Colosseum
Having Too Much Fun to Work
Games Are Different
A Warning
Addiction and Distraction: It's Not Just Games
What Can Be Done? We Know but Don't Want to Know
What's to Come?
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
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