29th January, 2009: This Gaming Life…
Hope everyone is having a great January. Personally, my 2009 seems to be continuing along last year’s theme of ‘hardly any time spent at home’, with the last few weeks having seen me in Milan, New York, and now, in Boston for a couple of weeks (I’d returned home from San Francisco in late December). It’s been during these travels that I’ve finally read two things I’ve been meaning to for a while. The first of these was President Barack Obama’s (how amazing does that still sound!) Dreams from My Father, blown away as I was by the beautiful, and also personally for me, somewhat resonant narrative of a man exploring issues of his heritage and identity.
The second was Jim Rossignol‘s 2008 publication, “This Gaming Life”, which, aside from being an exploration of gaming culture across three very representatively different physical landscapes, is also a look at the positive life-changing effect that gaming has had on the lives of many enthusiasts, with the author himself as a notable example. It is a great argument suggesting that not only the act of gaming itself, but the structure that the culture creates and helps to foster the real talents and passions of it’s players. In short, gaming can act as the catalyst, if not the vehicle, to help to make us more satisfied, more fulfilled people.
Further to this, This Gaming Life also serves as something of a manifesto for the potential value of videogames, a glimpse into what games have meant for many, and also what they could mean to us in the future. Games as vehicles for meaningful impact are touched on, as well as hints of a future ludosociety of sorts in which games integrate into more of our everyday lives.
These are of course, the highlights of what this particular book meant for me as a reader. You can read Jim Rossignol’s own comments on it as the writer over on this blog post at RPS. However, reading is inarguably something of a personal experience at times, and I certainly couldn’t help noticing the budding parallels between some of Rossignol’s travel-worn passages and my own feelings as I sat reading most of it, thirty thousand feet in the air.
I think I’m still trying to figure out exactly what my own personal journeys, and a wider world view is beginning to teach me about people, culture, and games. I don’t know what it is just yet, but I know the lesson is certainly there. May this rambling post be one step on that fuzzy journey too.
Posted at 8:33 pm | View Comments
On January 29, 2009 at 9:26 pm Simon said:
January 29, 2009 at 9:26 pm
cool to hear you've read Obama's first book, it is a good 'un, i've got his second i could lend you if you want next time your about :) it's a good 'un! :)
On January 29, 2009 at 9:30 pm Mitu said:
January 29, 2009 at 9:30 pm
I actually bought it straight after, it's sitting in my to-read pile now! :) Thanks though!
All this reading is very unusual for me, I'm quite startled! ;)
On May 11, 2009 at 7:11 am Hypnosis Training said:
May 11, 2009 at 7:11 am
Good to know that you have a great interest on people, culture and games. Good luck for your future dear! And thanks for sharing your experiences.
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