Mind at Play
The Psychology of Video Games
Geoffrey R. Loftus & Elizabeth F. Loftus
ISBN 0-465-04609-6

[Zube (5/11/98)]

Mind at Play is an attempt to present and explain the book's subtitle.
It's obvious from the outset that the authors are psychologists first
and gamers second; this turns out to be both good and bad.  The good is
that if you aren't familiar with the relevant psychological bits, the 
first half of the book is a fairly enlightening and interesting read.
Many concepts, such as reinforcement, cognitive dissonance and regret
are explained simply and are connected to video games in a fairly
intuitive way.  Of course, to enjoy the book fully, you must be able to 
excuse phrases like:

"...a monster destroyed by Pac-Man doesn't stay destroyed, but instead 
returns to action following a short interlude in the penalty box"

and also forgive them for slipping on several video game details.
Still, there are many references (some from peer-reviewed journals)
that are both directly and indirectly related to the subject at hand, a 
big plus.

Unfortunately when the book plunges the depths of badness, it does so
with great vigor.  The last 90 or so pages of the book are virtually
worthless, mostly due to a complete lack of revelence.  For example,
chapter 5 considers "computer learning" while nearly all of chapter 6
deals with such pertinent topics as "what is RAM?" and "what does a
computer program look like?"  While the first four chapters (111 pages)
are by no means tight (indeed, they could easily be compressed to 40+
pages), the authors are at least partially focused; in contrast, the
remainder of the book is "tangential," and even that is quite a stretch.

Finally, the book was published in 1983.  Many of the advances since that
time were not (could not be?) anticipated by the authors and the book
reflects that.  For example, the authors use pinball as a static, mechanical
and unadapting game genre in contrast to video games' dynamic, virtual,
and infinitely changeable framework.  Clearly, such a characterization 
is terribly outdated.

In short, the first four chapters are worth reading and almost make the
book a worthwhile purchase; the last two chapters, however, are good
only for kindling.