'Once in an age, a piece of culture comes along that feels like it was specifically created for you, the beats and words and ideas are there because it is your life the creator is describing. Lost In A Good Game is exactly that. It will touch your heart and mind. And even if Bowser, Chun-li or Q-Bert weren't crucial parts of your youth, this is a flawless victory for everyone' --Adam Rutherford

When Pete Etchells was 13, his father died from motor neurone disease. In order to cope, he immersed himself in a virtual world - first as an escape, but later to try to understand what had happened. Etchells is now a researcher into the psychological effects of video games, and was co-author on a recent paper explaining why WHO plans to classify "game addiction" as a danger to public health are based on bad science and (he thinks) are a bad idea.

In this, his first book, he journeys through the history and development of video games - from Turing’s chess machine to mass multiplayer online games like World of Warcraft or Fortnite - via scientific study, to investigate the highs and lows of playing and get to the bottom of our relationship with games - why we do it, and what they really mean to us.

At the same time, Lost in a Good Game is a very unusual memoir of a writer coming to terms with his grief via virtual worlds, as he tries to work out what area of popular culture we should classify games (a relatively new technology) under.

Listening Length

9 hours and 50 minutes
Author

Pete Etchells
Narrator

Ryan Burke
Audible release date

June 11 2019
Language

English
Publisher

Brilliance Audio
ASIN

B07PXFZ72K
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	9 hours and 50 minutes
Author	Pete Etchells
Narrator	Ryan Burke
Audible.ca Release Date	June 11 2019
Publisher	Brilliance Audio
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B07PXFZ72K
Best Sellers Rank	#145,943 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #435 in Computer History & Culture (Audible Books & Originals) #504 in Popular Culture Studies (Audible Books & Originals) #930 in Social Aspects

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5

115 global ratings

5 star		61%
4 star		26%
3 star		9%
2 star		3%
1 star		1%

How are ratings calculated?

Top review from Canada

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Matt (lord thoreck)

All gamers or loved ones of gamers should read.

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on February 4, 2020

Heartfelt and touching while also being scientific and methodical. A very hard combination that dr. Etchells manages to pull off seamlessly. If you're a gamer this book litterly explains us how we tick. Well worth the time.

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Darren A. Savage

A blast of clarity on gaming and humans.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 4, 2020

Verified Purchase

This is a superb book that beautifully articulates current thinking on the psychology of why we play games and why they can affect us so profoundly.

The book perfectly slays much of the current tabloid moral panic nonsense about the ills of gaming, identifies the limitations and failures of current research methodologies and provides thoughtful ideas about improving future research.

The book also contains Etchells’ personal stories how how games have played important roles in different parts of his life, which gives the book emotional weight.

Highly recommended.

4 people found this helpful

Daphne the WonderCat

A lovely meditation on games, life and death

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 4, 2020

Verified Purchase

This is a lovely book: it's a beautifully written, rigorous and thoughtful look at what we know about how videogames impact on human beings, a useful tour of the evidence, which presents a much more nuanced picture than the moral-panic folk would like you to have. But it's also a beautiful meditation on loss and grief: Dr Etchells' work as a scientist working to understand videogames comes from how he threw himself into videogames as a teenager after his father's death. It's personal, it's engaging, it's intimate and it's rigorous. I really enjoyed this book.

4 people found this helpful

Alex M.

Funny, heart-wrenching and nostalgic!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 9, 2019

Verified Purchase

This book was equal parts funny, informative and incredibly moving. Pete has managed to balance the intricacies and issues within video game research (and the moral panics around it) with a very open, moving and personal application that is nothing but admirable. A refreshing take on gaming research that had me reminiscing back to the games of my childhood, the impact games have had on my life, and the moments I've found myself relying on my game console to get me through difficult times.

7 people found this helpful

Sharon

Excellent book, full of facts backed up by research and a lovely human story.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 4, 2020

Verified Purchase

A must read for every one. For those involved with gaming it will give you the answers to explain to others why gaming is safe, and the stats to back up your arguments. For those not directly interested in gaming, it’s a wonderfully written account of the history of games and a personal story that will make you laugh and cry. Well it did me!

2 people found this helpful

Sam D'Elia

Personal, articulate and illuminating

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 4, 2020

Verified Purchase

I work in the industry and am often tasked with explaining the artistic value of the games medium to those who never play them. It's with this in mind, and the growing panic around games addiction, that I picked up Lost in a Good Game. It is a fantastic resource, games literate while also being honest about the gaps where more research is needed. What really took me by surprise was the deeply personal account of what games meant to Pete -- we all have these stories, and reading Lost in a Good Game helped me re-contextualise my own experiences with the medium in a powerful way.

2 people found this helpful

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Lost in a Good Game: Why We Play Video Games and What They Can Do for Us Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

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