Mind At Play

by David Loftus, Elizabeth F. Loftus

This book examines the psychological processes involved in playing video games, discusses behavior problems frequent players can develop, and compares video games to other fads of the past.

Genres: Psychology

192 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1983

Reviews

[Mjhancock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Geoffrey and Elizabeth Loftus take a psychological perspective concerning the potential benefits and risks of video games. Written in 1983, the book is now most interesting for its historical significance. The Loftuses--Lofti?--examine many areas that are common fodder for gaming today: violence, gender splits, addictive play, game subculture. I suppose the biggest difference from their own period is the development of online play and the shift of the social aspect of gaming from the arcade to the Internet. The discussion of game benefits--that they could foster good problem solving skills, and encourage strategic approaches--is well thought out, and vaguely reminiscent of Ian Bogost's work on operation units. The book's very basic, and a fairly quick read, but unless you've got a historic interest in video game scholarship, it probably won't be that useful.

[Laurent · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book at a second hand store and wow what a story.
For starters who are wondering if this book is still up to date and useful to read - yes and no. A lot of the parts in this book are still up to date such as the psychological tricks games use on you. One such trick is the displaying of high scores in games such as Pac-man (while the game is running) as this unconsciously motivates the player to play on and try again to compete for a even higher number. In today's age a lot of the games dont show high scores while playing. Some games do not even have high scores. However - this would still be relevant for some smaller games such as Tetris (which is old but still popular) or a newer game, the Google chrome Dinosaur game when one isnt connected to wifi.
Regarding the outdated information of the book - this is obvious and spotted easily so the reader wont have to worry that they are taking in wrong information without knowing it. One chapter focuses on how computers works. While a lot of this still holds true, some parts dont such as the typical RAM being in numbers of 56 Kilobytes. This was obvious true for PC's in those times but now these numbers have grown upwards to Gigabytes and beyond.
Yet I would still recommend this book. I know I took a long time as I didnt read for multiple weeks due to university stress so my review might not be the best but overall from the most recent readings (that I remember best) I cant say to skip on the book. The language is easy to follow for everyone with no Jargon at all. And if there is Jargon it is explained in terms that everyone can understand. The book isnt aimed at experts but a general audience who got some knowledge into what video games are (which in this time almost everyone does but this wasnt the case in the 1980s when the book was written) and some ideas in how they are played (such as in arcades - which is outdated but same concept). Everything else is explained. Lastly - Im no expert in psychology but I dont think its ideas change rapidly so a lot of the psychology spoken about in this book still hold true today even if for other games. The main concept is the same - of how game developers get players hooked and wanting to keep playing (and start to begin with).

[Caro · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has definitely aged badly in quite a bunch of aspects, but it is still quite interesting.