The Offworld Collection

by Leigh Alexander (Editor), Laura Hudson (Editor), Zoe Quinn (Contributor)

The Offworld Collection is a beautiful hardcover book that contains some of the best and most insightful writing about video games ever printed on a page. It features a tremendously diverse roster of contributors, writing about everything from the fascinating world of women's pinball, to the lingo of Chinese games culture, to the small, intimate games that explore how young adults deal with sex and technology. It's a book for anyone with a passion for design, play and criticism.

When editors Leigh Alexander and Laura Hudson relaunched Offworld, our goal was to build a website that focused on the writing and game design work of women, people of color and other marginalized folks. We wanted to create a space that actively welcomed perspectives that are often ignored by mainstream game culture, a place where where we could share our expertise and insight into the art of game creation and the culture of play. After a year of publishing incredible content from an all-star roster of writers, we're publishing a book collection.

Genres: Nonfiction, Video Games, Games, Essays

217 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2016

Reviews

[Kalin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The vast majority of these essays and reviews introduced me to something new, be it an obscure game or a different interpretation of a familiar one or an unusual design philosophy. For that alone, I strongly recommend the collection.

Here're my more specific reasons:

https://choveshkata.net/forum/viewtop...

[Jericha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is, no lie, the book of games criticism I have been waiting for: poetic, nuanced, thoughtful, insightful, genuinely representative, often moving, and super inspiring. I'd call this a rare gem of a collection, and entirely worth reading for ANY lover of video games, though especially those who see games as an expressive and emotional form. Superb.

[Connor · Rating 3 out of 5]

The material written by eds Leigh Alexander and Laura Hudson holds up really well, but there's a bit of a gulf between them and most of the rest of contributions (with a few exceptions).