Synthetic Worlds : The Business and Culture of Online Games (Paperback)

from wbc3

An excellent reference book on the theory and practice of MMORPGs. It is not nearly as fun to read as other books covering the topic, but it is deeper and looks more at the theory. The book, however, is largely pre-World of Warcraft, so it is in need of an update. Some of its theory, for example,...

from breadhat

In many ways this book came as a relief. It is written by someone who actually has lengthy experience with the subject, and it applies an uncommonly deep level of examination to the problem of how MMORPGs interact with our daily lives. There is quite a bit of quality material here, anchored by de...

from q_and_a

Were this book explicitly a marketing tool for virtual worlds, I would say job well done. But as a work of scholarship, it is downright embarrassing. The only thing I have to say for it is that the economic analysis in part II does not seem patently ridiculous, but the same cannot be said about t...

from humdog

I think this is, to date, the greatest book written about synthetic worlds. It is also i think the first to take the whole idea of the world "in world" seriously. If you can only read ONE book about games and worlds, this is the one to read. THere are not enough stars to give this book. Castronov...

from humdog

I think this is, to date, the greatest book written about synthetic worlds. It is also i think the first to take the whole idea of the world "in world" seriously. If you can only read ONE book about games and worlds, this is the one to read. THere are not enough stars to give this book. Castronov...