Review #14: Farman

Jason Farman is an Assistant Professor at University of Maryland, who has used Pervasive Games as material on his courses. He has published an academic review of the book in the Journal of Gaming and Virtual Worlds, Volume 2, Issue 3 (2010).

We were happy to notice that he’s highly appreciative of the book:

Pervasive Games is largely a success because it accomplishes a nearly exhaustive chronicling of the major games within this category. Though this approach may leave both academics and designers wishing that the authors would dwell longer on the theoretical implications or the pertinent design questions, these audiences will nonetheless find the book immensely interesting.

[…]

Anyone interested in the changing landscape of gaming in pervasive computing culture will be drawn to this book (despite the desire many will feel for sustained analyses in place of simplifications). The first full-length work of its kind, Pervasive Games lays the foundation for future work in this area, pointing scholars and designers toward an impressive collection of pervasive games and toward others working in and writing about this emerging field. The shelf life of this book will also be extensive since it seeks to develop the history and current state of the field. It is thus a snapshot of the foundation of pervasive games and will undoubtedly be the text we continue to refer to for years to come.

His biggest criticism is that some ideas and design questions should have been examined more thoroughly. And as he cites an example from The Ethics of Pervasive Gaming, I must say I agree with his critique: the topic of pervasive gaming ethics still requires more discussion.

Read the full review here.

Earlier reviews: Davidson, Pettersson revisited, Goncalves, Hosken, Chong, Hook, White, Fatland, Gerdes, Holter, Noyons, Pettersson, Harviainen.