Cuddy, Luke, and Irwin, William. Bioshock and Philosophy: Irrational Game, Rational Book. Sussex: Wiley Blackwell, 2015.

In this book, Cuddy explains the cognitive science and philosophy involved in making and playing Bioshock and how it affects the player. He addresses how Bioshock employs real-world tactics (like propaganda; you can see it all over the place involving Ryan) to influence you; the game’s story also involves topics like Marxism, morality, feminism, as well as political decision-making and the importance of autonomy. Cuddy explores Bioshock’s philosophy which embraces the theories of Ayn Rand (especially in terms of corporate power), Aristotle, Plato, Dewey, and Leibniz (among other influential philosophers and writers). Cuddy also brings up the concept of “meta-narrative” and how it can affect the player and their gameplay by incorporating the player’s personal beliefs and playing into their emotions, which influences how they play the game.

Wolf, Mark J.P. Video Game Explosion: A History From PONG to Playstation and Beyond.Westport: Greenwood Press, 2008.

In this book, Wolf gives a comprehensive history of video games (starting in 1985) that spans all the way from the days of Atari to today, where video games have become immensely advanced. He talks about how Nintendo revived the American video game industry after the unsuccessful Halceyon system (around Atari time) and how developers and companies (like Playstation and Xbox) have taken the reigns in recent history. Wolf goes into depth about many genres in chapter 38, where he gives a breakdown for each genre in his list. He also includes chapters dedicated solely to discussing the more popular genres that require more explanation like First Person Shooters (FPSs), Role-Playing Adventure games (RPGs), and Independent/Art games.

Lee, Donghun, and Linda J. Schoendstedt. “Comparison of ESports and Traditional Sports Consumption Motives.” ICHPER — SD Journal of Research in Health, Physical Education, Recreation, Sport & Dance 6.2 (2011): 39-44. Print.

This article approaches the topic of eSports, or competitive video games, and their rise in popularity during the 21st century. The main focus is that of what factors motivate people to spend their time on either participating in or watching eSports. Opinions were also collected of both eSports fans and more typical sports fans in order to compare the aspects of the two that lead to involvement. It was determined that the main attributes of eSports that gamers find attractive are competition and drive to have skill. Some fans also find eSports to be more interactive and engaging than regular sports.