Gamelife

a memoir

211 pages

English language

Published Dec. 29, 2015

ISBN:
978-0-86547-828-2
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OCLC Number:
910072988

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3 stars (1 review)

Video games began to obsess Clune when he was seven. They began to worm into his head and change his sense of reality. This is his memoir of a childhood transformed by technology. Afternoons spent gazing at pixelated maps and mazes trained eyes for the uncanny side of 1980s suburban Illinois. A game about pirates yields clues to the drama of cafeteria politics and locker-room hazing. And in the year of his parents' divorce, a spaceflight simulator opens a hole in reality.

3 editions

Review of 'Gamelife' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Starts off well (the first chapter really shines) and contains some interesting observations about maps, 2D vs 3D, and child labor. Also a fairly quick read, and more interesting than my own memoir from ages 8 to 13 would probably be.

In each chapter, the author uses a video game experience to focus on a particular portion of his young life. This is very well done in the first chapter (Suspended) and less so later on. The cover (an allusion to text-based adventure games) is also quite catchy. In the Wolfenstein chapter, he jumps out of context and gives an approximation of his later years, which may or may not be chronicled in his first published memoir, [b:White Out: The Secret Life of Heroin|15824289|White Out The Secret Life of Heroin|Michael W. Clune|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1348542038s/15824289.jpg|21555095]. This and the overall dark demeanor of his Catholic school upbringing is not easy to read.

A five …

Subjects

  • Video gamers
  • Video games
  • Computer games
  • Childhood and youth
  • Biography
  • History

Places

  • United States