Reading list
The books behind the essays
37 books cited across the essays and the Field Guide, sorted by author. Each links back to where it is used.
Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture
Alexander R. Galloway · University of Minnesota Press · 2006
Cited in Perspective
Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do
B. J. Fogg · Morgan Kaufmann · 2003
Cited in Persuasive game
The Grasshopper: Games, Life and Utopia
Bernard Suits · University of Toronto Press · 1978
The Art of Interactive Design
Chris Crawford · No Starch Press · 2002
Cited in Interactivity
Serious Games
Clark C. Abt · Viking Press · 1970
Cited in Gamification is not a game, Serious game
Serious Games: Games That Educate, Train, and Inform
David Michael and Sande Chen · Thomson Course Technology · 2005
Cited in Educational game, Serious game, Training game
Derek Yu · Boss Fight Books · 2016
Game Mechanics: Advanced Game Design
Ernest Adams and Joris Dormans · New Riders · 2012
Cited in Feedback loop
Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature
Espen J. Aarseth · Johns Hopkins University Press · 1997
Cited in Interactivity
Gamification by Design
Gabe Zichermann and Christopher Cunningham · O'Reilly Media · 2011
Cited in Gamification
Uncertainty in Games
Greg Costikyan · MIT Press · 2013
Cited in Where the game lives
On Bullshit
Harry G. Frankfurt · Princeton University Press · 2005
Cited in Gamification is not a game
Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames
Ian Bogost · MIT Press · 2007
Cited in Persuasive game
Unit Operations: An Approach to Videogame Criticism
Ian Bogost · MIT Press · 2006
Cited in Simulation
What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy
James Paul Gee · Palgrave Macmillan · 2003
Cited in Educational game
Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World
Jane McGonigal · Penguin Press · 2011
Cited in Gamification is not a game, Gameful design
Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace
Janet H. Murray · Free Press · 1997
Cited in Player agency
The History of Metroidvania: Decade One, 1980-1990
Jeremy Parish · Dark Horse Books · 2026
Cited in Metroidvania
Handbook of Simulation: Principles, Methodology, Advances, Applications, and Practice
Jerry Banks (ed.) · Wiley · 1998
Cited in Simulation
Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds
Jesper Juul · MIT Press · 2005
Cited in Where the game lives, Theme
A Casual Revolution: Reinventing Video Games and Their Players
Jesper Juul · MIT Press · 2010
Cited in Format
Playing at the World: A History of Simulating Wars, People and Fantastic Adventures, from Chess to Role-Playing Games
Jon Peterson · Unreason Press · 2012
Cited in Why “RPG” stopped meaning anything
Role-Playing Game Studies: Transmedia Foundations
José P. Zagal and Sebastian Deterding (eds.) · Routledge · 2018
Cited in Why “RPG” stopped meaning anything
Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals
Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman · MIT Press · 2003
Cited in Where the game lives, Feedback loop, Mechanic, Player agency, Sandbox, Simulation game
For the Win: How Game Thinking Can Revolutionize Your Business
Kevin Werbach and Dan Hunter · Wharton Digital Press · 2012
Cited in Gamification is not a game
You Died: The Dark Souls Companion
Keza MacDonald and Jason Killingsworth · BackPage Press · 2016
Cited in Soulslike
Video Games and Learning: Teaching and Participatory Culture in the Digital Age
Kurt Squire · Teachers College Press · 2011
Cited in Game-based learning
The Language of New Media
Lev Manovich · MIT Press · 2001
Cited in Interactivity
Philosophical Investigations
Ludwig Wittgenstein · Blackwell · 1953
Cited in Where the game lives
Digital Game-Based Learning
Marc Prensky · McGraw-Hill · 2001
Cited in Game-based learning, Training game
Mark J. P. Wolf · University of Texas Press · 2001
Cited in Why “RPG” stopped meaning anything, Genre, Theme
Mark J. P. Wolf (editor) · University of Texas Press · 2001
Cited in Perspective
Critical Play: Radical Game Design
Mary Flanagan · MIT Press · 2009
Cited in Games for change
Values at Play in Digital Games
Mary Flanagan and Helen Nissenbaum · MIT Press · 2014
Cited in Games for change
Dungeons and Desktops: The History of Computer Role-Playing Games
Matt Barton · A K Peters · 2008
Cited in Why “RPG” stopped meaning anything
Play Matters
Miguel Sicart · MIT Press · 2014
Cited in Playful design
Man, Play and Games
Roger Caillois (translated by Meyer Barash) · Free Press of Glencoe · 1961
Cited in Where the game lives, Gamification is not a game, Gameful design, Playful design, Sandbox