In this book, games are explored in a wide, art-centered context that looks at the subversive role of games and game playing, while engaging with current societal issues such as world politics and economics. This treatment of games is timely and exposure to such thinking about games is bound to be very useful to anyone involved with the study and development of computer and video games. This book is particularly relevant to advanced undergraduate students who are exploring careers in the games industry and to academics who teach relevant courses.

Computer games are currently one of the most visible applications of computing, and the games industry is the career choice for many prospective computer science graduates. As the domain matures, many ethical issues are exposed and the possibility of using computer games for more than just entertainment is being raised. There has already been significant work done with serious games [1], where game playing is used as a training tool for various real-life skills. Flanagan explores such serious applications of games, and extends the analysis to view games as tools for social critique.

First, the author presents an extensive historical survey of subversive activity in art and in traditional play--such as when playing with dolls and dollhouses (chapter 2) and board games (chapter 3)--to explain the concepts of interest: unplaying, reskinning, and rewriting. Chapter 4 is ostensibly about language games, but seems to be more about wordplay--as in puns and surrealist poetry. Chapter 5 starts with a survey of subversive performance art, but is made relevant to computer gaming by describing a subversive reworking of the army recruitment game America’s Army, to examine the ethics of war. The author then motivates the role that games can have in influencing society. The theme of players having more agency is further explored in the context of locative games (chapter 6).

Critical computer games are the focus of chapter 7. Of particular interest are Bookchin’s games September 12th and Darfur is Dying, which expand the role of games from pure entertainment and leisure into activism and a force for good. Finally, in chapter 8, Flanagan proposes that value goals should be explicitly integrated into the design of computer games, and that the design should incorporate diverse play styles and subversion. While these goals are laudable, it seems unlikely that they will be incorporated into commercial game development. However, with new technology and game development environments being easily accessible, we may see a world where computer games can be developed as tools for self-expression and activism, much like the traditional vehicles of painting, music, and performance art.