Book reviews
Playing video games: Motives,
responses, and consequences
Peter Vorderer & Jennings Bryant, Eds.
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, New Jersey,
2006 $59.95 (soft), pp. 480
During the Dresden conference of the Inter-
national Communication Association (June
2006), a young communications scholar
asked me rather impatiently whether all
research about video games was concerned
with the effects of violent game content. No,
it is not, I replied, and referred to the different
panels organized by the ICA Game Studies
Special Interest Group. I could also have taken
her to the book exhibition in order to leaf
through the volume Playing Video Games edi-
ted by Peter Vorderer and Jennings
Bryant. The 27 chapters exemplify the diver-
sity of themes in current research about
video games. Its four sections (The Product,
Motivation and Selection, Reception and
Reaction Processes, and Effects and Conse-
quences) show that research about video
games is as much concerned with the reasons
why people play and how they play as it is
with the effects of playing. The volume is
a milestone in the field because almost all
chapters discuss relevant research in detail
and assess critically what has been accom-
plished and what deserves further attention.
Theory development is part and parcel of
many chapters, which is a major accomplish-
ment of the authors, as video game research
still is in its infancy.
Newcomers in this field will welcome this
book as a comprehensive introduction. The
history of video games is covered elegantly in
Henry Lowoods chapter, and Barry Smiths
discussion of game genres clearly communi-
cates the message that the differences between
games are too large to subsume them all under
one heading (video games), as has been all too
common in policy discussions and scientific
Journal of Communication 56 (2006) 861871 2006 International Communication Association
research. The chapter about The Sims Online
(Francis Steen, Patricia Greenfield, Mari Sian
Davies, and Brendesha Tynes) immediately
illustrates this point because it explains why
this online version of one of the most popular
videogames in history failed dramatically.
The novice is also served well by the concise
chapter about uses and gratifications re-
search (John Sherry, Kristen Lucas, Bradley
Greenberg, and Ken Lachlan). The reported
research results in a list of six motives that
can be employed in future research about
the reasons why people game. Christoph
Klimmt and Tilo Hartmann take the motiva-
tional issue one step further by explaining
game motives from fundamental psychologi-
cal needs for effectance and self-efficacy.
Kwan Min Lee and Wei Peng give a detailed
overview of the social and psychological
effects of playing video games. I recommend
this chapter as compulsory reading for any
class about this thorny issue.
Scholars who already engage with video
game research will find a lot in this volume
that is worthwhile for their own research.
Perps, pimps, and provocative clothing
is one of the best chapters in this volume.
Stacey Smith reports systematically the
results of content analyses and explains in
detail why it is so difficult to analyze game
content. Kwan Min Lee, Namkee Park, and
Seung-A Jin criticize the simple opposi-
tion between interactivity and narrative and
argue that narrative is as important in
games as it is in traditional, noninteractive
media.
The editors must be applauded for their
decision to include topics that have been
neglected in previous research. The chapter
about music in video games (Sean Zehnder
and Scott Lipscomb), for example, discusses
the few studies that have been done and
proposes a valuable vocabulary for research
about the role of music in immersion. The
861
Book Reviews Book Reviews

chapter about personality factors (Tilo (Raessens & Goldstein, 2005) back to back
Hartmann and Christoph Klimmt) first doc- with the present volume.
uments the tiny bit of research about the role
of personality in game choice, and then pro- Jeroen Jansz
poses a theoretical model that attributes a University of Amsterdam
central position to self-beliefs about game
competence. References
The final section of the book is devoted to Raessens, J., & Goldstein J. (Eds.). (2005).
effects research. Rene Weber, Ute Ritterfeld, Handbook of computer game studies.
and Anna Kostygina add a unique contribu- Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
tion to the pile of arguments about violent Williams, D. (2005). Bridging the
games. They discuss critically the most methodological divide in game research.
important explanatory theories and conclude Simulation & Gaming, 36(4), 447463.
that we should start investigating how players
understand games because effects will be
moderated by players interpretations. The
next chapter by Katherine Buckley and Craig
Anderson confines itself surprisingly to one
specific theory, the General Aggression Model
(GAM). The editors do not explain this
choice, but I imagine it is due to the status
of GAM as one of the most cited theories
about game effects. Fortunately, the Effects
section also contains two chapters (Debra
Lieberman; Ute Ritterfeld, and Rene Weber)
that offer detailed insight into the positive
effects of playing video games on learning
and education. In the final chapter of the
book, all concerns about games are turned
upside down by Kevin Durkin when he argues
that adolescents really are at risk when they
do not play video games.
Playing Video Games claims to bring
together a variety of disciplines. There are
indeed a handful of chapters written from
an industry and technology perspective, but
the communication perspective is dominant.
Most authors work from a quantitative, social
scientific paradigm, and the contributions
from humanist scholars such as Espen
Aarseth, Mia Consalvo, and Jesper Juul are
largely ignored. Obviously, the volume does
not answer Williams (2005) call to exchange
views between humanist and social scientific
paradigms. Readers who want to familiarize
themselves with the humanist approach
may find it helpful to read the recent
Handbook of Computer Game Studies

862 Journal of Communication 56 (2006) 861871 2006 International Communication Association