Gamers at Work: Stories Behind the Games People Play Book Review

Gamers at Work leads off with an interview with Trip Hawkins, the founder of Electronic Arts (EA). It was a daring move leading off with that interview because Hawkins comes off as a pompous, self-aggrandizing egomaniac at times. Apparently, his mentality rubbed off because that is also how EA often seems as well. Getting through that first interview, because I like to read cover-to-cover, was hard and really slowed my progress. I was tempted to skip half his interview, and there’s no reason not to since Gamers at Work is merely a collection of interviews and not at all a narrative on the industry or its history. You could read them in any order you chose and even skip some entirely.

After the Hawkins’ interview came Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari, a much easier read and just as informative. After Bushnell are fifteen more big names in gaming history including Wild Bill Stealey (Microprose), Tony Goodman (Ensemble, Robot), Feargus Urquhart (Obsidian), Tim Cain (Troika), Warren Spector (Junction Point), Doug and Gary Carlston (Broderbund), Don Daglow (Stormfront), John Smedley (Verant), Ken Williams (Sierra On-line), Lorne Lanning, Chris Ulm, Tobi Saulnier, Christopher Weaver (Bethesda), Jason Rubin (Naughty Dog) and Ted Price (Insomniac). A full 328-pages of video game history as told through the eyes of those that were there. Granted, it’s far from a complete list or telling of history but more a varied view of what went down behind the scenes in major eras of video games.

Morgan Ramsay, interviewer and author of Gamers at Work, does a good job of letting the subjects tell their stories in their own words with little interruption or leading. He also has a knack for getting into the interesting bits of each person’s history without bogging down or making it read like authorized biographies.

If you’ve been around since the dawn of video games or are looking to break in, this might be a book you definitely want to put on your holiday or birthday wish list. Hearing the stories behind all the events that one lived through (I’ve been playing video games since the late 1970s) brought with it a sense of nostalgia as well as a desire to dig out my old game consoles and relive some of those simpler times. But often, the interviews talk more about the business behind it all and that’s where the true gems are. The book wraps up stories that will inspire some, instill nostalgic memories in others and offer insight into how the gears of our favorite industry fit together and work, or don’t work.

The book lists for a hefty $29.99 which is quite a lot considering that you could find much of its contents in various other outlets and interviews or public places. I don’t think that it’s something everyone needs on their bookshelf but it will certainly appeal to a group of you. Many of you might do better to dig it up on Amazon for under $19 or cheaper still, get it on Kindle for just $9.99.

Gamers at Work Stories Behind the Games People Play