CBQ Booknotes Condensed Reviews

Abstract

Respawn: Gamers, Hackers, and Technogenic Life by Colin Milburn (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2018—$32.95, [paperback], ISBN 978-1-4780-0292-5, [hardcover and e-book available], 312 pp., introduction, 7 chapters, conclusion, acknowledgements, notes, bibliography, index, 88 B/W illustrations), discusses links between video games, hacking and science fiction and how they are connected to technological activism and communities. Milburn also argues that these connections “also serve as resources for critique, resistance, and insurgency, offering a space for players and hacktivist groups such as Anonymous to challenge obstinate systems and experiment with alternative futures” (book cover). The introduction of Respawn: Gamers, Hackers, and Technogenic Life is titled, “All Your Base” and the conclusion is titled “Save Point.” The seven chapters of Respawn: Gamers, Hackers, and Technogenic Life are titled, “May the Lulz Be with You”; “Obstinate Systems”; “Still Inside”; “Long Live Play”; We Are Heroes”; “Green Machine”; and “Pwn.” Milburn, PhD, is professor in the English Department, the Science and Technology Studies Program, and the Cinema and Digital Media Department at the University of California, Davis, in Davis, CA.