{"title":"书评:《数字角色扮演游戏与技术交流:贝塞斯达、BioWare和CD Projekt Red的历史》,作者:Reardon,Daniel,&Wright,David","authors":"Jacob Weston","doi":"10.1177/10506519221143132","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Daniel Reardon and David Wright’s The Digital Role-Playing Game and Technical Communication explicitly works to “demystify ‘gaming’ so that we understand its broader cultural contexts” (p. xiii). The authors do so by situating the history of digital role-playing games (DRPGs) in a larger web of technological innovations over the past 50 years and analyzing social and capitalistic interrelations via social media and marketing. DRPGs, like Fallout and The Witcher series, are technological evolutions of role-playing games (RPGs) like Dungeons & Dragons. Throughout the book, the authors draw theories from a broad pool of sources, ranging from psychology, sociology, business, computer science, and game studies to rhetoric and technical communication. Maybe most notably, the authors make a unique argument for DRPGs as technical communication and demonstrate beneficial takeaways for both practitioners and researchers. Tracking the rise and fall of the video game giants Bethesda, BioWare, and CD Projekt Red over the course of eight chapters, the book provides a useful history of DRPGs. Chapter 1 begins that history by discussing struggles such as infrastructural limitations (comparatively low-power computers), technological diffusion (a lack of Americans with computer access), and generic adaptations (converting tabletop RPGs to a digital interface). The chapter illustrates this evolution of DRPGs from RPGs by explaining the features of the new genre that have descended from RPGs: “character creation, weapons and armor [customization] ... loot, and interesting nonplayer characters” (p. 6). This ancestral relationship caused many difficulties Book Review","PeriodicalId":46414,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Business and Technical Communication","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8000,"publicationDate":"2022-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Book Review: The Digital Role-Playing Game and Technical Communication: A History of Bethesda, BioWare, and CD Projekt Red by Reardon, Daniel, & Wright, David\",\"authors\":\"Jacob Weston\",\"doi\":\"10.1177/10506519221143132\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"Daniel Reardon and David Wright’s The Digital Role-Playing Game and Technical Communication explicitly works to “demystify ‘gaming’ so that we understand its broader cultural contexts” (p. xiii). The authors do so by situating the history of digital role-playing games (DRPGs) in a larger web of technological innovations over the past 50 years and analyzing social and capitalistic interrelations via social media and marketing. DRPGs, like Fallout and The Witcher series, are technological evolutions of role-playing games (RPGs) like Dungeons & Dragons. Throughout the book, the authors draw theories from a broad pool of sources, ranging from psychology, sociology, business, computer science, and game studies to rhetoric and technical communication. Maybe most notably, the authors make a unique argument for DRPGs as technical communication and demonstrate beneficial takeaways for both practitioners and researchers. Tracking the rise and fall of the video game giants Bethesda, BioWare, and CD Projekt Red over the course of eight chapters, the book provides a useful history of DRPGs. Chapter 1 begins that history by discussing struggles such as infrastructural limitations (comparatively low-power computers), technological diffusion (a lack of Americans with computer access), and generic adaptations (converting tabletop RPGs to a digital interface). The chapter illustrates this evolution of DRPGs from RPGs by explaining the features of the new genre that have descended from RPGs: “character creation, weapons and armor [customization] ... loot, and interesting nonplayer characters” (p. 6). 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引用次数: 0
摘要
Daniel Reardon和David Wright的《数字角色扮演游戏与技术交流》明确致力于“揭开‘游戏’的神秘面纱,让我们了解其更广泛的文化背景”(第xiii页)。作者将数字角色扮演游戏(DRPG)的历史置于过去50年中一个更大的技术创新网络中,并通过社交媒体和营销分析社会和资本主义的相互关系。DRPG,如《辐射》和《巫师》系列,是《龙与地下城》等角色扮演游戏的技术演变。在整本书中,作者从心理学、社会学、商业、计算机科学、游戏研究到修辞学和技术交流等广泛的来源中汲取理论。也许最值得注意的是,作者们为DRPG作为技术交流提出了独特的论点,并展示了对从业者和研究人员有益的收获。在八章的过程中,本书追踪了电子游戏巨头贝塞斯达、BioWare和CD Projekt Red的兴衰,提供了DRPG的有用历史。第一章通过讨论基础设施限制(相对低功耗的计算机)、技术扩散(缺乏能够使用计算机的美国人)和通用改编(将桌面RPG转换为数字接口)等斗争开始了这段历史。本章通过解释RPG衍生的新类型的特征来说明DRPG从RPG的演变:“角色创造、武器和盔甲[定制]……战利品和有趣的非玩家角色”(第6页)。这种祖传关系给书评带来了许多困难
Book Review: The Digital Role-Playing Game and Technical Communication: A History of Bethesda, BioWare, and CD Projekt Red by Reardon, Daniel, & Wright, David
Daniel Reardon and David Wright’s The Digital Role-Playing Game and Technical Communication explicitly works to “demystify ‘gaming’ so that we understand its broader cultural contexts” (p. xiii). The authors do so by situating the history of digital role-playing games (DRPGs) in a larger web of technological innovations over the past 50 years and analyzing social and capitalistic interrelations via social media and marketing. DRPGs, like Fallout and The Witcher series, are technological evolutions of role-playing games (RPGs) like Dungeons & Dragons. Throughout the book, the authors draw theories from a broad pool of sources, ranging from psychology, sociology, business, computer science, and game studies to rhetoric and technical communication. Maybe most notably, the authors make a unique argument for DRPGs as technical communication and demonstrate beneficial takeaways for both practitioners and researchers. Tracking the rise and fall of the video game giants Bethesda, BioWare, and CD Projekt Red over the course of eight chapters, the book provides a useful history of DRPGs. Chapter 1 begins that history by discussing struggles such as infrastructural limitations (comparatively low-power computers), technological diffusion (a lack of Americans with computer access), and generic adaptations (converting tabletop RPGs to a digital interface). The chapter illustrates this evolution of DRPGs from RPGs by explaining the features of the new genre that have descended from RPGs: “character creation, weapons and armor [customization] ... loot, and interesting nonplayer characters” (p. 6). This ancestral relationship caused many difficulties Book Review
期刊介绍:
JBTC is a refereed journal that provides a forum for discussion of communication practices, problems, and trends in business, professional, scientific, and governmental fields. As such, JBTC offers opportunities for bridging dichotomies that have traditionally existed in professional communication journals between business and technical communication and between industrial and academic audiences. Because JBTC is designed to disseminate knowledge that can lead to improved communication practices in both academe and industry, the journal favors research that will inform professional communicators in both sectors. However, articles addressing one sector or the other will also be considered.