Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter
Tom Bissell has written three widely praised books in addition to the one under review here: 鈥淐hasing the Sea,鈥� a travelogue on Uzbekistan and ecological disaster; 鈥淕od Lives in St. Petersburg,鈥� a collection of highly literary short stories; and 鈥淭he Father of All Things,鈥� a meditation on not only father- and son-hood, but also the Vietnam War. He鈥檚 received prestigious awards and fellowships. He鈥檚 a contributing editor at both Harper鈥檚 and the Virginia Quarterly Review.
In other words, Bissell is a serious and seriously good writer 鈥� and this is worth noting since his new book is about video games. The video game industry now pockets more of our money than do its counterparts in music and movies, but you鈥檇 never know it from glancing at a newspaper or magazine, where Nashville and Hollywood still get far more profiles, business items, and, of course, reviews.
Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter is, among other things, a wonderful example of how and why this imbalance might be fixed. Rather than a history of video games or a consumer guide (buy this, rent that), Bissell aims to write criticism. 鈥淚 wrote this book as a writer who plays a lot of games,鈥� he explains, 鈥渁nd in these pages you will find one man鈥檚 opinions and thoughts on what playing games feels like, why he plays them, and the questions they make him think about.鈥�
These opinions and thoughts are not always positive. In fact, Bissell sometimes seems to spend more time attacking video games than defending them. At their worst, video games become a 鈥渄emocracy of garbage,鈥� populated with stale characters, redundant plots, and dialogue that makes 鈥�Stephanie Meyer look like Ibsen.鈥� But Bissell鈥檚 frustrations rise from a desire to see video games live up to their potential 鈥� he鈥檚 the parent who, several weeks in, has gotten over the thrill of a wobbly child and just wants her to walk already.
One of main arguments in 鈥淓xtra Lives鈥� is that video games should stop trying to follow or even to improve on old aesthetic models. The goal shouldn鈥檛 be an interactive movie, but a genuinely new experience. Here鈥檚 how Bissell puts it in a passage that鈥檚 typical in its clarity and intelligence:
鈥淔or designers who want to change and startle gamers, they as authors must relinquish the impulse not only to declare meaning but also to suggest meaning. They have to think of themselves as shopkeepers of many possible meanings 鈥� some of which may be sick, nihilistic, and disturbing. Game designers will always have control over certain pivot points 鈥� they own the store, determine its hours, and stock its shelves 鈥� but once the gamer is inside, the designer cannot tell the gamer what to pursue or purchase.鈥�
Big ideas like this should interest all kinds of readers. Less clear is why they鈥檒l care about the video game community鈥檚 anxieties over Bethesda Studios taking control of the Fallout series, to which Bissell devotes several paragraphs. Gamers 鈥� and everyone, really, but especially gamers, to whom a sense of history means The Top 5 Characters of All Time 鈥� can benefit from a massaging of their institutional memory. After all, the sequel to Fallout 3, out this fall, is generating not anxiety but sweaty excitement.
Still, Bissell鈥檚 focus on this episode is both odd and indicative of a larger problem with 鈥淓xtra Lives.鈥� While anyone can find pleasure in its individual sentences (鈥淭he art direction in a good number of contemporary big-budget video games has the cheerful parasitism of a tribute band鈥�), the book will feel too vague to some and too detailed to others. At times, Bissell seems to swap out ideal readers mid-thought.
It鈥檚 also disappointing that a book so worried about narratives doesn鈥檛 offer one of its own. The nine chapters of 鈥淓xtra Lives鈥� feel more like essays, and while they manage to survey the contemporary video game canon 鈥� Bioshock, Mass Effect, Gears of War, Far Cry 2, Call of Duty 4, Left 4 Dead, Braid, and many more 鈥� they don鈥檛 really build on or relate to one another.
The book鈥檚 second half, which profiles some of the video game industry鈥檚 stars, is weaker than the first, even if it does underscore how intelligent and intentional many designers are. Bissell is better when he just talks about video games 鈥� and he鈥檚 at his best in a chapter on the first Resident Evil, where, in a playful second person, he describes his own conversion point (鈥淔or the first time in your life, a video game has done something more than entertain or distract you鈥�) and squeezes details out of the game that I never noticed, or never noticed myself noticing.
How much of this depends on having fond memories of Resident Evil, as Bissell (and I) do? Or, to get at the bigger question: has Bissell written the 鈥淎xel鈥檚 Castle鈥� of video gaming? 鈥淓xtra Lives,鈥� if you鈥檒l allow me a moment of consumerism, has four potential audiences: hard-core readers, casual readers, hard-core gamers, and casual gamers. These will, in some cases, overlap and intensify, but Bissell (and, based on the promotional materials, his publisher) seems to be targeting everyone at once. And while you don鈥檛 need to know what a 鈥渓udonarrative鈥� is to enjoy this book, my guess is that nongamers (and especially video game skeptics) will find it hit-or-miss.
But gamers will revere it. The easiest way to secure a big audience would have been to include some Bug Zapper of a statement about 鈥渧ideo games as art,鈥� but Bissell resists that temptation. (He鈥檚 actually clearer on that topic than in the book.) Much better than an argument for video games as the new novel is an analysis of video games by Bissell (who probably has a couple of killer novels of his own yet to write). Not all of the ideas in 鈥淓xtra Lives鈥� are new, but that鈥檚 not the point. Here we have a professional-grade writer and thinker wrestling with video games in a mainstream medium. Now we need more.
Craig Fehrman is working on a PhD in English at Yale University in New Haven, Conn.
