Fun Inc. - Hardcover

Tom Chatfield is Arts and Books editor at the highly prestigious Prospect magazine and also writes for the Times Literary Supplement, The Times, and The Observer in London. he has done puzzle design and creative consultancy for a number of online games companies.

“Whether or not you share Chatfield’s optimism, Fun Inc. should help to block the fear-mongering generalization―the riffing on prejudices―that has passed for insight on this topic in broadsheet comment pages. If critics of game-playing can’t bring themselves to enter these worlds themselves, to learn first-hand what they are talking about, they should at least read this insightful book.”
- Times Literary Supplement

“Fun Inc. is the most elegant and comprehensive defence of the status of computer games in our culture I have read. The sheer pervasiveness of game experience―99 per cent of teenage boys and 94 per cent of teenage girls having played a video game―means that instant naffness falls upon those who express a musty disdain for the medium. In fact, as Fun Inc. elegantly explains, computer game-playing has a very strong claim to be one of the most vital test-beds for intellectual enquiry.”
- Independent [London]

“A detailed and engaging analysis on an increasingly influential medium. Even non-gamers may find themselves seduced.”
- Esquire [UK]

“In exploring the potential of the medium, Chatfield covers much territory, briskly and with intent ... His conclusion on what the future could hold is in equal parts daunting and lip-smacking. It should be read by gamers and non-gamers alike.”
- Time Out London

“Sparklingly intelligent and nuanced... fresh and engaging.”
- The Guardian

“A thought-provoking read for those already won over to the delights of computer games, and an even more important introduction to them for those who remain skeptical.”
- The Observer [UK]

“A lively, thought-provoking and thoughtful read on an entertainment juggernaut many of us have failed to properly recognize. A good book, too, for parents, who might feel far more comfortably informed about a sector that can come across as―literally―an alien world their kids inhabit.”
- The Irish Times