Fantasy Freaks And Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest For Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, And Other Dwellers Of Imaginary Realms (2009) - Plot & Excerpts
This book was assigned reading for a university course on fantasy. I'd say Gilsdorf's style hovers along the edge of cheesiness and enjoyable anecdote. At some points, the commentary and in-jokes become overwhelmingly frequent - starting to seem like an over-done Onion article. This, coupled with the author's fixation on finding sexual encounters via his "fantasy quest" definitely lowered my standard for the book as a whole. To sum it up, Gilsdorf's examination of geek-culture is much more tabloid than journal article. Perhaps that is what many are looking for. When I was little my older brother tried to get me to play Dungeons and Dragons but I was a young pacifist and always ran away from any fights, so he stopped trying. So I didn't really grow up playing RPGs, and I don't like online games, but I do like fantasy books, and I do have a soft spot for geeks (hello boyfriend!). I picked this up as research before going to GenCon last year, and mostly enjoyed that inherent relate-ability that all unpopular, awkward kids can feel with this writer, even if they weren't GM'ing their nights away (I'm sorry, but my prolific and epicly bad poetry writing kept me very busy). An enjoyable romp through one guy's reclaiming of his wayward youth would only have been made better if he had also learned to be okay with the geek he was (and maybe still is) and stopped being so harsh on himself.
What do You think about Fantasy Freaks And Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest For Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, And Other Dwellers Of Imaginary Realms (2009)?
Started strong, then faded. Would have made an fantastic 10,000-word Harper's piece.
—mady868
Interesting enough but the errors about WoW drove me crazy. Human hunters? WTF!
—sbowler51
I'm reading FROM this book. Does that count?
—rashram
i am quoted in this one, a bunch of times :)
—jewels76
