Book Reviews

tive process. Using the notion of the auteur
in filmmaking, he points to the role thatthe mythologies built up around certain
game creators have played in the cultural
imaginary surrounding game creation.
Fourth, he suggests that we think of gamecreation as an analytical process in which
the game creator conceives of and tests
hypotheses about how a tool’s affordances
will implement game ideas. Werning calls
for tools that incentivize experimentation
with the affordances of the tool to inspire
the imagination. Finally, Werning suggests that we think of game creation as
a communicative process in which gamecreators are in dialogue with their development tools and through which gamecreators can communicate novel ideas togame players. The last section of the chapter identifies game distribution methods as
an area for future cultural studies research.
If you are looking for a book withpractical instruction, tips, and advice
about game creation, this probably is not
the book for you (although there are many
useful game creation tools described,
which had me constantly looking thingsup). On the other hand, as a cultural studies text, Making Games is thought provoking, and the focus on tool use will get you
thinking about game creation in new ways.
—Cathie LeBlanc, Plymouth State University, Plymouth, NH
How Pac-Man Eats, Software
Studies
Noah Wardrip-Fruin
Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press,2020. Series foreword, preface,acknowledgments, introduction, notes,bibliography and index. 384 pp. $35,
paper. ISBN 9780262044653
Exploring the connections between thedevelopment and design of video games
and their cultural capital within a worldthat often considers them merely as entertainment is a growing area of game studies research. This is the focus of Noah
Wardrip-Fruin’s How Pac-Man Eats. Theoverall argument in How Pac-Man Eats
is to name and explore the foundational
elements of video games as meaningproducing structures on which otheraspects of video games are built. WardripFruin argues that to have a richer understanding of how video games produce
meaning for players, we must focus on
how video games are designed at a basic
level, which he defines as operational logics. These operational logics enable theact of play to commence by providing theground on which playable models, aesthetics, and potential narratives are built.
Operational logics are the elements of agame space in which both the system of
the game and the communication function of the game work together. It is therelationship and negotiation between thetwo that form the foundations of the playexperience.
The book is laid out into two parts,
each part focusing on differing but complementary aspects. Part 1 focuses on
defining operational logics and associatedplayable models. Wardrip-Fruin explores
these logics and models via a number ofexamples ranging from larger AAA games
to small indie and art game examples. Part2 focuses on using operational logics as
the framework thinking about play andmaking meaning from a game experi-335

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P L AYence. Wardrip-Fruin uses historical timelines and specific games to examine thisframework.
How Pac-Man Eats is well researchedand straightforward, which should appeal
to readers from a variety of disciplines andwith different research interests. WardripFruin provides a different perspective ongame design by using operational logics
and playable models. Works such as Ian
Bogost’s Persuasive Games, Mary Flanagan’s Critical Game Design, and Bonnie
Ruberg’s Video Games Have Always Been
Queer help him explore how meaning is
made from existing frameworks such asprocedures, mechanics, representations,and even queer theory, Wardrip-Fruin
takes his analysis down even further tothe game space underneath these elements.Operational logics are the gamestructures that other game design elements use to make meaning and therefore
need more research using Wardrip-Fruin’s
suggested analytical framework. WardripFruin structures his definitions and connections of the meaning-making processof operational logics and their associatedplay models in such a way that their meanings are clear and backed up with several
game examples to illustrate their use andimpact.
One especially insightful area ofanalysis in How Pac-Man Eats is WardripFruin’s examination of agency in relation
to operational logics and playable models.
Building on his previous research, and reexamining Janet Murray’s influential work
Hamlet on the Holodeck, Wardrip-Fruin
argues for an updated understanding ofagency in video games based on the useof operational logics (or lack of available
ones at the moment). Agency in gamingis absent or very constrained, and this isaccomplished by the use of operational
logics and playable models that are available to game designers. This analysis andperspective can change the meaning making of many arguments relating to someof the higher-level elements that WardripFruin bases on operational logics.
The analytical framework describedwithin How Pac-Man Eats is an impressive feat that bridges the gap between thecomputational media product of which
video games are structurally made andtheir larger cultural impact on those whoexperience them. However, some of thelanguage and depth of Wardrip-Fruin’s
argument seems to forget the humanelement of play and interpretation. The
psychology of the player pops into theanalysis through some of the examples
used throughout the book but often feels
like a side effect of the analysis. Hence,some of the analysis can feel ludologicallybound rather than be seen as a bridge tothe larger play experience. Despite this, theanalytical framework Wardrip-Fruin proposes through operational logics is solidly
researched and is already being examinedby game researchers.
Operational logics and playablemodels as a game analysis and meaningmaking framework is excellently arguedin How Pac-Man Eats. Examining how thedevelopment and design of video games
can lead to larger cultural meanings andcapital by starting at the foundations of thegames themselves broadens the horizonsof game research, game design, software
studies, and the psychology of play.
—Ashley P. Jones, Georgia SouthwesternState University, Americus, GA