Getting Gamers

The Psychology of Video Games and Their Impact on the People who Play Them

By: Jamie Madigan

Narrated by: Stephen Bel Davies

Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's Summary

Getting Gamers will show that rather than being a waste of time, video games can help us develop skills, make friends, succeed at work, form good habits, and be happy. Taking the time to learn what's happening in our heads as we play and shop allows us to approach games and gaming communities on our own terms and get more out of them.

With sales in the tens of billions of dollars each year, just about everybody is playing some kind of video game whether it's on a console, a computer, a web browser, or a phone. Much of the medium's success is built on careful (though sometimes unwitting) adherence to basic principles of psychology. This is something that's becoming even more important as games become more social, interactive, and sophisticated. This book offers something unique to the millions of people who play or design games: how to use an understanding of psychology to be a better part of their gaming communities, to avoid being manipulated when they shop and play, and to get the most enjoyment out of playing games. With examples from the games themselves, Jamie Madigan offers a fuller understanding of the impact of games on our psychology and the influence of psychology on our games.

©2016 Harold James Madigan (P)2019 Tantor

very interesting and eye opening.

The content was engaging, narrator was..meh. actually made me consider getting the hard copy

Great look into why we play

A deep look into the reasons people play games and why monetization has been changing.

A must have if you have anything to do with gaming

Interesting, insightful, and extremely well written and performed. The author goes through so many phsycology topics and combines classic with contemporary experiments, and give examples of game we all know.

Great listen

Talks about why we do things in a very direct and simple tu understand way. If you like video games you must read this and if you don't, you should read it too or listen to it hahaha

Nice overview of the gaming related science.

This book was exactly what I was looking for. I was very interested in science related to gaming and was looking for a book that married an examination of the scientific literature with something that was fun and digestible. This book did it. I'm a psychologist but was interested in this topic more for leisure and didn't want to scour the literature on this topic for my own research. I think this a great book for anyone interested in learning more about gaming and some of the associated science (as well as the everyday applicability of psychological science). Thanks to the author for writing this and highlighting gaming psychology in a nuanced and generally thoughtful manner.

Pretty Good Textbook

This book was used as our textbook for my Game Psychology class.

I read this as an audiobook, and it’s pretty funny. The text itself is filled with stories and doesn’t feel like a textbook, which can be difficult when it comes to gathering and understanding the Psyche Affects. Thanks to the review at the end of each chapter, though, I was able to understand what affects were being talked about, and it was also easier to reference the end of chapters when doing assignments.

Amazing! You need this one

Amazing audible, I am an old school gamer and neuroscientist, and I love it. This book has great examples and is very easy to ear for no native English speakers.

Best gaming book I've listened to

I was recently christened as a product manager for a company that pivoted to gaming. In a panic, I grabbed as many books as I could through Audible, Kindle, and physical paperback. Honestly, most of them re crap. This was the one diamond packed full of useful information to help me become somewhat competent

Makes me want to go back to school!

I loved it. it was very interesting and insightful on how people are nudged into buying games and add ons. Great content for psych and games.

Fantastic book with fascinating content

The first part was my least favourite so if you struggle at first don't give up, the rest of the book, especially parts 2 and 3 are truly fascinating. Extremely happy with my purchase and I learned many interesting things while being thoroughly entertained.

Interesting Points

This book was more about the phycology that the game makers use to sell games, things I never thought of, it's definitely worth a listen.

Well thought out

All his points are well thought out and derived. The reading quality is one of the better ones.

got through about 3 hours of this book in total

enjoyed reading this book for the parts I read but just found it to be not quite relevant for where we're at with our game development company so will instead be focus more upon marketing our games so we can grow our audience but good book perhaps will come back to in the future

Good points

Jamie writes wonderfully and I enjoyed his arguments nad theories. I will highly recommend this book to any who is curios about the psychological aspects of playing games, gamers, and game producers.

I will however point out that for a person without a psychological education some of his arguments will seem rushed. Particularly his arguments founded in some of history's more controversial psychological experiments. Those that view humans as quick to selfishness and violence. The faults and critiques of these experiments are important to include, if only briefly.

A fantastic insight into the psychology of games

Fascinating for anyone interested in video games or psychology. I loved it! if you're a games designer or marketer this book is essential reading. If you're a 'gamer' this book might make it into your top 10 books ever read. If you're not a gamer, you'll understand why video gaming is a more lucrative industry than other media such as movies. Enjoy!

Chapters are broken, hard to reference

Chapters section is broken, making it hard to reference and seems to play funny when skipping to find the right chapter.

Very useful and interesting book

I found this book really interesting and very different to what I expected. It focuses a lot more on gaming psychology and marketing.

I strongly recommend this book not only for game developers looking how to grab players attention but also anyone in sales or marketing .

Lots of great advise and useful information all backed up with research.