Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms - Couverture souple

Gilsdorf, Ethan

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1599219948 ISBN 13 : 9781599219943

Editeur : The Lyons Press, 2010

Synopsis

An amazing journey through the thriving worlds of fantasy and gaming What could one man find if he embarked on a journey through fantasy world after fantasy world? In an enthralling blend of travelogue, pop culture analysis, and memoir, forty-year-old former D&D addict Ethan Gilsdorf crisscrosses America, the world, and other worlds-from Boston to New Zealand, and Planet Earth to the realm of Aggramar. "For anyone who has ever spent time within imaginary realms, the book will speak volumes. For those who have not, it will educate and enlighten." -Wired.com "Gandalf's got nothing on Ethan Gilsdorf, except for maybe the monster white beard. In his new book, Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks, Gilsdorf ...offers an epic quest for reality within a realm of magic." -Boston Globe "Imagine this: Lord of the Rings meets Jack Kerouac's On the Road." -National Public Radio's "Around and About" "What does it mean to be a geek? ...Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks tackles that question with strength and dexterity...part personal odyssey, part medieval mid-life crisis, and part wide-ranging survey of all things freaky and geeky ...playful ...funny and poignant...It's a fun ride and it poses a question that goes to the very heart of fantasy, namely: What does the urge to become someone else tell us about ourselves? " -Huffington Post

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur :

An amazing participatory journey through today's thriving worlds of fantasy and gaming--from good ol' Dungeons & Dragons to World of Warcraft, small live-action role-playing games to enormous make-believe medieval wars, and more--filled with colorful characters and funny, poignant, and enlightening discoveries Geeks. Fantasy. Sci-Fi. Role-playing games. Tens of millions of people across the World now turn away from the real world to inhabit others. Comic book conventions, Renaissance fairs, live-action role-playing games, and even old-school, low-tech games such as Dungeons & Dragons. Movie fan-freaks design costumes and collect Lord of the Rings action figures. The online game World of Warcraft has lured eleven million users worldwide. Who are these game-players and fantasy fans? What explains the irresistible appeal of these escapist adventures? And what could one man find if he embarked on a quest through fantasy world after fantasy world? In an entertaining blend of travelogue, pop culture analysis and memoir, 40-year-old former role-player (teenage D&D obsession) Ethan Gilsdorf crisscrosses the U.S., the world, and other worlds, from Boston to California, Atlanta to France, and Planet Earth to the realm of Aggramar. He asks gaming and fantasy geeks how they find balance between their escapist urges and the kingdom of adulthood. He questions Tolkien scholars and medievalists. He speaks to grown men who build hobbit holes and learn to speak Quenya and Sindarin, and to grown women who assume digital personae to explore World of Warcraft (WOW) and Second Life.

Revue de presse :

Witty, downright funny, poignant, honest and ... well, wistful. Anyone who has ever embraced escapism will understand, and those who haven t taken that leap of imagination will want to after reading Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks.... Reading Ethan Gilsdorf s tale conjured my own Dungeons and Dragons and fantasy experiences, vividly, right down to finding some of my old character sheets in a 3-ring binder a decade and more after I had stopped using them. --R.A. Salvatore, New York Times bestselling author of forty novels,

Ethan Gilsdorf s quest for himself leads through the fantasy world of millions of gamers in a breathless adventure/quest/memoir that is uniquely contemporary. This is at once a primer on the world of gaming, a self-help manual, and a wistful meditation on the passing of real time in a (nearly) virtual world. --Andrei Codrescu, NPR commentator and author of The Posthuman

An Orcs-and-all journey through geekdom, told with affection for every elf, wizard and dungeon master it meets along the way. Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks is for anyone who s ever been lured by the enchantment and secrets of faraway fantasy worlds; meticulously researched and lovingly told, the book gives a personal face to the cloak-swishing, wand-yielding, lightsaber-rattling gamer in us all. --Melissa Anelli, author of Harry, A History: The True Story of a Boy

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: The Lyons Press
• Date d'édition: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1599219948
• ISBN 13: 9781599219943
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 336