Mogworld2011-04-02 11:51 GMT
Most gamers will know of Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw from his Zero Punctuation video game reviews on The Escapist, where - without taking a breath - he brutally cuts through the failing elements of new game releases using his own special brand of blunt, sarcastic wit.
I've long been a second-hand fan of Croshaw's reviews. Meaning that I've eagerly watched his videos over Vince's shoulder, being thoroughly entertained even while usually having no knowledge or experience of the games in question. So when I found out that he'd written a whole novel - and based on a game in which I am extremely well versed - I couldn't resist the purchase. Even though I never ever read works of fiction. Ever*.
Mogworld tells the tale of a fellow called Jim who wakes up one day as an undead mage in a world not unlike the World of Warcraft. An extremely reluctant 'hero', Jim quickly decides that being dead is far better than being undead, and concentrates all his efforts on trying to get dead again. But, as you may have guessed by the fact that there's a whole book on the subject, that isn't quite as easy as you would assume.
Perhaps it is the fact that as a former WoW addict I have 'lived' in this world myself, but I found the whole book very engaging and funny. I really enjoyed Croshaw's comical observations on in-game mechanics, basic RPG theory and just how a person might feel if they one day woke up stapled together and missing a nose.
On a couple of occasions the writing feels a little clumsy, giving a bit of the game away early on or just pulling you out of your immersion for a second. But mostly Croshaw's style feels like a fantasy version of Douglas Adams. Like Hitchiker's Guide's Arthur Dent, Jim really doesn't know what is going on and actually would much rather that he didn't have to care. In the same way that Adams took the lofty idea of space travel and the quest to find the meaning of life, yet told the story at the level of a regular Joe, Croshaw has taken a completely fantastical, grandiose world and written about it from the bottom rung.
I probably enjoyed this book so much because I enjoyed WoW, but I think the same could be said had I have played any other RPGs. I'm not sure how non-gamers would fare with some of the "in-jokes", but they certainly aren't WoW specific. Basically, if you've played any games that involve characters, I think you would enjoy Mogworld as a bit of good fun.
And then you can recommend similar reading to me so that I can actually read more than two novels in three years without getting bored on chapter one. I have a very short att... oooh it's lunch time...
*This is not strictly true. In 2009 I read Your Next Door Neighbor is a Dragon by Zack Parsons of Something Awful from cover to cover in just a few days. This is largely however because it has my name in it.
I've long been a second-hand fan of Croshaw's reviews. Meaning that I've eagerly watched his videos over Vince's shoulder, being thoroughly entertained even while usually having no knowledge or experience of the games in question. So when I found out that he'd written a whole novel - and based on a game in which I am extremely well versed - I couldn't resist the purchase. Even though I never ever read works of fiction. Ever*.
Mogworld tells the tale of a fellow called Jim who wakes up one day as an undead mage in a world not unlike the World of Warcraft. An extremely reluctant 'hero', Jim quickly decides that being dead is far better than being undead, and concentrates all his efforts on trying to get dead again. But, as you may have guessed by the fact that there's a whole book on the subject, that isn't quite as easy as you would assume.
Perhaps it is the fact that as a former WoW addict I have 'lived' in this world myself, but I found the whole book very engaging and funny. I really enjoyed Croshaw's comical observations on in-game mechanics, basic RPG theory and just how a person might feel if they one day woke up stapled together and missing a nose.
On a couple of occasions the writing feels a little clumsy, giving a bit of the game away early on or just pulling you out of your immersion for a second. But mostly Croshaw's style feels like a fantasy version of Douglas Adams. Like Hitchiker's Guide's Arthur Dent, Jim really doesn't know what is going on and actually would much rather that he didn't have to care. In the same way that Adams took the lofty idea of space travel and the quest to find the meaning of life, yet told the story at the level of a regular Joe, Croshaw has taken a completely fantastical, grandiose world and written about it from the bottom rung.I probably enjoyed this book so much because I enjoyed WoW, but I think the same could be said had I have played any other RPGs. I'm not sure how non-gamers would fare with some of the "in-jokes", but they certainly aren't WoW specific. Basically, if you've played any games that involve characters, I think you would enjoy Mogworld as a bit of good fun.
And then you can recommend similar reading to me so that I can actually read more than two novels in three years without getting bored on chapter one. I have a very short att... oooh it's lunch time...
9/10
*This is not strictly true. In 2009 I read Your Next Door Neighbor is a Dragon by Zack Parsons of Something Awful from cover to cover in just a few days. This is largely however because it has my name in it.