Reviewed by:

• Respawn: Gamers, Hackers, and Technogenic Life by Colin Milburn
• Pieter Van den Heede (bio)

Since their development in the 1970s, digital games have evolved into one of the most significant forms of cultural expression worldwide. In the book Respawn: Gamers, Hackers, and Technogenic Life, author Colin Milburn goes a step further by arguing that digital games are also a primary site for [End Page 1250] what he calls "technogenesis." This concept, based on a trope from science fiction, refers to the emergence of new life-forms or ways for humans to exist in the world, "from within systems of technology." Milburn argues that the increasing pervasiveness of computerization, and digital gaming in particular, have given rise to a mixed online and offline repertoire of "political interventions . . . affective productions and performances, collective mobilizations, and subversive pleasures [or 'lulz']" (p. 7). This repertoire has recalibrated life in general, but Milburn primarily aims to show how it has transformed socio-political activism—in particular as undertaken by hacktivist groups such as Anonymous and Lulzsec over the past two decades.

Milburn singles out digital games as a site for technogenesis because they "offer a model of engagement"; since games require active player involvement, they can "recalibrate our sense of things" and "[present] tactics for inhabiting the world differently" (pp. 8−9). Throughout the book, Milburn tries to illustrate this premise by analyzing how digital games present modes of action that have inspired political activism since 2000. He discusses games such as Spacewar!, one of the first games ever created (MIT, 1962); the spatial puzzle game Portal (Valve, 2007); and the Japanese role-playing game Final Fantasy VII (Squaresoft, 1997).

To explain the concept of technogenesis, Millburn presents an eclectic series of case studies. The book does not offer a systematic insight into how gaming practices and communities have shaped hacktivism globally and historically. Nevertheless, Milburn's technogenesis-concept is innovative and compelling. He presents the argument that digital games play a central role in this process in a rich (but anecdotal) manner. Milburn's discussion of the puzzle game Portal is an excellent example (chapter 3). In Portal, players take on the role of a protagonist who wakes up in a private military research facility and is asked by the facility's central AI to test a new weapon, the "portal gun." Throughout the game, players discover that the protagonist merely serves as a guinea pig for the AI, to be disposed of once the testing has been completed. However, with the help of the portal gun, players are also invited to actively subvert the AI's intentions, and thus engage in resistance from within. Milburn states that the portal gun serves as a ludic (i.e. playful) version of "tactical media:" tools for the "technical subversion" of "dominant regimes of power" that created these tools in the first place (p. 81). Milburn goes on to show how Portal's ludic subversiveness became a source of inspiration for the hacktivist collective Anonymous, when it hacked into U.S. government agency servers and threatened to release "warheads" of stolen data in retaliation for the death of a computer programmer during "Operation Last Resort" in 2013 (pp. 44–50).

Despite such poignant analyses, the book—in particular its theoretical framework—also suffers from omissions and inconsistencies. Firstly, Milburn's technogenesis-concept underplays the significance of modes of existence presented through non-digital cultural forms, despite ample evidence [End Page 1251] to the contrary in the case study chapters. For example, Milburn states that Spacewar!'s creation can be characterized as "an exercise in applied science fiction:" an effort to solve problems through adventurous and improvisational technological experimentation (p. 25). As Milburn correctly observes, this reflects an ethos omnipresent in contemporary hacktivist collectives. However, Milburn also demonstrates how the creators of Spacewar! actively drew inspiration from pulp science fiction novels for their improvisational ethos, thus highlighting the significance of science fiction more broadly for hacktivist culture. Together with other examples, this raises the question why the non-digital isn't integrated more systematically into the technogenesis-framework. Secondly, due...

审核人：

• 重生： Colin Milburn的游戏玩家，黑客和技术生活
• 彼得·范·登·希德（生物）

自1970年代发展以来，数字游戏已发展成为全球范围内最重要的文化表现形式之一。在《重生：玩家，黑客和技术生活》一书中，作者科林·米尔伯恩（Colin Milburn）进一步证明了数字游戏也是[End Page 1250]的主要网站他所谓的“技术发展”。这个概念基于科幻小说中的一种说法，是指人类“从技术系统内部”出现的新的生命形式或方式。米尔本认为，计算机化的普及，尤其是数字游戏的普及，引起了“政治干预……情感干预和情感表演，集体动员以及颠覆性愉悦[或'lulz']”的在线和离线组合。 （第7页）。这个曲目已经重新调整了生活，但米尔本的主要目的是展示它如何改变了社会政治活动主义，特别是在过去二十年中，由匿名主义者和卢兹塞克这样的黑客主义者组织所采取的行动。

Milburn将数字游戏选为技术开发的场所，因为它们“提供了参与模式”；由于游戏需要玩家积极参与，因此它们可以“重新调整我们对事物的感觉”和“ [以不同方式居住世界的当前策略]”（第8-9页）。在整本书中，米尔本都试图通过分析数字游戏如何呈现自2000年以来激发了政治激进主义的行动方式来说明这一前提。他讨论了诸如太空战！，是有史以来最早的游戏之一（麻省理工学院，1962年）；空间益智游戏Portal（Valve，2007）；日本的角色扮演游戏《最终幻想VII》（Squaresoft，1997年）。

为了解释技术发生的概念，Millburn提出了一系列折衷的案例研究。这本书没有提供关于游戏实践和社区如何在全球和历史上影响黑客行为的系统性见解。然而，米尔本的技术概念是创新且引人注目的。他提出了这样一种论点，即数字游戏以丰富（但轶事）的方式在这一过程中发挥了核心作用。Milburn对益智游戏Portal的讨论就是一个很好的例子（第3章）。在门户中，玩家扮演主角的角色，后者在私人军事研究机构中醒来，并被该机构的中央AI要求测试一种新武器，即“门炮”。在整个游戏中，玩家会发现主角只是充当AI的豚鼠，一旦测试完成就将其丢弃。但是，在门炮的帮助下，玩家也被邀请积极颠覆AI的意图，从而从内部进行抵抗。米尔伯恩指出，门户枪是“战术媒体”的荒谬（即好玩）版本：首先是“统治力量”的“技术颠覆”工具（第81页）。Milburn继续展示Portal如何骇人的颠覆性成为黑客主义者集体匿名组织（Anonymous）的灵感来源，当时该组织入侵了美国政府机构的服务器，并威胁要释放被盗数据的“弹头”，以报复计算机程序员在2013年“最后的行动”中丧生。 （第44-50页）。

尽管进行了如此令人发指的分析，但本书（尤其是其理论框架）也存在疏漏和不一致之处。首先，尽管有充分的证据[第1251页]，在案例研究章节中却有相反的证据，但米尔伯恩的技术概念却忽视了通过非数字文化形式呈现的生存方式的重要性。例如，米尔本说太空战争！的创作可以被描述为“应用科幻小说中的一种练习”：一种通过冒险和即兴的技术实验来解决问题的努力（第25页）。正如米尔伯恩正确地观察到的，这反映了当代黑客主义者集体中无所不在的精神。但是，米尔本（Milburn）还展示了太空战争的创造者！纸浆科幻小说因其即兴创作的精神而积极地受到启发，从而更加突显了科幻小说对黑客主义文化的意义。与其他示例一起，这引发了一个问题，即为什么非数字化没有更系统地集成到技术框架中。其次，由于...