"A thoughtful account of how optimization (also known as theorycrafting or the "moneyballing effect") has changed the way we play games from World of Warcraft to soccer"--

Christopher A. Paul is Professor of Communication and Media at Seattle University. He is the author of Free-to-Play and coauthor, with Mia Consalvo, of Real Games (both MIT Press). He is also the author of The Toxic Meritocracy of Video Games and Wordplay and the Discourse of Video Games.

Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Optimization and Common Pool Resource Problems 1
1 The Role of Optimization in Video Games 23
2 Overwatch 37
3 Baseball as the Tic-Tac-Toe of Sports 53
4 Less Solved Sports 71
5 EA SPORTS FC and NBA 2K 93
6 Clash Royale 117
Conclusion: Don't Drain the Pool for the Rest of Us 131
Notes 143
Bibliography 167
Index 185