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THE VIRTUAL NINJA MANIFESTO: Fighting Games, Martial Arts and Gamic Orientalism. Martial Arts Studies. By Chris Goto-Jones. London; New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016. xii, 159 pp. (Illustrations.) US$32.95, paper. ISBN 978-1-78348-982-4.
After a five-year research project involving more than a thousand fighting-game players, Chris Goto-Jones has created the Virtual Ninja Manifesto, a text-and-image treatise inspiring gamers to intentionality and purpose in gameplay, aiming for self-transformation through practice and combat.
Goto-Jones begins from the assertion that videogames impart knowledge, understanding, and experience in a way that other texts cannot, and that fighting games in particular emphasize a specific mindset and approach to gaming not found in other modes of play. At its heart, the Virtual Ninja Manifesto suggests that fighting games in and of themselves may be regarded as a form of martial arts practice, emphasizing mastery over mere winning, and self-transformation through discipline. Part of the book is indeed a manifesto, a ten-point code combining beautiful artwork by Siku with koan-like questions and short paragraphs pointing to the purpose of fighting games as a martial art. Every other martial art has its manifesto, argues Goto-Jones, so why not fighting games?
As Goto-Jones observes, fighting games "place uniquely high emphasis on mastering incredibly complex and intricate control schemes, requiring delicate and precise physical dexterity" (6). The use of special moves demands both mental and physical skill, with mastery hard to achieve and greatly admired. Goto-Jones persuasively demonstrates that slow and disciplined mastery is...