The Games People Play

Cross, Gillian. New World. (1995)— Fourteen-year-old Miriam agrees to test a new computer game in utmost secrecy but finds that it is more than she bargained for.

Fredericks, Mariah. Head Games. (2004)—Two teenagers connect online in a role-playing game which leads them into their own face-to-face, half-acknowledged courtship.

*Horowitz, Anthony. Eagle Strike. (2004)—On New Earth, a world based on a video role-playing game, fourteen-year-old Erik persuades his friends to aid him in some unusual gambits in order to save Erik’s father from exile and safeguard the futures of each of their families. Sequel to Skeleton Key.

*Kostick, Conor. Epic. (2007)—On New Earth, a world based on a video role-playing game, fourteen-year-old Erik pursuades his friends to aid him in some unusual gambits in order to save Erik's father from exile and safeguard the futures of each of their families.

*Lubar, David. Wizards of the Game. (2003)—Eighth grader Mercer, whose passion is the fantasy role-playing game Wizards of the Warrior World, hopes to use a fund raiser to bring a gaming convention to his middle school, but instead he attracts four genuine wizards who are trapped on Earth and want his help in returning to their own world.

MacHale, D.J. The Reality Bug. (2003)—In his ongoing battle to save Earth and its parallel worlds from the demon Saint Dane, fifteen-year-old Bobby Pendragon travels to Veelox, a world whose inhabitants have abandoned their real lives in favor of virtual reality.

*MacHale, D.J. Black Water. (2004)—Just when 15-year-old Bobby Pendragon thinks he understands his purpose as a Traveler he is faced with an impossible choice.

Michaels, Rune. Genesis Alpha: A Thriller. (2007)—When thirteen-year-old Josh's beloved older brother, Max, is arrested for murder, the victim's sister leads Josh to evidence of Max's guilt--and her own--hidden in their favorite online role-playing game and Josh, who was conceived to save Max's life years earlier, must consider whether he shares that guilt.

Osterweil, Adam. The Amulet of Komondor. (2003)—When Joe and Katie become actual characters in a fantasy game, they must battle everyone from a dragon to the FBI to unite five pieces of an amulet, scattered across Earth and the fantasy world of Komondor, that will restore everything to normal.

*Skurzynski, Gloria. Cyberstorm. (1995)—In 2015, when Darcy Kane moves to another part of town, she discovers that the Animal Control Division is trying to take her dog away and that the most obvious escape is into her neighbor's Virtual Reality Rent-a-Memory machine.

*Skurzynski, Gloria. The Virtual War. (1997)—In a future world where global contamination has necessitated limited human contact, three young people with unique genetically engineered abilities are teamed up to wage a war in virtual reality. Corgan is a 14-year-old genetically engineered soldier who was raised in an isolated computer-generated environment for the purpose of one war, now two weeks away. His sheltered existence shatters when he meets his fellow warriors. Corgan soon realizes that the virtual landscape surrounding them is not the only illusion orchestrated by the Supreme Council of the Federation.

*Sleator, William. Interstellar Pig. (1984)—Barney’s boring seaside vacation suddenly becomes more interesting when the cottage next door is occupied by three exotic neighbors who are addicted to a game they call "Interstellar Pig."

*Tangherlini, Arne E. Leo@fergusrules.com. (1999)—Leonora, a teen of mixed ancestry, begins to spend most of her time in a virtual reality world as a warrior named Fergus, but is lured into computer generated danger.

*Vande Velde, Vivian. Heir Apparent. (2002)—While playing a total immersion virtual reality game of kings and intrigue, fourteen-year-old Giannine learns that demonstrators have damaged the equipment to which she is connected, and she must win the game quickly or be damaged herself.

Vande Velde, Vivian. User Unfriendly. (1991)—Fourteen-year-old Arvin and his friends risk using a computer-controlled role-playing game to simulate a magical world in which they actually become fantasy characters, even though the computer program is a pirated one containing unpredictable errors.

*Westwood, Chris. Virtual World. (1997)—Fourteen-year-old Jack North finds himself literally drawn into the frightening world of what he thinks is a new virtual reality game.

*In the Belmont collection