The best video games create complex miniature worlds that keep drawing players back to them. Gaming now crosses age and gender lines. What was once considered child's play is now a cornerstone of pop culture.

Now the phenomenon is generating serious thought and discussion in a new book that explores the game-playing experience.

"Well Played 1.0 -- Video Games, Value and Meaning" is a collection of essays written by a mix of game enthusiasts -- developers, bloggers, scholars and reviewers. Each chapter focuses on a popular or influential action/adventure or strategy game, including "Ico," "Super Mario Bros.," "Half-Life 2," "Shadow of the Colossus," "Zork," "Bioshock," "World of Goo," "Mines of Minos."

The book is published by ETC Press, a multimedia publishing imprint affiliated with the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University. The ETC is a specialized graduate program in which students from the arts and sciences collaborate on game design and other forms of digital entertainment.

The title "Well Played" works on several levels: In the same way an avid reader is described as "well read," a dedicated gamer can be called "well played." And a creative and engaging game can be considered well played from the developer's point of view.

"We gathered passionate, articulate fans of the game to analyze it in depth from an avid player's perspective" and evaluate how well it was designed, says Drew Davidson, ETC director and editor of ETC Press. "What was fun about it was really trying to dig into what makes a game work well. Video games are a complex enough medium that they merit this kind of attention."

"Well Played" is the first in what Dr. Davidson hopes will grow into a series. In Version 1.5, different writers would explore the same games covered in the current version, adding new perspectives. Version 2.0 would feature a new collection of games.

Warning: The book is full of spoilers, revealing some games' surprise elements. The publishers recommend playing the games before reading about them.

The goal of ETC Press, Dr. Davidson said, is to publish work in book form, in keeping in academic tradition, and to get new ideas out to a wider audience through digital media avenues.

"Well Played" can be purchased in book form through the self-publishing site Lulu.com for $39.95. For those who want to read it online, there are links to each chapter on the ETC Press site, www.etc.cmu.edu/etcpress/ wellplayed1.0.

So far, the digital version is winning the race. The book has been out for a week, selling 60 hard copies vs. 2,400 downloads.

One year after publication, digital versions will be available as a Feedbooks e-book download for platforms such as Amazon's Kindle and Apple's iPhone, and will be archived on other sites.

ETC Press, which launched last summer, is not a mainstream publisher. It has several titles devoted to gaming or game design and has about six more in the works. Like "Well Played," they're available in both physical and digital form.

It also creates a two-way street for the reader, who can register on the site and post comments. Some of that feedback could be incorporated into future versions.

Dr. Davidson says ETC Press is exploring new frontiers in publishing that incorporate physical and virtual media, and blur the lines between reader and writer, and between content creators and consumers.