The State of Play

August 1, 2015
What video games mean and why they matter.Swedish technology writers Goldberg and Larsson (Minecraft: The Game that Changed Everything, 2011, etc.) gather a selection of "New Games Journalism" pieces, representing a recent development in writing about video games that focuses not on the technological or entertainment aspects of the medium but on the cultural, social, and political contexts in which the games exist. A focal point for this new approach has been the distressing "Gamergate" scandal, which found women who questioned sexist elements of games-or who created their own alternatives or merely presumed to make their voices heard at all-on the receiving ends of a massive torrent of online threats of sexual assault and murder from frustrated male gamers. Gamergate has inspired much insightful consideration (including Dan Golding's essay, "The End of Gamers," included here), but this book also includes thoughtful considerations of race, gender, sexuality, mental illness, and violence in gaming. Evan Narcisse writes of his frustration with the lack of acceptable representations of black people in games, while Hussein Ibrahim examines his ambivalence as an Arabic man killing scores of Arabic enemies in military shooter games. Developers like Merritt Kopas, Zoe Quinn, and Anna Anthropy recount their struggles to create games that meaningfully confront topics such as depression and sexuality, while other writers examine pervasive tropes and their larger meanings-e.g., the popularity of apocalyptic settings and the masochistic anti-pleasures of maddening time-wasters like "Flappy Bird." The essays are uniformly well-written, full of personal passion and journalistic rigor, and they fully convince readers of the relevance and urgency of this new form of criticism. A consistently engaging and insightful reckoning with the serious implications of the ascendant entertainment medium of the 21st century.

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Starred review from June 15, 2015

Editors Goldberg and Larsson (coauthors, Minecraft: The Unlikely Tale of Markus "Notch" Persson and the Game That Changed Everything) gather a series of daring personal essays on the current state of video game culture and the industry it came from. The essayists are both game lovers and game creators. They're deeply involved in the video game industry and they care greatly about video games as art, representing the most significant voices in the controversies currently rocking the fault lines of the video game landscape. Standout essays by Anna Anthropy and Zoe Quinn demonstrate how creating games can be cathartic while highlighting the extreme prejudices and online harassment that marginalized creators face from their peers. Their essays and others paint an alarming but timely picture in the aftermath of the Gamergate controversy, which concerns sexism in video game culture. Additional pieces unpack issues such as violence, faith, class, and more as they relate to games. All of the contributors balance darkness with uplifting accounts of how games have improved their lives. VERDICT A groundbreaking anthology that all video game players should read and ponder.--Paul Stenis, Pepperdine Univ. Lib., Malibu, CA

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