“I’ve lost a hell of a lot more than money.”
gaming
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Loneliness of the Junior College Esports Coach
After a year of loss and grief, Madison Marquer signed up to lead a team of gamers at a community college in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Brendan I. Koerner chronicles the journey. By early 2021, Walsh had gathered ample evidence to prove that esports could bring in as many as 20 student-athletes per year and boost the […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
Passion Plan
“Despite any collateral damage, Nintendo and their peers will keep squeezing maximum profit from the biggest, most proselytized audiences they can assemble for however long they can. In practice, this is what ‘convergence culture’ looks like. Playing games that cite other games that can be frictionlessly purchased on devices you can take everywhere, and then […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
Meet the Obsessive Role-Players Who Live Inside the World of Grand Theft Auto
“Renegade developers co-opted this controversial video game’s source code to build a complex alternate universe where breaking character is the cardinal sin. Millions tune in to watch.”
Posted inReading List
Deeper Than Pixels: A Reading List on Video Games
Five longreads on the culture and creativity that games have spawned.
Posted inCrime, Nonfiction, Quote Posts, Quotes
The Prank that Killed Andrew Finch
How a malevolent, remorseless online troll and the shoot-first, ask questions later mode of policing added up to a real-life tragedy in Wichita Kansas.
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Universe Has Been Outsourced
The production of big-name, high-budget games increasingly relies on outsourcing (or “external development,” if you prefer) for the creation of 3D art, level design, and other game assets. Michael Thomsen visited one of the firms that provides this work, the Shanghai-headquartered Virtuos Ltd. Thomsen draws out the tension between the demand for such work and […]
Posted inArts & Culture, Business & Tech, Quotes
Second Life: A World that, for Some, Allows Full Participation
Second Life offers both escapism and a refuge for its hard-core digital denizens.
Posted inEditor's Pick
The $5,000 Decision to Get Rid of My Past
After a series of painful losses, Ben Kuchera learns that when your games become your ghosts, it’s time to clean house.
Posted inBusiness & Tech, Nonfiction, Quotes
We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Screen: On the Addictive Escapism of Video Games
In Vulture, Frank Guan, an avid gamer himself, digs deep into the appeal and addictive qualities of video games in an effort to understand the psychology that undergirds hard-core gaming — and whether it has an impact on or can predict our politics.