“Most school children have a Chromebook, and every day, it’s a war between kids, teachers, and the developers trying to entertain bored students.”
video games
Posted inEditor's Pick
How Chess.com Became ‘the Wild West of the Streaming World’
“While much of the e-sports industry struggles after billions in investments, Chess.com has gone in the opposite direction.”
Posted inTop 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
An unjust police killing. Nature reclamation in the fossil fuel era. Surviving a bear attack. The underbelly of the antiquities trade. And for a well-earned dessert, the legacy of the world’s first breakout video game. 1. Police Killed His Son. Prosecutors Charged the Teen’s Friends With His Murder Meg O’Connor | The Appeal & Phoenix […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
‘It Changed the World’: 50 Years On, the Story of Pong’s Bay Area Origins
“How Atari created the world’s most famous video game.”
Posted inEssays & Criticism
All True At Once
You made a fool of the words “feminine” and “masculine” — you were neither, you were both.
Posted inCuration, Nonfiction, Top 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, our editors recommend notable features and essays by Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Justin Heckert, Gloria Liu, Sharon Levy, and Mychal Denzel Smith.
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
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 inEditor's Pick
Sid Meier and the Meaning of “Civilization”
“Like many talented programmers at the time, he preferred to disappear into a fugue of coding and return with a gleaming piece of software.”