 Popsugar Reading Challenge category: A book about video games.
The State of Play: Creators and Critics on Video Game Culture, edited by Daniel Goldberg & Linus Larsson This is a collection of essays on video games and gamers. Some pieces are about game content, such as religious/spiritual aspects and game architecture vs. real-world architecture. The more interesting ones (to me, anyway) are about people. The book came out in 2016, in the wake of the misogynist harassment scandals that rocked the gaming world. The collection includes essays by some of the women who were targeted, including one who saw people become outraged at the success of her very non-traditional video game about depression. Two others discuss the spectrum of sexism they encountered, from intrusive attempts at online flirting, all the way to rape threats, death treats, and doxing. Other essays discuss racial aspects: harassment in multiplayer games, playing the "bad guy" as an Arab gamer, and even trying to find an avatar with realistic-looking Black hair. Inevitably, with video games, the subjects of sex and violence come up. One essay notes that while video games are endlessly creative in portraying violence, sex tends to be treated only as an achievement or reward for making the "right" in-game choices. In another essay, two authors discuss how they can't dismiss all criticism of violence in video games - but they can't resist that dopamine rush either. The underlying theme of the collection seems to be about gaming becoming more expansive - about who gets to be called a gamer, about what games can do. A video game simulating the effects of severe depression may seem like a strange choice, yet it opened up new worlds in gaming.
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