CTRL: Essays on Video Games

This anthology explores the idea of video games as an artform through the experience of writers. Video games have been in our lives for over sixty years and have formed a crucial part of many people's lives--not only their childhoods, but their adult lives--dictating in some ways their friend groups, they're partners and in some instances the very way they live their lives. Video games come in myriad form, from triple-A big budget blockbusters like Grand Theft Auto or Assassin's Creedto quiet, meditative Indie games like Journey or Stardew Valley. Like all artforms video games offer us insight into ourselves and the world around us. They help shape our identities, introduce us to other ways of thinking, new languages, alternate worlds. They can offer us escape. But it's not all plain sailing. Video games, as much as they can grant us pleasure, can also be addictive and destructive.