Everything to Play For: How Videogames Are Changing the World

(Paperback)

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Today over 3 billion people play video games regularly. By 2027 this will create an economy of $0.5 trillion a year, larger than films and music combined. More people are watching the competitive finals of Counter-Strike than those of real-life NHL or NBA. There are now games of complexity, innovation and imagination, but it is also an art form that is driven by the marketplace. There is little scrutiny of how the games are made - the poorly paid click worker, the dominance of the platforms. Nor is there discussion of the politics of the games themselves, often violent, and the culture that surrounds them. Telling an alternative history of games from Pong to GTA VI, industry insider Marijam Did explores the games and their communities. She asks why the US military use gaming to train troop. How Gamergate exposed the deep misogyny against minority players. She tells the story of game workers who have started to organise in order to demand better conditions. Why the Chinese state polices access to certain platforms. In response she argues if we can imagine videogames as a challenge to the marketplace. With an abundance of examples of games that are designed to educate, inspire and promote a more progressive politics, Dad argues that we should start to understand how games can change the world, and the time is now.

Reviews

Destroys the gamers who moan about politics ruining their video games. Did shows that games have always been deeply political and asserts the often overlooked radical potential of a medium that means so much to billions of players worldwide.' -- Paris Marx, host of Tech Won't Save Us podcast
A breathtaking history of the games industry not just as an economical or cultural force, but as an unacknowledged political power. Backed by clear passion for the medium and a boundless expertise, Did examines how everything can be games, and how games touch everything about our world today. -- Rami Ismail, games developer
Did has achieved a rare, fresh thing. She has enough perspective to give the industry a necessarily critical overview but she's close enough to celebrate the moments that make games worthwhile - and she makes a strong case that there is still much more to fight for. -- Josh Sawyer, Director of 'Fallout: New Vegas'

Author Bio

Marijam Did has worked within the videogames industry for many years, currently at AAA studios. In 2019, she was nominated for Games Industry.bizs 100 Women in Games as well as Campaigner of The Year at MCV UK Awards. She has written about the industry in Guardian, VICE, GamesIndustry.biz, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung. She is also currently a Lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London. Previously she has been the Chair Of Communications Committee for Game Workers Unite International - an organisation assisting in unionising the global videogames industry. She also cofounded GWU UK - the first legal trade union that has come out of the movement.