"Virtual worlds are moving into the mainstream, and technology is blurring the boundaries between our activities in online and real-world spaces. When you can spend real dollars to buy virtual goods, it's hard to say it's only a game. Especially when people quit their 'real' jobs to become successful land barons in Second Life, or threaten to include virtual property in a divorce settlement."

"In the world of MMORPGs, money is time. The spending power of every gold coin is directly related to how long it took to earn. Buy gold, and you're able to bypass hours of grinding and arm yourself with desirable gear without the mindless farming. Lose gold, and you could be set back weeks or months of in-game effort.

"So it's easy to imagine my reaction when I learned my mumbling little brother had lost three months of his life."

"Over the past several years many journalists, game developers and gamers themselves have tried their hand at drawing up a document that definitively catalogs players' rights. Reactions against DRM, including the recent Amazon review-bomb against Spore, comprise the majority of those arguments currently on the average gamer's radar, but older documents, including Raph Koster's Declaration of the Rights of Avatars, have been around for years now. They're hardly new concepts, but what is new is the force with which some disenfranchised gamers have responded to the perceived infringement of their right to game."

"Last month, the team at Blue Tongue reached a new milestone for the company: They completed a game that, when originally green-lit, led to "a moment of unbounded joy" when "the clouds part and a beam of light shines down and you go, 'Oh my God, we have complete creative freedom to do whatever we like with this title.'" These are the words of Blue Tongue's Creative Director, Nick Hagger, about their latest release, de Blob. Like any other developer, however, they had to earn their time in the sun."

"I'm in pole position, tensely awaiting for the race to begin. Three sets of red light up - time to get serious. I can hear my lady purr as I depress the accelerator. Two yellow. The kitty becomes a lion. Suddenly, green! The combined force of eight engines and 32 squealing tires tears apart the pavement. Moments later, we're tumbling through a curving pipe, collecting power-ups and learning about modestly priced, fuel-efficient compact cars together.

"Wait a second ..."

"Marcus was already doing some carving of his own. His chainsaw screamed and stuttered against armor. There was a precise technique to the saw: you had to put your weight behind it, or else the blades skidded and didn't bite. The best action was a downward slice, leaning into the target, but Marcus was pinned on his back, cutting upward, and the grub was still thrashing around, even though it couldn't use its weapons close-in. Dom sliced into its shoulder - and still the thing kept moving."

"'The problem with games these days ...' Skazz began, striking a theatrical pose.
Dave smiled, and wondered just how many of his friends were in Aldamar right now, wishing he could join them. 'What is the problem with games these days, Skazz?'

"'The problem with games these days is that they're too social,' Skazz said, and sat down.
'Too social?' Dave scratched his head and stared down at his cafeteria french fries.
'Yes,' Skazz said, tenting his hands. 'Far too social.'
Dave smiled. 'Why's that a bad thing?'"

"The last real smell I remember is burning flesh. I suppose it's fortunate that the aural simulators run a bit better, because the last real sound I heard was Brock's whimpering. Second to last was the gurgle of metal tearing apart flesh. Much less pleasant than, say, 'The Forest Awakens,' or any of the other audio tracks we've got here."

"The train pulls into Kagurazaka, and from the platform I see a foreign guy shove a big-ass kanji dictionary into his backpack and stand up. He was sitting next to this Japanese girl playing Game Boy - she's wearing cowboy boots and blue jeans so tight they follow the tops of her thighs down before heading up her waist. I edge forward, brush past both of them, and snag the seat next to the girl. I glance over - her rack is huge for an Asian - and I notice she's playing Tetris. Awesome. I can talk Tetris, even in Japanese."

"The audience was still chanting, and hearing the name of one of the first songs he'd written resonate throughout the stadium put Will in a kind of nostalgic trance. Before long, he found himself loosely strumming a cover tune he'd learned before writing 'Carla.' It was an old favorite of his, with a simple but compelling hook - one of the most common and popular descending chord progressions imaginable. Cliché, but so infectious you didn't care."

"Televised gaming in the West, in its current form, is broken. Dressed up in the ill-fitting clothes of existing formats and shuffled nervously around schedule arrangements, shows about videogames are the unwanted orphan children of broadcast entertainment, easier to pity than support.

"Of course, it doesn't have to be like this."

"Having a space devoted to games and play was instrumental in forming friendships that have lasted decades. For me and my friends, gaming was a very social activity. Competition, sometimes friendly and sometimes not so much, fueled our contests. Even playing single-player videogames together became contentious when you had to hand over the controller to the next guy whenever Mario got Goomba'd. We were there to spend time with each other, but it was always in the context of gaming."

"'Playing videogames was important when we first started to go on outings,' says Matt, 31, a volunteer Big Brother from London, Ontario, who has been partnered with his 15-year-old 'Little,' Patrick, for more than five years. 'It gave my Little an opportunity to do something he enjoys and let his mind drift off being nervous around a new person. We were also able to chat casually while playing and avoided any awkward silences during conversation lapses.'

"Since those early gaming sessions, Matt and Patrick's relationship has grown into a strong friendship based on shared fun."

"There I was, the clock nearing midnight, sitting on a couch and watching a hipster in tight jeans attempt his best Elvis Costello impression as he hammered away at the colored fret buttons on the controller's neck. Next to him was a young woman, trying her best to find her rhythm but failing. Slinging the controller off her shoulder in resignation, another guest saw this as an invitation for conversation.

"'You did so good!' he said, slurring slightly, a beer in hand. 'You looked like Debbie Harry with that guitar! It was hot.' That was the first time I had seen someone use a videogame to try to pick up a woman."

"The thought first occurred to me in Battlefield 2 as I felt the impact of a long-range headshot while sliding down a zip line in the middle of a fire fight. It may be the most efficient way to travel in a playground, but in the battlefield it leaves you unable to return fire for the duration of the slide. Making it across unscathed would have been more shocking than what befell me. So why'd I keep doing it?

"As I completed my tenth zip line run, up popped a little icon accompanied by a military fanfare, and suddenly I knew the answer: because I was weak."

"DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) is a research and development organization for the Department of Defense. Created after the Soviets shocked the world with the launching of Sputnik in 1957, it's been changing battlefields ever since. Its primary mission has been to keep U.S. Military technology a step or two ahead of its enemies. By the looks of it, one of its secondary missions is supplying the Army with weaponry that gamers have already mastered."

"If we as gamers want our hobby to garner positive attention from the mainstream media and public, we need to present valid arguments as to why our favorite pastime (or job, in some cases) is more than just a game. Before we can do this, however, developers need to untie the knot between games and senseless violence that has existed since the medium's infancy. With the oversaturated 'war game' market spread over a breadth of genres, from real-time strategy to first- and third-person shooters, it's a natural place to start."

"In a war zone, decisions happen fast. The whole incident from start to finish lasts less than 30 seconds. When the platoon stops to assess the vehicle and its occupants, SFC Decker finds that the car wasn't filled with insurgents. It was an elderly couple; no weapons, no explosives and no reason why they didn't heed the repeated warnings. As SFC Decker observes the look on Specialist Blair's face, he knows he has to make a decision and he needs to make it fast: is Specialist Blair emotionally fit to continue his post, or should he replace him?"

"If someone asked you to imagine how videogames could be used to train our military personnel, you might picture a horde of trigger-happy troops fresh from hundreds of hours playing the latest Halo equivalent, wreaking havoc and being a bit surprised that they only have the one life.

"In spite of first-person shooters such as America's Army having been used by the military for recruitment, the focus of military training simulations isn't thinking with your proverbial rifle. The Army is using games as tactical decision aids, training soldiers to make better decisions and preparing them mentally for what they will experience."

"For the past seven years in Afghanistan and Iraq, the United States and its allies have fought irregular enemies who eschew traditional military confrontation in favor of asymmetric tactics. These wars have been costly, painful and, consequently, highly controversial, both within the military and among the public at large. More than most other areas of popular culture, videogames have demonstrated awareness of their historical moment, as the plethora of military shooters and dystopian plotlines can attest. But thus far, games have avoided engaging the real-life issues to which they are responding."