Bit by Bit: How Video Games Transformed Our World (Revised)

**An acclaimed novelist and critic argues that video games are the most vital art form of our time**Video games have been around for decades, but only in recent years have they gone truly mainstream. Today, the majority of American households play video games, almost half of gamers are women, and professional video game tournaments attract more viewers than the World Series. Yet we still don't take games seriously, preferring to see them as little more than entertaining diversions, a means of making the commute go by a little more quickly.In __Bit by Bit__, a blend of history, memoir, and reportage, Andrew Ervin sets out to understand the explosive popularity of this often maligned cultural form. He travels to government laboratories, junk shops, and art museums. He scientists and hobbyists, critics and game makers. He installs a full-sized and obscenely loud __Donkey Kong__ arcade cabinet in his basement, and plays enough __Minecraft__ to suffer... An acclaimed critic argues that video games are the most vital art form of our time Video games have seemingly taken over our lives. Whereas gamers once constituted a small and largely male subculture, today 67 percent of American households play video games. The average gamer is now thirty-four years old and spends eight hours each week playing -- and there is a 40 percent chance this person is a woman. In Bit by Bit , Andrew Ervin sets out to understand the explosive popularity of video games. He travels to government laboratories, junk shops, and arcades. He interviews scientists and game designers, both old and young. In charting the material and technological history of video games, from the 1950s to the present, he suggests that their appeal starts and ends with the sense of creativity they instill in gamers. As Ervin argues, games are art because they are beautiful, moving, and even political -- and because they turn players into artists themselves. An acclaimed novelist and critic argues that video games are the most vital art form of our time Video games have been around for decades, but only in recent years have they gone truly mainstream. Today, the majority of American households play video games, almost half of gamers are women, and professional video game tournaments attract more viewers than the World Series. Yet we still don't take games seriously, preferring to see them as little more than entertaining diversions, a means of making the commute go by a little more quickly. In Bit by Bit , a blend of history, memoir, and reportage, Andrew Ervin sets out to understand the explosive popularity of this often maligned cultural form. He travels to government laboratories, junk shops, and art museums. He scientists and hobbyists, critics and game makers. He installs a full-sized and obscenely loud Donkey Kong arcade cabinet in his basement, and plays enough Minecraft to suffer... Charting The Material And Technological History Of Video Games, From The 1950s To The Present-- 1. Epic Origins -- 2. Era Of Innovation -- 3. Atari -- 4. Call To Adventure -- 5. Arcade Projects -- 6. The First Auteur -- 7. The Renaissance -- 8. Dialing Up -- 9. An American Master -- 10. World Of Warcraft -- 11. Trigger Warnings -- 12. Exile And The Kingdom -- 13. New Auteurs -- 14. The Art Question -- 15. Restart -- Appendix: My 11 Favorite Games. Andrew Ervin. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Ervin blends history, memoir and reportage to examine the explosive popularity of video games. He shows how games constitute a unique storytelling medium that offers us startling new ways to think about our lives and the world around us. And he argues that the best games, as defined by the aesthetic and even political ambitions of their creators, rise to the level of art "Charting the material and technological history of video games, from the 1950s to the present"-- Provided by publisher