Each age finds ways to close the relative distances of time and space in bringing humans into closer contact, communication, and community—enabling not only new forms of collectivization but the growing power of consumers and fans in giving feedback to centralized collectors and creators. At the same time, we move into greater and greater isolation... See more

Nearly 40% of gamers make 6+ friends a year in online gaming, and the introduction of cross-platform and cloud-based gaming has enabled users to connect more freely without hardware restrictions. Game publishers are moving away from single player-based storylines and towards multiplayer worlds that allow gamers to connect more than they compete.

We do not fit this world comfortably. The obstacles in our path are often intractable, exhausting, or miserable. Games can be an existential balm for our practical unease with the world. In games, the problems can be right-sized for our capacities; our in-game selves can be right-sized for the problems; and the arrangement of self and world can mak

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