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. The allure of escape mixed with sense of control can cause some to retreat from the real world into the one they can fully understand, a place where they can ultimately be safe.

These collected essays explore the good and the bad sides of gaming; how video games are used as a cypher, as a new way of looking at the world, and indeed the lives of the writers themselves. How has this artform affected them? Has it shaped the way they see the world? Has it influenced the way they write, the stories they are drawn to or the form those stories take? And where—if it truly is an artform in its own right—will video games go from here? With the rapid development of technology and increase use of AI tools, can this medium retain its artistic integrity or will our capitalistic consumer culture be its ruin?

Featuring contributions from acclaimed and emerging writers, both Irish and international—including Rob Doyle, John Patrick McHugh, Colin Barrett, Sheila Armstrong, Sarah Maria Griffin, Roisin Kiberd, and more—this anthology is an exploration of one of the most influential cultural forms of our time.