Video Games

The new documentary Netizens offers an intimate look at how cyber harassment has affected the lives of three women.

• By Jenni Miller

The debate over the potentially troubling effects of these massively popular games continues.

• By Tom Jacobs

You don't have to personally play violent video games to experience their negative effects.

• By Tom Jacobs

Video gamers have discovered a new and scary loophole in the laws of ownership—and the upshot is that a lot of your digital property might not technically be yours.

• By Calum Marsh

New research suggests they are a destructive diversion.

• By Tom Jacobs

But sexual harassment is a different story.

• By Francie Diep

Even if you get into a gunfight in a virtual fast-food restaurant, you're not likely to remember it was a McDonald's.

• By Tom Jacobs

New research finds words or images depicting violent human-on-human contact increase one's likelihood of cheating for monetary gain.

• By Tom Jacobs

What a 22-year-old video game can teach us about nostalgia.

• By Sam Riches

A famous professional video-game player on the Internet, Tom Burke has made waves for treating his passion like a full-time job. Does that make him a sellout?

• By Paul Bisceglio

Gamers have found a way to get a younger generation excited about raising millions for charity. And they don’t even need to put down their controllers.

• By Paul Bisceglio

And violence might actually hurt sales, a new analysis suggests.

• By Nathan Collins

Neuroscientists say the timeless video game's challenging visual and spatial attributes may block unwanted memories.

• By Katie Kilkenny

There’s a lot of comfort to be found in virtual worlds.

• By Kyle Chayka

On this charged issue, a team of researchers comes to the opposite conclusion of some of their colleagues.

• By Tom Jacobs

Gamergate is a cautionary tale that may dampen others’ willingness to speak out, but the problems of video game misogyny and the online harassment of women are more visible than ever.

• By Lisa Wade

It’s not just for gaming. Cheap and accessible virtual reality will soon change how we look at just about everything, and this group of novelists, artists, and designers are leading the way.

• By Kyle Chayka

Research suggests highly skilled players who achieve a "flow state" are buffered against the games' negative psychological impact.

• By Tom Jacobs

New research from Germany helps explain why people attempt to discredit scientific findings in online comments.

• By Tom Jacobs

Players of an online survival game expressed guilt for killing, but less so for non-lethal actions that would result in a character’s death.

• By Tom Jacobs

But even with odd experiments and disparate conclusions, researchers are edging closer to a more nuanced idea of how they change our behavior.

• By Paul Bisceglio

You know the $21 billion mobile gaming industry you contributed to by purchasing the latest iteration of Angry Birds? Look to it for clues about how we’ll soon consume all digital content.

• By Kyle Chayka

In an effort to unseat Nintendo, the company of Sonic tried to offer an alternative to their competitor's family-friendly image. It worked—and then some.

• By Noah Davis

As part of our week-long series on booms and busts, Jamie Wiebe considers the contenders for the casual gaming crown. Since the early days of Nintendo, the games you play have been secondary to the systems you play them on. And now, the options seem limitless.

• By Jamie Wiebe