Featuring standout reads from Ian Urbina, Hanif Abdurraqib, Sallie Tisdale, Brad Rassler, and Adam Reiner.
video games
We’re More Ghosts Than People
“I believe in redemption in the same way that I believe in heaven: I feel required to.”
Inside the Chaotic World of Kids Trying to Play Video Games on School Laptops
“Most school children have a Chromebook, and every day, it’s a war between kids, teachers, and the developers trying to entertain bored students.”
How Chess.com Became ‘the Wild West of the Streaming World’
“While much of the e-sports industry struggles after billions in investments, Chess.com has gone in the opposite direction.”
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
An unjust police killing. Nature reclamation in the fossil fuel era. Surviving a bear attack. The underbelly of the antiquities trade. And for a well-earned dessert, the legacy of the world’s first breakout video game. 1. Police Killed His Son. Prosecutors Charged the Teen’s Friends With His Murder Meg O’Connor | The Appeal & Phoenix […]
‘It Changed the World’: 50 Years On, the Story of Pong’s Bay Area Origins
“How Atari created the world’s most famous video game.”
All True At Once
You made a fool of the words “feminine” and “masculine” — you were neither, you were both.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, our editors recommend notable features and essays by Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Justin Heckert, Gloria Liu, Sharon Levy, and Mychal Denzel Smith.
The Loneliness of the Junior College Esports Coach
After a year of loss and grief, Madison Marquer signed up to lead a team of gamers at a community college in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Brendan I. Koerner chronicles the journey. By early 2021, Walsh had gathered ample evidence to prove that esports could bring in as many as 20 student-athletes per year and boost the […]
Meet the Obsessive Role-Players Who Live Inside the World of Grand Theft Auto
“Renegade developers co-opted this controversial video game’s source code to build a complex alternate universe where breaking character is the cardinal sin. Millions tune in to watch.”