Get in the Game

Chapter 2Tricks Your TV Can Do: The Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Gaming

Any history of video games comes across the same problem: “Video games” as a concept are somewhat ill defined, and even accepting some of the more agreed‐upon features of the definition, one is still faced with a history that is not linear nor easy to follow. Such a history is a mess of starts and stops, influences that pop up within a given period but are not fully developed for some years later, and various technological or cultural shifts in society. Moreover, like any technology, its trajectory is moving forward and shifting even as these very words are written—most technology histories are out of date by the time they go to press.

So, why bother? Put simply, the truth is that much of the logic of the current state of gaming can be rationalized by understanding its origins. It is also the case that gaming has long held a particular role in the overall history of consumer technology, where it has been a reference point for contextualizing and understanding new technologies. Video games were a mechanism through which coin‐operated machines were sanitized for “respectable” household consumption, televisions were adapted from being purely “passive” mediums of engagement, and cellular phones could showcase functionality beyond merely making calls. Games have a long history of being “tricks” that other technology could perform, and therefore have a shared history with some of the most fundamental corners ...