Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter

—By

| Tue Jun. 22, 2010 4:05 AM PDT

May/June 2010 Issue

Video games are supposed to rot your brain, but this thoughtful and funny game-by-game memoir makes a convincing case that virtual adventures can be as emotionally resonant as the real thing. For Bissell, gaming is truly a mind-expanding experience: "You constantly find things, constantly learn things, constantly see things you could not have imagined." He counts the 30 coked-up hours he spent playing Grand Theft Auto—and appreciating its surprisingly traditional moral code—among his most treasured memories.

Get Mother Jones by Email - Free. Like what you're reading? Get the best of MoJo three times a week.

Photo Essays + Slideshows

Portraits of Addiction

A Manhattan banker shoots portraits of drug abuse, sex work, and homelessness in the Bronx.

Garry Winogrand, John F. Kennedy, Democratic National Convention, Los Angeles, 1

Never Before Seen Photos From Legendary Street Photographer Garry Winogrand

Fourteen amazing scenes of life in America—and hundreds more where that came from.

CSI Desert: When Migrants Die, Who IDs Them?

The Anime Within

Fans of cosplay ask: Are you fact or fiction?

See All