海角大神

Even if your own video-gaming days date back to Atari Pong, you鈥檝e surely noticed the entertainment art鈥檚 halting evolution 鈥� and its see-sawing reputation.

Along the way to fueling big-money 鈥渆sports,鈥� gaming has reflected some real social ugliness 鈥� the blatant misogyny of Grand Theft Auto, the sociopolitical violence of .

It has also showcased efforts to teach complex systems (Sims) and even to promote physical activity (sports games for Wii). Today social media and even staid magazines buzz with , the deeply immersive diversion of the moment.

Gaming is too nuanced to deserve binary views, but extremes stand out. This week brought news of a recruitment campaign by the British Army that about young gamers to military skills.

But also in the news: , an independent game designer. One of his offerings, Flower, was enshrined in the Smithsonian in 2013. (Its players inhabit the wind and affect environmental change.)

His next act: Sky. It鈥檚 a phone-app-based game 鈥渁bout 鈥榮preading light,鈥� 鈥� writes Quartz鈥檚 Ephrat Livni. For its players, 鈥� 鈥榞enerosity and compassion [are] key鈥� to finding their way.鈥�

Can the thinking that Chen鈥檚 art reflects seep into the gaming culture 鈥� and the broader culture? 鈥淚 realized the only winning condition is to do something that isn鈥檛 about you,鈥� ;聽鈥測ou can win when you focus on change.鈥�

Now to our five stories for your Friday.聽