Last year, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Schwarzenegger v. EMA, the case in which videogames entered into their epic battle with Arnold Schwarzenegger, not in his capacity as Conan, the Barbarian; or his capacity as T-800, the murderous Terminator robot; or his capacity as Ben Richards, who kills people on a game show; or his capacity as Dutch, who kills people and also aliens; or his capacity as Douglas Quaid, who kills people on Mars; or his capacity as Mr. Freeze, who kills people with ice; but in his capacity as Governor of the State of California.

Sometimes, I see myself through the eyes of my non-gamer readers. My mother-in-law, say. I see a competent writer who, for reasons incomprehensible, devotes himself to writing about a hobby that is immature at best and an active waste of time and talent at worst. Readers like my mother-in-law likely see it as uninteresting or irrelevant, and I can empathize. I imagine many a spouse, boyfriend, aunt, and boss has picked up a copy of Kill Screen and asked the damnable question I ask my students all the time: Why is this worth writing about?