How to Do Things With Videogames, by Ian Bogost. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2011. 180 pp. $18.95 paper. ISBN 9780816676477 (paper).

On the one hand, it was oddly satisfying to read research about video games that was not mired in the woefully lame “do they cause violence?” trope. In contrast, Ian Bogost in How to Do Things With...