Beyond Play: The Dark Side of the Gaming Industry
Reading: Everything to Play For: How Video-Games Are Changing The World by Marijam Did
After reading Marijam Did’s book Everything to Play For, I found myself reflecting on the often-overlooked dark side of the video gaming industry—one that extends far beyond screen addiction and crunch culture. Beneath the dazzling graphics lies a deeply concerning environmental toll: energy-hungry servers, unsustainable hardware production, and a staggering carbon footprint.
In a time when our planet is on the brink of climate catastrophe, how do we reconcile our love for gaming with the urgent need for sustainability? Can we push for a greener, more ethical industry before we quite literally overheat the world we live in?
Reading: Everything to Play For. How Videogames Are Changing the World by Marijam Did
I am not a video game player. My experience is mostly confined to mindless mobile games, something I turn to when tiredness leaves me incapable of doing anything else. The few times that I tried to engage more deeply with gaming I found myself , either bored or frustrated by the glaringly sexist portrayals of women- when women were depicted at all. These experiences have shaped my scepticism toward an activity that occupy hundreds of thousands of peoples’ most valuable resource - time.
I also need to say that this is not a traditional book review. While I share a few thoughts about the book, I saw it mostly as an opportunity for deeper research into the broader impact of video gaming on society, the environment, and climate change. The result is this extended—though by no means exhaustive—exploration of these critical issues.
I decided to read Marijam Did’s Everything to Play For because it was recommended to me by a couple of people whose opinions I trust, and because of an enthusiastic and very knowledgeable bookseller—a rare gem in the increasingly endangered species of genuinely knowledgeable booksellers, even in independent bookshops.
Despite my personal sentiment, I cannot deny, gaming’s influence and power. Gaming is more than entertainment; it is a technological innovator and a global economic force. Its cultural influence is massive, rivalling or surpassing industries like film and music. In 2024, global gaming revenues are projected to reach $455 billion, with mobile games alone accounting for nearly $99 billion. It is a staggering industry that not only entertains but also shapes our society in profound ways.
As a gamer and industry insider, Marijam Did, offers a thoughtful exploration of how video games influence our world, blending personal anecdotes, cultural critique, and forward-looking analysis. She examines the industry's impact on diverse areas and raises ethical questions, about labour practices, gender representation and environmental responsibility. She explores the social aspect of gaming that enables people from all corners of the world to interact, collaborate, and compete, and even form strong social bonds and communities. Finally, she is telling us how gaming can become a force for good.
The Dark Side Of An Industry
Working in the Game Industry
Did discusses the often gruelling work culture within the gaming industry, where "crunch time"— the industry’s euphemism for long hours of unpaid labour, especially during a blockbuster release —is commonplace. Employers often expect their employees to work extra hours and weekends, often sixty and sometimes a hundred hours a week, sacrificing their well-being and mental health to meet deadlines.
While some countries, especially in Europe, provide stronger labour protections, the broader picture is deeply troubling. The industry exploits a young, predominantly male workforce eager to prove themselves, often at significant personal cost.
Yet, alternative models exist. Aleksandar Gavrilovic is the founder of the video game Gamechuck, a video game company in Zagreb, Croatia. Based out of a tiny office crammed with computers, the company is organized around equality. All employees earn equal pay, share profits of the games they create and make decisions democratically by voting anonymously on Discord: The 17-person collective recently voted to shorten workdays from eight hours to six. And nobody gets fired. There is more than one way to work to be successful.
Sexism in Gaming
While Did touches on issues of gender representation and diversity in gaming, these discussions feel surface-level. The book misses an opportunity to explore the deeper, systemic roots of sexism in the industry. An exploration of how exclusionary practices impact industry recruitment, storytelling in games, and player experiences would have added valuable information and depth.
The tech and gaming industries remain deeply male-dominated. Over the past decade or so, there have been revelations that gaming companies are sites of widespread gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and sexual misbehaviour of various sorts. The Activision Blizzard case is just one example. An investigation found a “frat boy” environment at the company in which men joked about rape, male superiors harassed female employees, and drunken male employees engaged in “cube crawls” harassing female workers.
Female gamers face their own set of challenges. Despite the growing number of women who play video games (see graph below) – the big companies don’t seem to care; female players are hardly the target consumer audience, anyway. Therefore, online spaces meant for leisure often turn into hostile environments rife with gendered abuse, ranging from derogatory insults to outright harassment. Many female gamers, apart from quitting multiplayer games, resort to masking their gender or playing only with trusted acquaintances. These strategies offer temporary safety but inadvertently reinforce a culture of silence, perpetuating the sexist gaming culture.
Gamification
Gamification is everywhere these days. It has infiltrated the workplace, education, and even fitness, disguised as badges, insignificant rewards like points and eye-catching animations. At first glance it seems harmless – even beneficial. After all, who doesn’t enjoy a little extra motivation? But beneath the flashing badges and streak counters lies something more profound: a system designed to capture and monetise our attention.
Human attention, a personal and incredibly finite resource, has become the fuel of the digital economy. Tech giants like Amazon have harnessed gamification to drive productivity—sometimes at the cost of employee well-being. Social media platforms and mobile apps rely on it to keep users hooked, turning engagement into profit. Whether through advertising revenue or in-app purchases, the game isn't just about fun—it’s about business.
Gamification has also found uses in education reshaping how we learn. Duolingo, the online language learning platform, owns much of its success to their gamification tactics. Streaks, badges, and progress bars don’t just track learning—they make it a habit of using it daily.
Minecraft, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, argues that the game is boosting skills like collaboration, critical thinking and problem-solving. Some even argue that it enhances literacy skills. But is the engagement truly self-driven, or are users simply responding to the subtle nudges of gamified design?
So gamification is big. And while it has clear benefits in helping users to develop positive habits, it also raises a few questions about whether these habits are truly self-driven or if users are simply being manipulated by companies to shape their behaviour accordingly.
One of the most troubling aspects of gamification is the way it normalises surveillance. Most platforms use algorithms to track users’ behaviour to optimise engagement strategies that will keep us playing. This kind of data collection is often perceived as harmless—voluntary, even—but in reality, it embeds constant monitoring into everyday life.
Beyond privacy concerns, gamified platforms are increasingly being designed for addiction which are driven by profit-focused motives. Rewards keep users hooked, while streak-based systems exploit the fear of loss, creating compulsive behaviours. Some teenagers, have described the experience as leaving “a hole in my heart.”
Gamification has the power to transform behaviour—for better or worse. Use it wisely, it can drive learning, productivity, and personal growth. But when profit takes precedence over well-being, engagement turns into exploitation. The real challenge therefore is to make sure what we, the users, are in control. At the moment, it doesn’t feel that that way
The Hidden Environmental Cost of Gaming
When we think about gaming, we imagine big bright, colourful worlds, high-speed graphics, and exciting storytelling. What not to like! Very few take a moment to consider the very real environmental toll behind the screens. From resource extraction for console manufacturing to the carbon emissions of gaming servers, the industry’s carbon footprint is immense.
Every Xbox and PlayStation console uses lithium-ion rechargeable batteries, which contain cobalt, a rare, silvery metal in relentless demand. But this demand comes at a devastating cost. Mining cobalt is an environmental and human rights catastrophe. Around 75% of the global supply is mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and is largely controlled by joint ventures between the national government and foreign corporations—primarily Chinese companies. China produces nearly three-quarters of the world’s refined cobalt.
Cobalt is toxic to touch and breathe in and can be found alongside traces of radioactive uranium. Cancers, respiratory illnesses, miscarriages, headaches and painful skin conditions occur among adults who work without protective equipment. Children suffer birth defects, and developmental damage, while vomiting and seizures are alarmingly common in mining communities. Furthermore, the extraction of these metals often leads to deforestation, soil degradation, and water pollution.
Numerous reports and investigations have highlighted the devastating impact of cobalt mining, yet the issue rarely makes headlines. Most gamers remain unaware that their entertainment is tied to environmental destruction and human exploitation. The industry, for all its technological innovation, remains largely silent on sustainable solutions.
Meanwhile, the energy demands of gaming, especially with the rise of streaming, contribute significantly to global carbon emissions. A 2019 study estimated that gaming in the U.S. alone consumes around 34 terawatt-hours (TWh) of energy annually—that’s more than the entire yearly energy use of some small countries. And it’s not just the data centres and cloud gaming services driving this consumption. Modern gaming consoles can use between 100 to 200 watts per hour during gameplay—a demand that quickly adds up in millions of households worldwide. The gaming industry's carbon footprint is impossible to ignore—and it's only getting bigger. While precise figures vary, estimates suggest that annual emissions from gaming are substantial and rising.
But carbon emissions are just one part of the problem. Gaming’s plastic waste crisis is equally staggering. Between 2000 and 2018, the production of physical game discs alone generated over 97,000 metric tons of plastic waste—enough to build a stack 9 kilometres high. And that's just from the discs.
The production of gaming paraphernalia adds another layer of waste. From cheaply made plastic figurines to overpriced "collector's items," much of this memorabilia is destined, to where else – the landfills.
How do we Stop our Planet From Being Boiled Alive ?
The gaming industry is becoming more aware of its environmental responsibility, but awareness alone won’t cut emissions. While some companies like Sony have introduced initiatives such as energy-efficient components, recycled materials, and sustainability-themed gaming content, these efforts amount to a single raindrop in an ocean of environmental challenges.
Ironically, as climate change reshapes our world, its catastrophic consequences have become a selling point for the gaming industry. Yet, while the industry profits from dramatising climate disasters, it remains a major contributor to them. Take Battlefield 2042, for instance. The game borrows themes directly from the cascading and connected crises we find ourselves in today. Set in a world ravaged by a decade of extreme climate events, it depicts a future where governments collapse, resources dwindle, and climate refugees fight for survival —terrifyingly close to our trajectory.
The climate displacement era is already upon us. Rising global tensions, territorial disputes, and resource scarcity are no longer just the stuff of video game plots—they’re unfolding now. Just think of the geopolitical rhetoric for Greenland or the accelerating sea-level rise threatening coastal cities. A submerged lower Manhattan no longer feels like distant fiction.
Yet, expecting the gaming giants to implement drastic CO2 reductions is wishful thinking. At best, we might see incremental optimisations—better recycling processes, and marginally more energy-efficient consoles. But to expect major systemic change from corporations like Sony, Microsoft, or Apple, whose business models rely on the continuous consumption of gaming gear, it's like expecting a corporation to put your children’s future over its bottom line. It’s not going to happen, not in the current political landscape, anyway.
The ethical challenges run deeper still. Beyond environmental concerns, the industry has long profited from content that glorifies violence and sexism and addictive design systems. To hope that they will abolish such practices is to misunderstand the priorities of these companies. Change will not come from within; it must be demanded by informed and conscientious consumers.
Finally, a few words about the book.
Everything to Play For is an insightful and well-written introduction to the different ways in which the game industry influences and reshapes our modern societies. While I do not share Marijam Did’s optimism for the positive potential of video games, I do recognise that they are here to stay and that their influence will only grow. The real question is: At what cost?
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Notes
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