Joystick Soldiers is the first anthology to examine the reciprocal relationship between
militarism and video games. War has been an integral theme of the games industry since the
invention of the first video game, Spacewar! in 1962. While war video games began as
entertainment, military organizations soon saw their potential as combat simulation and
recruitment tools. A profitable and popular relationship was established between the video
game industry and the military, and continues today with video game franchises like …