How did games rise to become the central audio-visual form of expression and storytelling in digital culture? How did the practices of their artistic production come into being? How did the academic analysis of the new medium's social effects and cultural meaning develop? Addressing these fundamental questions and aspects of digital game culture in a holistic way for the first time, Gundolf S Freyermuths introduction outlines the media-historical development phases of analogue and digital games, the history and artistic practices of game design, as well as the history, academic approaches, and most important research topics of game studies.