Gamers have been in trouble as long as games have existed, constantly mired in controversies about violence, diversity, and online harassment. As our popular understanding of “gamer” shifts beyond its historical construction as a white, straight, adolescent, cisgender male, the troubles that emerge both confirm and challenge our understanding of identity politics. This book excavates the turbulent relationships between surface and depth in contemporary gaming culture, taking readers under the hood of the mechanisms of video games in order to understand the ways that gender, race, and sexuality operate in their technological, ludic, ideological, and social systems. By centering the insights of queer and women of color feminisms in readings of online harassment campaigns, industry animation practices, and popular video games like Portal, Bayonetta, Tomb Raider, and Mass Effect, Phillips adds necessary analytical tools to our conversations about video games. In the context of a political landscape in which reinvigorated forms of racism, sexism, and homophobia thrive in games and gaming communities, Phillips follows the lead of those who have been making good trouble all along, agitating for a better world.