Space Invaders at 40: What the game says about the 1970s – and today

The Space Invaders arcade video game, celebrating its 40th anniversary, is a classic piece of software credited as one of the earliest digital shooting games. As a game designer and teacher of games, I know how meaning is carried from designer to the mechanics of play. As a game studies researcher, I also know how games reveal myth, meaning and culture. An analysis of Pac-Man, for instance, shows how that game embodies many values of its day – including consumerism, drug use and gender politics. The message in Space Invaders is as basic as the graphics: when faced with conflict, players have no option except to blast it away.