Vox

The problem with gamifying life | The Gray Area - February 9, 2026 - Vox

Games are fun. Aren’t they?

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When we play games — board games, video games, any kind of game — something magical happens. Games allow us to explore, to create little worlds where we can be different versions of ourselves. But when we turn life into a game — where we have to get the best grade, or the most money, or the most “likes” — then games stop being fun. Why is that?

This week Sean speaks with philosopher C. Thi Nguyen about what a game really is, the difference between playing for enjoyment and playing to win, and why games lose their magic when the stakes become real.

Thi argues that the things we value in life are increasingly captured by grades and likes and downloads and step counts and a thousand other metrics that quietly rewrite what we want and what we think makes us happy.

Host: Sean Illing (@SeanIlling)

Guest: C. Thi Nguyen, author of The Score

00:00 Intro

00:38 What is a game?

09:18 Playing a game for fun vs. playing to win

10:09 Why “gamifying” life isn't fun

24:26 Metrics and “value capture”

27:57 Metrics can reshape how we see ourselves

33:58 Why metrics aren't proxies for everything we care about

42:13 Deciding when metrics matter and when they don't

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Jasmine Crockett isn’t backing down | Today, Explained - February 7, 2026 - Vox

Rep. Jasmine Crockett wants you to know she comes by her controversies and clap-backs honestly. The representative from Texas has served just two terms in Congress, but is already a rising political star and a bona fide internet sensation. She’s also become a political lightning rod for Democrats as well as Republicans. Crockett has built her brand on coining phrases that are almost President Donald Trump-like in their virality. She goes after the president and the administration relentlessly, and says it's the only way to stay relevant and gain voters’ trust in the Trump era.

But if Democrats are less than thrilled with her performance, that’s due more to style than substance, at least, according to her. This week on Today, Explained, Vox’s Astead Herndon travels to Washington, DC, to meet with Crockett and finds her unwilling to back down from her most controversial statements, including comments about some Latino voters having a “slave mentality” and that she doesn’t need Trump voters to win.

Regret and apology are not Crockett’s brand, which has many Democrats worrying about her candidacy for a Senate seat in Texas. In this interview, she walks through her plan and formula for winning that Senate seat: running up the numbers among Black voters, the most loyal voting block for Democrats in Texas, and encouraging nonvoters to participate in the primary.

00:17 Intro

01:25 Who is a Jasmine Crockett voter?

01:59 The ‘bleach blonde’ moment: planned or not?

03:20 Are clapbacks the new Democratic strategy?

05:28 From public defender to Congress

07:38 Strategy for Democrats to win

11:41 Race and racism in US politics

14:12 Viral anti-Rep. Crockett moments in culture

17:52 Policy pushbacks against Rep. Crockett

Today, Explained is a daily news podcast from Vox that explains one story in the news or culture each day while doing its best not to bum you out. Every Saturday, we’ll be in your audio feeds, and here on YouTube, with interesting interviews with key figures in politics and culture. You can also get new episodes of Today, Explained every weekday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite listening app.

If you enjoy our reporting and want to hear more from Vox journalists, sign up for our Patreon at patreon.com/Vox. Each month, our members get access to exclusive videos, livestreams, and chats with our newsroom.

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The House of Representatives is too small. Here is one way to fix it. - February 5, 2026 - Vox

For more than a century, the size of the House of Representatives has been frozen at 435 seats; in that same period, the US population has tripled. This means that today, the average representative is responsible for more than 750,000 constituents. Scholars and politicians say this imbalance is why many Americans feel like Congress is disconnected from them.

So what if we…added more seats? That’s what Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) is proposing in a new bill because he believes it’s closer to what the country’s founders originally envisioned. While expanding Congress could make our ratio of voters to representatives smaller, it also raises a difficult question: Can a larger, more crowded legislature actually govern, or are we just adding more voices to the gridlock? Vox dives into the math, the history, and the potential future of a "bigger" American democracy.

Read more about expanding the House of Representatives:

The Case for Enlarging the House of Representatives, a report from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, co-authored by Lee Drutman, who’s featured in the video.

https://www.amacad.org/ourcommonpurpose/enlarging-the-house

Protect Democracy:

https://protectdemocracy.org/work/expanding-the-house-of-representatives-explained/

The text of Rep. Sean Casten’s bill:

https://casten.house.gov/imo/media/doc/equal_voices_act_119th.pdf

The Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929:

https://www.census.gov/topics/public-sector/congressional-apportionment/about/historical-perspective.html

US population keeps growing, but House of Representatives is same size as in Taft era:

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2018/05/31/u-s-population-keeps-growing-but-house-of-representatives-is-same-size-as-in-taft-era/

This story was supported by a grant from Protect Democracy. Vox had full discretion over the content of this reporting.

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Even Trump voters are mad | Today, Explained - January 31, 2026 - Vox

Trump’s approval rating is one of the lowest in recorded history. And it’s fallen to new lows in recent weeks, as the nation reels from the recent killings of two anti-ICE protesters in Minnesota. Yet, the Trump White House shows no signs of backing off its agenda or moderating to reflect public opinion.

This week, Today, Explained is taking a pulse check on MAGA. We’ve looked at focus groups, talked to pollsters, and checked in with some of the voters from the 2024 presidential campaign trail. In this episode we ask whether MAGA is still defending the president. Host Astead Herndon brings that question to two people who follow Trump’s base closely: John Fredericks, the host of the right-wing radio show The John Fredericks Show, and Sarah Longwell, the founder and publisher of the conservative-leaning publication The Bulwark.

Today, Explained is a daily news podcast from Vox that explains one story in the news or culture each day while doing its best not to bum you out. Every Saturday, we’ll be in your audio feeds and right here on YouTube with more interesting interviews with key figures in politics and culture. You can also get new episodes of Today, Explained every weekday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite listening app.

Thanks to The Bulwark’s Focus Group podcast for use of their swing voter footage.

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Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Check out http://www.vox.com.

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