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Photography has entered the virtual. In-game photography, referred to as the practice of capturing video game worlds photographically, has received growing consideration in the last few years. Deprived of its main component, light, and its deep-rooted historical emphasis on capturing the “real” event, I inquire into what form of photography we are left with – if any at all. As images captured of and with screens, in-game photographs essentially tick all the boxes of a prototypical screenshot. Yet, in-game photographers intentionally employ photographic terminology, thus denoting a departure from the screenshot’s accidental aesthetic and trivial act of capture. In-game photography can be understood as a transformative remediation of the screenshot and should therefore be liberated from assumptions of indexicality associated with technologies of screen capture. As game worlds are becoming more sophisticated and photorealistic, the experiences players encounter within them are increasingly complex and captivating. 

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