Git as Game Logic: What Video Games Can Teach Us About Version Control

Git can feel like a boss battle: confusing, punishing, and full of mechanics you weren’t properly warned about. But if you've ever played a video game, you already understand more about version control than you think. In this talk, we’ll reframe Git’s concepts through game design, from commit as your checkpoint save to stash as a quick inventory swap. Then we’ll level up: what does rebase have in common with timeline rewrites? Why is reflog your hidden save system? And why is force-pushing to main basically using cheat codes in co-op? Whether you’re early in your Git journey or managing complex workflows across teams, this talk will give you a new, more intuitive mental model for working with Git using the kind of logic games have taught us for years. You’ll leave with deeper insight into history, recovery, collaboration, and confidence navigating even the trickiest parts of your version control quest.