Content Warning: Please be aware that this piece make reference to an episode of sexual assault. True to form, I am continuing on my track to be one of the last people who plays anything. While Dark Souls III just came out and Bloodborne’s been out for almost a year, I’m […]
Games and Culture
Episode 128: Never Alone and the Gifts of Our Ancestors: A Conversation with Amy Fredeen (Right click and save as to download, or find us on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or TuneIn). Last night we were privileged (nay blessed) to have a conversation Amy Fredeen of the Cook Inlet Tribal Council (CITC). Amy is the Executive Vice […]
Last week, I wrote about patriarchal constructions of fatherhood and daughterhood in The Last of Us, and I want to continue in that vein this week as well. To extend this line of thinking, I want to examine how it is such constructions come to be repeated across gaming narratives. […]
So Blizzard gives and Blizzard takes away. Or more specifically, Blizzard made great strides forward with body types and armor coverage for it’s female heroes, but still fell back on old, tired, and offensive stereotypes in an attempt to add some depth to the characters. Let me start by saying […]
I spent about two early morning hours playing a game this weekend. I woke up early so that I could sneak in some gaming hours to play a game that I wanted to write about before my daughter woke up and started demanding breakfast or some such nonsense. What the […]
This all came about because I said “would you kindly get the door,” to a grad student named Patrick. Patrick, better versed in video games than I, hesitated slightly before giving me a wry grin and opened the door for me and the folks we were walking with. It took […]
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the gendered labor that’s represented in The Last of Us, and since then, I’ve been thinking a lot more about the implications of the game’s representation of gendered family structures. Gerald Voorhees talks about The Last of Us’s representation of “paternal masculinity” as […]
Right now, I’m in the process of transitioning from my current university to my new one. It’s an exciting time, but one filled with the whole spectrum of emotions. I’m exciting to be moving to a great new place, starting a new job, and meeting new people. But, at the […]
Episode 127: Brains and Games: A Chat Deborah Budding on Neurodiversity and Games (Right click and save as to download, or find us on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or TuneIn). In this episode we talk with Deborah Budding (@Nebula63), neuropsychologist and podcaster at neurocurious.org This week we talk about neurodiversity, brains, and games. We also about environmental, social, […]
Lately I’ve been wondering just what game culture is anymore. I’m a member of a number of gaming groups in my professional life, in my hobbies, and across the Internet, and conversations are never just restricted to games. In generally feminist/gamer spaces, conversations skew all over the place; in our […]
Episode 126: A Conversation Under the Shade Tree With André Brock. (Right click and save as to download, or find us on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or TuneIn). In this episode we talk with André Brock (aka @DocDre). André is an Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Michigan and is currently completing a […]
I’m taking a course right now in which we’re examining the dominant affects of modernist and postmodern literature, and as a result, I’ve been thinking a lot about the dominant affects of alienation and paranoia and how such ideas might be made manifest in the realm of video games. The […]
I’ve been busy lately, moving and working, and because of that, I haven’t had much time to play. So instead of sitting down to something longer, I’ve been trying out free-to-play games on Steam, playing two new releases in the last week and poking at a few others. The first, The […]
One of my favorite places on the internet is the LEGO Subreddit. Unlike some other subreddits, the one for LEGO fans is filled mostly with people who want to share and discuss their hobby. I’ve been following the LEGO subreddit for some time now, and I’ve found the space to […]
It’s no surprise that people generally think the internet has made our society more violent and toxic. Perhaps it’s not the internet as much as the anonymity it provides, but either way. Hate, misogyny, racism, homophobia, and all kinds of fear-based/difference-based abuse has always existed, of course. We didn’t need […]
Because I obviously enjoy being sad, depressed, and/or miserable, I’m going to continue this conversation regarding feminism and war in light of 11 bit studio’s most recent game – This War of Mine: The Little Ones. To have a better grasp of what I’m processing through and digging deeper to understand, […]