Lately, we’ve been talking a lot about why we write this blog, why we record the podcasts, and why we do all of this in general. For me, it often comes down to a feeling of being “dismissed” and/or of having deal with people who want to push the issues […]
Monthly Archives: April 2014
22 posts
Trigger Warning: this post contains discussions of rape and slavery in Minecraft Ok, as a member of a number of various historically oppressed groups I just don’t get slavery play in video games. That shit ain’t fun and it ain’t playful. That’s why I get plan old enraged when I […]
Feminist work in game studies is sort of like playing golf. You hit 20 bad shots to every good shot, but that good shot is what keeps you coming back. You finally squared your hips correctly, didn’t take your eye of the ball, the WHAM! It goes soaring across the […]
So my love of/addiction to the Animal Crossing games that have appeared on the Nintendo DS is no secret, so when I learned about Disney’s Magical World I quickly hit pre-order because how much fun would it be to world build with Disney characters? Magical World is another in a […]
Episode 76: The AHa! Moment: How Did We Get Here From There (“Save As” to download or head over to iTunes to subscribe) The episode where we talk the AHa moments that led us into game studies. Citywide cable internet issues cause us to lose Alex halfway through, but it is still […]
I must first begin with a disclaimer: there is a good deal of rant in the post that follows and for that I apologize. When I was first told that there was a growing movement of male fans of the latest Disney princess movie Frozen who had begun to draw […]
This weekend I ran across this article, which says among other things “Vita owners are serious game buyers.” This seemed a strange and almost elitist comment to me; one that suggests Vita owners are the most hard core of the hard core gamers. I’m a Vita owner, but I don’t […]
I realize this post is far shorter than the norm, and I apologize. I am just finding it too difficult to string words together. Trust me, I did you a favor by making this short. I defend my dissertation tomorrow. I have to admit, it’s a little hard to concentrate […]
“Casual:” it’s a word that’s laden with hidden meaning in the gaming community. It’s an increasingly popular style of game that’s largely meant to target an audience outside of what might be considered the “core” gaming demographic. It’s the trend of game development companies to increase their funding and attention […]
At the turn of the twentieth century, the thoroughly modern children of angst ridden-upper-and-middle-class parents wore feathers and slept in tipis and wigwams at camps with multi-syllabic Indian names. Their equally nervous post- World War II descendants made Indian dress and pow-wow-going into a hobby, with formal newsletters and regular […]
I haven’t been gaming a whole lot lately. The reasons are typical: end of semester madness combined with writing and defending my prospectus. When I first started grad school, it was unusual for me to game at all during the semester. Not gaming during the semester was not a policy, […]
Lemme start this blog all feminist-style with a story. I got some feedback on my work recently that made me question what I’m doing with my dissertation. My diss work is on a theory I made up called procedural ethics (PE). PE, essentially, asks game scholars to start at the […]
As if it was a bit of foreshadowing, I talked about the hours that I spent playing little puzzle games like Bejeweled on consoles when Pea was an infant because I had figured out how to play while feeding her and holding her upright afterwards (severe acid reflux made that […]
Episode 75: If Not Points and Badges, Then What: On Gamification (“Save As” to download or head over to iTunes to subscribe) The episode where we talk about gamification and the future of games based learning. Definitely a fun way to learn more about games and learning.
Virtual reality: the Sims had it long before I was aware that it was something that was possible outside of kitschy sci-fi movies. It was the best and most efficient way to give a Sim some much needed entertainment, if you could afford it anyway. Once the Sim had strapped […]
This week Amazon released its Roku-like media-streaming device, the Fire TV. According to Amazon, the Fire TV is more than just a streaming device, it’s also a (sort of) gaming console. I’ve been having a lot of problems with my Roku’s lately, and have been shopping around for alternative solutions, […]