Episode 105: Dialogue, Critique, and Privilege (Right click and save as to download, or find us on iTunes or Stitcher). For Episode 105, we welcomed three friends of the show in to talk about some difficult topics. We were joined by Dr. Cody Reimer (congrats on the new position!), PhD student […]
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I’ve often wondered about the potential reach of games. If marketing was a little different. If (some) games were. So when Her Story came along, with its straightforward interface, search-based mechanic, and nonlinear mystery narrative, I saw the potential immediately for the game to spread, though the problem with something […]
We’ve been talking a lot about Tauriq Moosa’s recent Twitter hiatus, because of the far-reaching potential. Personally, I’m unable to equate my experience with Moosa’s experience because I’m a white female on the Internet and not a person of color. I can’t possibly understand his experience with blanket negativity and outrage culture, […]
Another anime season has come and gone and it’s time again to reflect on and discuss some notable series of the Spring 2015 season. This season unfortunately didn’t produce as many standout titles as last season did, which was something I admittedly find a bit disappointing. Many of this spring’s titles […]
Recently Tauriq Moosa left Twitter (he’s back) after receiving hate, threats, and abuse for writing an article about the race problems in Witcher III. If you haven’t played the game, he’s right: that game is white as hell. He has come under fire a lot, and I wanted to share […]
I got married last weekend and, coincidentally, that same weekend, the New York Times published a trend piece that explores the fact that the number of women keeping their maiden names after marriage is on the rise. And I say “coincidentally” because I just so happen to be one of […]
A few days ago, I stumbled across Seduce Me the Otome on Steam. The game is free on Steam, and is described as “A romantic comedy visual novel centered around a girl named Mika Anderson, who gets entangled in the affairs of incubi.” I was curious and the game was […]
After this year’s E3 I thought that it would be fun to look back at one of my posts about last year’s E3 and the status of women in games. Last year we were talking about Aisha Tyler’s claim that female NPCs in games increased diversity in games and Anita […]
This year the 4th of July feels more distant than others for a number of reasons. Several weeks ago on June 19th we celebrated 150 years of emancipation with Juneteenth (which happened for slaves in 1865, not 1776), Black churches are burning in the South, and unarmed Black children, women, […]
Over the years — and particularly, in the last year — the notion that game reviews should be objective, depoliticized, or both, has arisen time and time again, and been debated, discussed and parodied to oblivion. But who are the people asking for objective game reviews? Who thinks they’re possible, […]
It’s that time of year again, the time when all of the academic conferences and game and comic cons start to bump up against one another and cry out for my limited attention (and cash). It’s this time of year when I really feel the liminality of the space that […]
Since its release, I’ve spent a lot of time playing, and thinking about, Sam Barlow’s Her Story. I’ve played it on my own Steam account, and also on my husband’s — I didn’t want to interrupt my own game, which was then unfinished, but I did want to see if […]
The Batman franchise (Warner Bros.) has been frequently questioned on its representation of female characters, despite featuring some of comics’ most memorable women. The Batman: Arkham series has consistently featured some problematic representations of its female characters and other bits of sexist content throughout the four games. Batman: Arkham City […]
When I look at the list of games introduced at this year’s E3, my eyes just sort of glaze over. I don’t care for a lot of the popular AAA games. When I do find a game I love, I often become obsessed with it and play it for hours […]
Jim Norton wrote in Time Magazine that “Americans have collectively become the most hypersensitive group of whining milksops ever assembled under one flag.” It’s easy to see why he thinks this. Go to a lot of popular blogs, and you’ll see that people are pissed off. Though, “people” is perhaps […]
I’m not sure how much time I’ve actually spent playing Her Story. The game was open for a long time while I was trying to stream (unsuccessfully), and more time passed as I searched for paper and took notes. And then there was the time spent considering and studying and adding […]