Last week, the world went to the birds. Or, at least, the world of dating simulators. Hatoful Boyfriend is a visual novel developed by Moa Hato and PigeoNation. The protagonist is a female barbarian/cave dweller who is the only human student attending St. PigeoNation’s Institute—an elite, all-bird school. Your goal […]
Miscellany
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Games bring people together. This is something that many of our ilk (gamers) seem to have forgotten. When I was a kid in the 70s we came together over handheld games with little blips playing various kinds of sportsball games. We came together to show each other what we could […]
It was only just a few days ago that I watched NFL athlete and Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice attack his wife in a brutal case of physical domestic violence. I’d heard about the incident in passing but it wasn’t until someone told me about it in detail that […]
Episode 85: Down the Rabbit Hole and Back Again: More on “Gamergate” and Women in the Gaming Community (“Save As” to download or head over to iTunes to subscribe) In this episode we talk about “gamergate” and community building among diverse gamer populations.
I feel like all of our blog posts lately have started with something along the lines of “in the wake of recent conversations”. Nonetheless, here I go: in the wake of recent conversations, I’ve been thinking again about what seems to be an eternal debate among gamers and in game […]
As we have seen over and over in the past week, feminist are rarely, if ever, in full agreement on any topic. We may have general goals that we share, for example full equity for women, but as for how we go about that, it varies. I have even seen […]
In my experience as a consumer of Japanese animation, I have found that most anime can be grouped into two overarching categories. The first are those that actively embrace fanservice or, in other words, scenes or even full sequences that pander to the male gaze in a distinctly sexual way. […]
Yesterday, I got sucked down the rabbit hole of watching anti-Sarkeesian YouTube videos. Many of the arguments against her are laughably ironic, but one in particular stood out to me as not ironic, but just sad. In the video, Anita was accused of shutting down the conversation because she has […]
At a faculty picnic last week I was asked if I was a gamer by a very well-meaning (but completely out of the loop) fellow faculty member. I almost laughed- it’s been a pretty rough few weeks in gaming culture and I know this faculty member didn’t have any idea […]
Game critic Anita Sarkeesian and her family were driven from their house earlier this week after she received a series of extremely violent sexual threats towards her and her parents. The week before that, game developer Zoe Quinn (creator of Depression Quest) had her personal life (both real and imaginary) […]
So I have to make a confession to make, I tend to taunt casual gamers relentlessly. Not because their not gamers, but because it’s just fun. Especially since I go through periods where all of my gaming happens on my phone or tablet. But I have to admit that I […]
Episode 84: Standing Around With Your %#@& In Your Hand: On Terrorism, Zoe Quinn, and Anita Sarkeesian (“Save As” to download or head over to iTunes to subscribe) In this episode we talk about the difference between harassment and terrorism on the Internet and the goings on of the last two weeks.
Have you ever thought of what animatronics do after closing time? How do they preoccupy the midnight hours between the rounds of screaming children? Do they need some release after being poked, prodded, and pulled by greasy fingers? Do the smiles of those kitschy mascots stay innocently cheesy even in […]
It’s been a rough week. As I started trying to compose this week’s post, I knew wanted to talk about comments. I wanted to use this story as a lead-in to my conversation: The Real Problem with Sex Workers in Video Games. I wanted to talk about women’s voices and […]
*Trigger Warning: brief discussions of suicide follow as well as discussions of depression below.* The news of actor and comedian Robin Williams’ death by suicide came to my attention from all sides this week. My family was talking about it in person as it buzzed across the daily news. Across […]
Naxxaramas is the first expansion for Hearthstone, a free, online, digital collectable card game. Hearthstone is made by Blizzard, who is famous for games like World of Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo. (For those who have been living under a rock.) Anywho, on July 22nd, Blizzard released Curse of Naxxramas as […]