Does someone who hates you deserve your pity? Your understanding? You empathy? A friend of mine once said that she feels bad for the men she argues with on sports fan websites, because it’s clear no one has ever loved them. They’ve never been touched by a hand that signified […]
Games and Culture
337 posts
Recently I was asked by a group of graduate students (not my own) why I do games research. It’s a question that I get frequently and the answer is not usually what people expect. Or at least not fully so. They expect me to tell them how I see my […]
The Final Fantasy franchise is certainly known for some “offbeat” character outfits. Between the excessive ornamental decoration and strange mishmashes of different styles and themes, fans have come to expect unique interpretations of style in every new edition. After years of some visually stunning and detailed but occasionally odd clothing […]
In some ways my experience last week could have been the closing scene from a cheesy Disney movie: a girl enters the room and a hush falls across the crowd. The sudden arrival seemed to have fundamentally changed the character of the environment. Except, of course, it wasn’t a ball […]
I’m back! After a semester hiatus, I’m thrilled to be back in the mix. Dr. Craig Anderson, a Professor at Iowa State, has made his career on proving the negative effects of video games on youth. He is the figurehead for this movement, and he is the primary source and […]
A recent thread on GamerGate hub KotakuInAction outlines a plan to “game” Twitter to get viral traction for a tag about the ggautoblocker, the tool created by Randi Harper that allows for wholesale blocking of GG participants, and TheBlockBot, a similar, though more universal tool. The call asks supporters to […]
With the release of the upgraded State of Decay Year One Survival Edition just around the corner, it seemed a good time to revisit the original game, which I explored at length over the months after release in terms of realism and representation (as well as gameplay and mechanics). At […]
Vampires are fascinating in that they operate on the fringe of a culture and society. In some ways, they represent the ultimate outcast, often othered for their monsterness, and because of it, they needn’t adhere to what’s traditional or considered socially acceptable. In some instances, they’re almost auto-excluded from social […]
Get the new episode! (Right click and save as to download, or hit us up on iTunes or Stitcher) This week, we talked games and mental illness with Philippe A. Ménard, a scriptwriter at Ubisoft Montreal, among other things, who recently held forth on anxiety and depression in gamers at […]
The first video in Sarkeesian’s new video series, Positive Female Characters in Video Games, launched yesterday. In this video she covers the Scythian from Sword & Sworcery. While there are bound to be some growing pains as she begins this new series, Sarkeesian does a solid analysis of the game’s […]
Earlier today, Twitter user Erika Imperial (@icequeenerika) posted a screenshot of Pillars of Eternity, calling creators Obsidian Entertainment out for the inclusion of a Kickstarter-backer’s paid message, a message about the “horror” of discovering a lover was in fact transgender. Erika pulled in noted critic Katherine Cross, and the screenshot […]
Earlier this month, Ian Bogost wrote an article eulogizing Maxis, the innovative studio behind SimCity and The Sims. It’s a thoughtful piece, definitely worth a read, especially if (like me) you have a soft spot for sandbox/system games. Saying goodbye to a loved studio wasn’t Bogost’s only focus, though. Amid […]
Envision yourself shut up in a security office. A flock of murderous animatronics stalk the corridors. Above, you hear the rattling of the vents. One may be inside. There’s no one around to help you. Is it a trick of the mind or are you in danger? What do you […]
One of the many things that we talked about in episode 97 of the podcast (it’s a good one and you should go back and listen to it right after you finish reading this post) was the incredible lack of diversity among the popular Twitch streamers and YouTubers. While there […]
Recently, LEGO rejected a LEGO Ideas submission featuring the women of the Supreme Court, citing LEGO’s rule of not engaging with current politics. On one hand, I see their point; I don’t really want political LEGO sets, and I can certainly think of more than a few politicians that I […]
I’ll never forget the moment, years ago, when I mentally “picked” a flower while walking into a Blockbuster Video. I glanced at their sidewalk planter, which had a number of beautiful pink and purple flowers in it, and I swear I saw a hand icon in my vision and heard […]