Queerness in Play
Description
Queerness in Play examines the many ways queerness of all kinds-from queer as 'LGBT' to other, less well-covered aspects of the queer spectrum-intersects with games and the social contexts of play. The current unprecedented visibility of queer creators and content comes at a high tide of resistance to the inclusion of those outside a long-imagined cisgender, heterosexual, white male norm. By critically engaging the ways games-as a culture, an industry, and a medium-help reproduce limiting binary formations of gender and sexuality, Queerness in Play contributes to the growing body of scholarship promoting more inclusive understandings of identity, sexuality, and games.
Reviews / Votes
"In the midst of the contentious culture of digital games, Queerness in Play is an urgent collection of essays in which the authors both trace and create queer possibility spaces in games by revisiting and reinventing the field of game studies. Queer here is not a property, but functions brilliantly as a way of acting and playing against the grain of hetero-normality. This is an essential read for anybody interested in cutting edge game research in the intersection of gender and sexuality." (Jenny Sundén, author of Gender and Sexuality in Online Game Cultures: Passionate Play)
"
Queerness in Play
is an important contribution to the vibrant, growing field of queer game studies. The collection builds on key issues, such as queer representation, queer gameplay, and queer players, pushing current conversations around queerness and games in thought-provoking new directions. By bringing queer perspectives on popular video games, like the
Legend of Zelda
series and
League of Legends
, together with research on queer gaming communities, the collection explores not just the place of queerness as it already exists in games but also the many possible queer futures for games and their players." (Bonnie Ruberg, editor of Queer Game Studies)
"
Queerness in Play
is exemplary, variegated, and accessible. The perspectives included in this collection, particularly by emerging scholars, 'explore and cavort, compete, and cooperate' in the interdisciplinary and intersecting domains that make up game studies and in the ways gender, sexuality, and difference are always in and at play in games. From representation to ethnography, game modding to e-sports,
Queerness in Play
articulates the desire for queer 'spaces of possibility' not only in games themselves but in the study of games as well. It is a welcome addition to the domains of queer theory, feminist media studies, and the growing library of video game criticism." (Edmond Y. Chang, author, Queergaming (Queer Game Studies))
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Persons
Todd Harper is Assistant Professor in the Division of Science, Information Arts and Technologies at the University of Baltimore, USA. His research centers on games as culture and communication.
Meghan Blythe Adams is a PhD Candidate at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. Their research interests include representations of androgyny in media, as well as death and difficulty in games. Their work has appeared in Loading , Kinephanos , and First Person Scholar .
Nicholas Taylor is Assistant Professor of Digital Media in the Department of Communication at North Carolina State University, USA. His work applies critical, feminist, and socio-technical perspectives to experimental and mixed-methods research with digital gaming communities.
Content
1. Queer Game Studies: Young But Not New (Todd Harper, Meghan Blythe Adams, and Nicholas Taylor).- Part 1: Queer Foundations.- 2. Queer(ing) Game Studies: Reviewing Research on Digital Play and Non-normativity (Sarah Evans).- 3. Envisioning Queer Game Studies: Ludology and the Study of Queer Game Content (Evan W. Lauteria).- Part 2: Representing Queerness.- 4. The Representation (or the Lack of It) of Same-sex Relationships in Digital Games (Yowei Kang and Kenneth C. C. Yang).- 5. Affliction or Affection: The Inclusion of a Same-sex Relationship in The Last of Us (Daniel Sipocz).- 6. What if Zelda Wasn't a Girl? Problematizing Ocarina of Time 's Great Gender Debate (Chris Lawrence).- 7. Maidens and Muscleheads, White Mages and Wimps, From the Light Warriors to Lightning Returns (Mark Filipowich).- 8. The Big Reveal: Exploring (Trans)Femininity In Metroid (Evelyn Deshane and R. Travis Morton).- 9. Bye, Bye, Birdo: Heroic Androgyny and Villainous Gender Variance in Video Games (Meghan Blythe Adams).- Part 3: Un-Gendering Assemblages.- 10. Cues for Queer Play: Carving a Possibility Space for LGBTQ Role-Play (Tanja Sihvonen and Jaakko Stenros).- 11. 'Sexified' Male Characters: Video Game Erotic Modding for Pleasure and Power (Nathan Thompson).-12. Let's Come Out! On Gender and Sexuality, Encouraging Dialogue and Acceptance (Maresa Bertolo, Ilaria Mariani, and Clara Gargano).- Part 4: No Fear of a Queer Planet: Gaming and Social Futures.- 13. Outside the Lanes: Supporting a Non-normative League of Legends Community (Nick Taylor and Randall Hammond).-14. The Abject Scapegoat: Boundary Erosion and Maintenance in League of Legends (Elyse Janish).- 15. Out on Proudmoore: Climate Issues on an MMO (Carol A. Stabile and Laura Strait).