Jesper Juul's Blog, page 9
January 8, 2019
American Journal of Play 11/1
For your theoretical work/play: American Journal of Play 11/1
Editor’s Note
Articles
Liberating Human Expression: Work and Play or Work versus Play
J. Talmadge Wright
Desire and Doubt: The Potentials and the Potential Problems of Pursuing Play
Christine Payne
Abstract Only> Full Text> The Politics of Playtime: Reading Marx through Huizinga on the Desire to Escape from Ordinary Life
Michael J. Roberts
T. L. Taylor
Ken S. McAllister and Judd Ethan Ruggill
J. Talmadge Wright and David G. Embrick
Book Reviews
Anthony T. DeBenedet, Playful Intelligence: The Power of Living Lightly in a Serious World
Peter Grey
First Paragraph Only> Full Text> Terry Kottman and Kristin K. Meany-Walen, Doing Play Therapy: From Building the Relationship to Facilitating Change
Jodi Ann Mullen
Victoria M. Grieve, Little Cold Warriors: American Childhood in the 1950s
Peter N Stearns
Katherine H. Adams and Michael L. Keene, Paper Dolls: Fragile Figures, Enduring Symbols
Michelle Parnett-Dwyer
Sinem Siyahhan and Elisabeth Gee, Families at Play: Connecting and Learning through Video Games
Mark Chen
Dominic Arsenault, Super Power, Spoony Bards, and Silverware: The Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Joseph A. Loporcaro
January 2, 2019
Game Studies 18, 3
For your theoretical consumption, Game Studies 18/3 special issue on Queerness and Video Games.
Not Gay as in Happy: Queer Resistance and Video Games (Introduction)
by Bonnie Ruberg, Amanda Phillips
The place where queerness meets games is a site of radical potential. This introduction, and this issue, ask how we can push queer game studies beyond desires for inclusion and representation and instead embrace a queer tradition of rejecting the status quo.[more]
Queer Games After Empathy: Feminism and Haptic Game Design Aesthetics from Consent to Cuteness to the Radically Softby Teddy Pozo
This article re-contextualizes debate in queer game studies over “empathy games,” represented by the games EMPATHY MACHINE (merritt k, 2014), Empathy Game (Anna Anthropy, 2015), and empathy machine (Mattie Brice, 2016), within debates over empathy in feminist theory. New terms for haptic game design aesthetics such as consent, cuteness, and the rad[more]
Time and Reparative Game Design: Queerness, Disability, and Affectby Kara Stone
This essay uses a personal account of the process of creating a videogame to explore themes of queerness, disability, and labour. It intermixes theories of queer time with crip time to detail possible approaches to a queer, accessible art practice that takes seriously social inequalities yet moves towards healing.[more]
When (and What) Queerness Counts: Homonationalism and Militarism in the Mass EffectSeriesby Jordan Youngblood
This paper examines how two BioWare-developed titles–2010’s Mass Effect 2 and 2012’s Mass Effect 3– integrate various depictions of LGBTQ-affiliated characters into a larger systemic process of thinking about populations as “war assets” to be expended, rendering queer identity as useful only when considered as a “positive” resource in the fight.[more]
“theyre all trans sharon”: Authoring Gender in Video Game Fan Fictionby Brianna Dym, Jed Brubaker, Casey Fiesler
Video game fans use fan fiction to critique video game narratives that exclude or misrepresent diverse gender identities in their design. Fans also recraft the video game narrative to include the representation they want to see, providing insight into how marginalized and minority players respond to diversity in games.[more]
Queering Control(lers) Through Reflective Game Design Practicesby Jess Marcotte
In this article, I make the case that control and controllers — the peripherals which players use as extensions of their bodies and minds to operate videogames — are a key entry point into the project of altering the hegemonic status quo of mainstream game design. Concepts from queer game studies, intersectional feminist theory, and critical design practices (particularly, the reflective game design framework) are brought together in order to analyze and subsequently queer five core aspects of control and controllers in videogames. I make use of examples from the work of queer creators, including my own, in order to queer each aspect.[more]
Coin of Another Realm: Gaming’s Queer Economyby Christopher Goetz
This essay explores gaming’s “queer economy,” joining intimate frameworks based on the study of affect and individual psychology with wider, systemic and economic analyses of the cultural and economic meaning of videogame play.[more]
Daddy’s Play: Subversion and Normativity in Dream Daddy’s Queer Worldby Braidon Schaufert
This article argues that the popular indie game Dream Daddy renormalizes the subversive gay daddy figure by replacing boundary-pushing depictions of sex with the positivity, joy, and optimism of the suburban upper- middle class. Attending to negative feelings, or “bad dreams,” in the game can wake players up to messier, kinkier, and queerer worlds.[more]
Backtrack, Pause, Rewind, Reset: Queering Chrononormativity in Gamingby Matt Knutson
Applying Elizabeth Freeman’s concept of chrononormativity to play, this article examines time in high-stakes, professional play as a normative structure against which to recognize a set of queer temporalities, including backtracking, rewinding and resetting. A discussion of Life Is Strange illustrates both queer content and queered time in games.[more]
The Affectively Necessary Labour of Queer Modsby Tom Welch
This article examines queer videogame modifications as a specific form of free and affective labour. Drawing on multiple modders, I describe the varying relationships between queer players, developers, and the game object through mods.[more]
Queer Easter Eggs and their Hierarchies of Playby Eric James
Some of the earliest queer representations in mass-market games are Easter eggs, hidden artifacts that often present queer experiences as zany and noncanonical. Contrasting Easter eggs with representational politics that emphasize player choice, this article instead advocates for ambivalent design that confronts players with queer irresolvability.[more]
Engineering Queerness in the Game Development Pipelineby Eric Freedman
With its focus on video game engines, this essay proposes how a queer analysis of the labors and technologies that undergird the work in progress might strengthen more generalized discussions of the representational politics of video games, their audiences, and their production communities.[more]
December 20, 2018
Chinese Translation of “Sailing the endless River of Games”
Courtesy of the the Taiwanese DigiArts journal, here is a translation my Sailing the endless River of Games paper from DiGRA 2016,
航行於無盡的遊戲之河：以歷史上的設計模式為例.
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November 27, 2018
I have been doing this Thing for Twenty Years
The 1998 DAC conference programI have been doing this Thing for Twenty Years: I made my first conference presentation exactly twenty years ago, on November 27, 1998, at the Digital Arts & Culture Conference in Bergen.
My very first paper was A Clash Between Game & Narrative, based on the MA thesis I was finishing at the time.
It is painful to read your own early writings for two opposing reasons:
1) When it’s bad, I cringe that I would ever write like that.
2) If I find it good, I am embarrassed that I haven’t become any wiser.
I can’t say that anything panned out the way I planned in 1998, given that I had no actual plans for something as grown-up as an academic career, let along for academic research fields. But I felt I had a fallback in web/game development/programming, and that gave me the confidence to write academic papers about video games, even though there obviously was no future in this.
In the background at my first conferenceOne thing that has changed, is that in my early papers I was openly taking on the role of (arrogant) young upstart, railing against the establishment. This was great fun, but I became better at understanding that though other people might be making arguments that I disagreed with, they weren’t necessarily stupid, or deserving of complete dismissal. When young researchers now criticize established academics such as myself, I in turn have to be careful not to dismiss them as simply performing the role of young academic.
But doing research turned out to be surprisingly interesting, and meeting like-minded young researchers was exhilarating, and eventually I was offered a PhD at ITU in Copenhagen.
When I thus first started seeing myself as someone who researched video games, I assumed that an academic career involved starting from a specific framework, making very strong claims, and then spending the rest of your career working with the same tools, sometimes backpedaling, but basically sticking to the same script for whatever decades a career is meant to span.
I saw myself, sitting in the same room but with different consoles, my beard growing longer and my hair growing shorter, expanding on some original point I had made.
Perhaps that is what it would have been like, if video games had continued to be somewhat singular products, always sold in boxes, as they were in the 1990’s?
It’s been my good luck that video games have changed and continue to change in entirely new ways during those twenty years. Tech changed, sure, but there are new interfaces, business models, new ways to play, new voices making video games. For that reason, I seem to (I think) always find new things to write about, but from quite different vantage points and using different theories. Video games change, and the study of video games must be attentive – to realize when video game history has overlooked some parts of the world, or some types of players or developers, and to take it seriously when new games appear, especially when they don’t match our expectations.
To do game studies, I think, is to watch the wheel of history grinding against our theoretical castles. And that’s enough.
October 3, 2018
Eludamos Journal Vol 9 no 1.
For your theoretical entertainment, Eludamos Journal Vol 9 no 1.
Touchscreen Time Travelers: Temporal and Spatial Agency and Mobile Game Players
Sky LaRell Anderson
1-15
“No Going Back”: The Telltale Model as Thought Experiment
Antranig Arek Sarian
17-32
On the Brink of Virtual Extinction: Hunting and killing animals in open world video games
Erik van Ooijen
33-45
Playing the (International) Movie: Intermediality and the Appropriation of Symbolic Capital in Final Fight and the Beat ’em up Genre
Pierantonio Zanotti
47-74
Challenging the User-Avatar Dichotomy in Avatar Customization Research
Victoria McArthur
For your theoretical entertainment, Eludamos Journal Vol ...
For your theoretical entertainment, Eludamos Journal Vol 9 no 1.
Touchscreen Time Travelers: Temporal and Spatial Agency and Mobile Game Players
Sky LaRell Anderson
1-15
“No Going Back”: The Telltale Model as Thought Experiment
Antranig Arek Sarian
17-32
On the Brink of Virtual Extinction: Hunting and killing animals in open world video games
Erik van Ooijen
33-45
Playing the (International) Movie: Intermediality and the Appropriation of Symbolic Capital in Final Fight and the Beat ’em up Genre
Pierantonio Zanotti
47-74
Challenging the User-Avatar Dichotomy in Avatar Customization Research
Victoria McArthur
October 2, 2018
Game Studies Vol 18 no 2
For your theoretical scrutiny: Game Studies: The International Journal of Computer Game Research has just published its latest issue (Volume 18, Issue 2, September 2018). All articles are available at http://www.gamestudies.org/1802
Articles
by Meghan Blythe Adams, Nathan Rambukkana
This paper investigates non-monogamy in videogame narratives with a focus on games that include scripted non- monogamous gameplay options, such as Mass Effect (BioWare, 2007), and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt RED, 2007), along with the current limitations on this form of representation in mainstream games.
by Jonne Arjoranta, Marko Siitonen
This article analyses Hearthstone players’ forum discussions. The analysis illustrates how forum participants interpret the game’s limited emote system and talk about ways of misusing the emotes for negatively loaded purposes, despite the designers’ intention of making player-to-player interaction positive.
The Semiotics of the Game Controller
by Johan Blomberg
How the video game experience can be characterized is an important question in video game research. I argue that the video game controller has a crucial role for the interactive experience. This paper presents a semiotic analysis of the relation between player, video game, and controller.
by Ahmed Elmezeny, Jeffrey Wimmer, Manoella Oliveira dos Santos, Ekaterina Orlova, Irina Tribusean, Anna Antonova
Using a qualitative content analysis, this study analyses the differences between trolling strategies and reactions to trolling in two nationally distinct gaming image boards (Russia and Brazil). The research shows that while there are differences in both samples, overall trolling is somewhat homogenous, indicating a transcultural standard.
by Rob Gallagher
Narrated by a father who bonds with his autistic son via Minecraft, Keith Stuart’s novel A Boy Made of Blocks highlights the important role videogames now play in discourses of gender, ability, education and parenting. This article draws on Stockton’s work on ‘queer childhood’ to assess the book’s implications for conceptions of gamer masculinity.
Walking, Talking and Playing with Masculinities in Firewatch
by Mellisa Kagen
The story, mechanics and genre of Firewatch subvert traditional, hypermasculine videogame norms and encourage players to perform a care-oriented masculinity.
No Straight Answers: Queering Hegemonic Masculinity in BioWare’s Mass Effect
by Theresa Krampe
This article discusses the ludic and narrative presentation of non-hegemonic masculinities in BioWare’s Mass Effect trilogy from an intersectional queer game studies perspective. In-depth and multidimensional character analyses reveal the complex power structures permeating the game and regulating its identity politics.
The Wasteland of the Real: Nostalgia and Simulacra in Fallout
by Kathleen McClancy
This article discusses how the intersection of fictional worlds, game rules, and narratives in videogames challenges the creation and ideological employment of Baudrillard’s simulacra through an examination of the Fallout franchise’s engagement with Cold War nostalgia and computer technology.
Everything Merges with the Game: A Generative Music System Embedded in a Videogame Increases Flow
by Joshua D. Sites, Robert F. Potter
Designers strive to create games conducive to flow, “the optimal experience.” This study demonstrates that a generative music system in place of a traditional game soundtrack can help players reach flow, even when they are unaware of the novel music system. The benefits of a generative system were most apparent in the first minutes of gameplay.
August 13, 2018
Assistant/associate professorship in Games/Interaction/Media in Copenhagen
Come work with me in Copenhagen!
Assistant/associate professorship in Games/Interaction/Media at KADK in Copenhagen
We have an opening for an associate/assistant professorship in games, interaction, and/or media at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Design (KADK) in Copenhagen.
The vacancy is affiliated with the Institute of Visual Design, where you will be part of a multidisciplinary research environment and help shape our degree programs in the field. The vacant position should ideally be filled as of 1 November 2018 or as soon as possible thereafter.
We are looking for an applicant with experience within one or more of the following fields:
Game design
Game studies
Practical game development
UI/UX
Film & media studies, animation
Art direction for production design
This is a permanent full-time position with dedicated research time.
The Application deadline is August 31st, 2018.
Click here for the full posting – scroll to the bottom for the English version.
Further information
Information about qualification requirements, the application process and the e-recruitment system can be obtained by contacting HR Officer Sine Kildevang Madsen, skmad@kadk.dk, tel. +45 4170 1815.
Information about the position can be obtained by contacting Head of Institute Martin Sønderlev Christensen, mach@kadk.dk, tel. +45 4170 1859.
General information about KADK and the Institute of Visual Design can be found at www.kadk.dk.
May 24, 2018
American Journal of Play Vol 10 no 2
For your theoretical consumption, American Journal of play Vol 10 no 2.
Editor’s Note
Editor’s Note
Articles
Theme and Variation: Arranging Play’s Forms, Functions, and “Colors”
Thomas S. Henricks
Abstract Only> Full Text>
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Examining Literacy Practices in the Game Magic: The Gathering
Autumn M. Dodge (with Paul A. Crutcher)
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Toward Creativity : Do Theatrical Experiences Improve Pretend Play and Cooperation among Preschoolers?
Meredith L. Rowe, Virginia C. Salo, and Kenneth Rubin
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Role Playing in Children’s Literature: Zilpha Keatley Snyder and The Egypt Game
Cathlena Martin
Abstract Only> Full Text>
Book Reviews
Michael M. Patte and John A. Sutterby, eds., Celebrating 40 Years of Play Research: Connecting Our Past, Present, and Future, Vol 13, Play & Culture Studies
Miguel Sicart
First Paragraph Only> Full Text>
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Tristan Donovan, It’s All a Game: The History of Board Games from Monopoly to Settlers of Catan
Susan Asbury
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Cathy A. Malchiodi and David A. Crenshaw, eds., What to Do When Children Clam Up in Psychotherapy: Interventions to Facilitate Communication
John W. Seymour
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Linda A. Reddy, Tara M. Files-Hall, and Charles E. Schaefer, eds. , Empirically Based Play Interventions for Children
Gabriel I. Lomas
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Brian C. Baer , How He-Man Mastered the Universe: Toy to Television to the Big Screen
J. Richard Stevens
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Melanie Swalwell, Helen Stuckey, and Angela Ndalianis, eds., Fans and Videogames: Histories, Fandom, Archives
Samuel Tobin
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Stephanie Boluk and Patrick Lemieux, Metagaming: Playing, Competing, Spectating, Cheating, Trading, Making, and Breaking Videogames
Riccardo Fassone
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Robertson Allen, America’s Digital Army: Games at Work and War
Jay Mechling
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Soraya Murray, On Video Games: The Visual Politics of Race, Gender, and Space
Michael Anthony DeAnda
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May 4, 2018
Will “core” Games dominate Mobile?
We’ve had a long period where mobile platforms (were seen as) dominated by casual games (games flexible towards different use cases, and mostly positive in their fictions), but with the release of Fortnite on iOS, we suddenly have a situation where a more traditional shooter is top grossing.
In an MCV interview, Tim Sweeney argues that this is the future: that “serious” games (sic) will be dominant the mobile charts.
Well. It’s true that Fortnite is new in this context in terms of being a top-grossing shooter. But the news is not so much that it is a “serious” game, meaning one that has depth and that players can keep improving their skills at. Candy Crush is an involved game if you try to get far, and so is Clash Royale, and the latter one is about multiplayer competition as well.
The news is really that a traditional “core” game genre, in this case the shooter, has been successfully launched on mobile platforms.
