Pub Date : 2023-10-11DOI: 10.1177/15554120231204145
PS Berge
This article contends with the transphobic logics perpetuated by the “world's greatest roleplaying game,” Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). Bringing together game texts and scraped social media data from reactionary D&D fans, I argue that despite cursory improvements in official representation, D&D's hostility to trans play is inscribed in the game's engagement of fantasy realism—a culturally sculpted “common sense” that rearticulates the logics of established fantasy media. From sex-swap curses in Gygax's “Tomb of Horrors” (1978) to the shapechanging “blessed elves of Corellon” (2017), D&D's approach to fantasy realism mechanically and narratively excludes trans bodies, vilifies trans stories, and diminishes trans power. Drawing on the work of analog game and trans media scholars, I use this case study to center trans power in tabletop gaming and explore D&D's relationship with fantasy realism by asking Whose fantasy? and Whose reality?
这篇文章与“世界上最伟大的角色扮演游戏”《地下城》(Dungeons &龙(D& D)。我将游戏文本和从保守的D&D粉丝那里收集到的社交媒体数据结合在一起，认为尽管官方表现略有改善，但D&D对跨性别游戏的敌意还是体现在游戏对幻想现实主义的参与中——一种文化塑造的“常识”，重新阐明了既定幻想媒体的逻辑。从吉盖克斯(Gygax)的《恐怖之墓》(Tomb of Horrors, 1978)中的性别互换诅咒，到变形的《科雷隆的祝福精灵》(blessed elves of Corellon, 2017)， D&D的奇幻现实主义手法在机械和叙事上排斥变性人，诋毁变性人的故事，削弱变性人的力量。借鉴模拟游戏和跨媒体学者的研究成果，我用这个案例来研究桌面游戏中的跨媒体力量，并通过“谁的幻想?”谁的现实?
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Pub Date : 2023-10-09DOI: 10.1177/15554120231207175
{"title":"Corrigendum to “It's Not a Game! Rules of Notice and Hermeneutics of Suspicion in Contemporary FMV Games”","authors":"","doi":"10.1177/15554120231207175","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120231207175","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":12634,"journal":{"name":"Games and Culture","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135047290","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-05DOI: 10.1177/15554120231205638
Vítor Blanco-Fernández, Jose A. Moreno
This article analyses LGBTIQA+ playing experiences of Animal Crossing New Horizons (ACNH). It first surveys LGBTIQA+ players of ACNH, with questions regarding ways of playing, identity, community, and fanfiction practices. It also analyses LGBTIQA+ ACNH YouTube videos, divided into three main categories: design, gaming, and fanfiction. The first category, design, is analyzed quantitatively. The second and third categories follow a qualitative analysis, grouping findings into seven subcategories: (a) decorating, (b) celebrating Pride, (c) counter-gaming, (d) weddings, (e) coming out, (f) self-determination and encouraging discourses, and (g) community building. Explorative results show that, although out-game LGBTIQA+ experiences are necessary for queer self-realization, the in-game experiences of our sample help non-cis-straight identities and communities. They also demonstrate that diversity and intersectionality are fundamental in the ACNH queer community sampled, and that LGBTIQA+ players perform queer counter-gaming: transforming the game's tools and affordances to encourage self-expression.
本文分析了《动物之Crossing New Horizons》(ACNH)的LGBTIQA+游戏体验。它首先调查了《ACNH》的LGBTIQA+玩家，询问了有关游戏方式、身份、社区和同人小说实践的问题。它还分析了YouTube上的LGBTIQA+ ACNH视频，将其分为三大类:设计、游戏和同人小说。第一类，设计，是定量分析。第二和第三类遵循定性分析，将调查结果分为七个子类:(a)装饰，(b)庆祝骄傲，(c)反游戏，(d)婚礼，(e)出柜，(f)自决和鼓励话语，以及(g)社区建设。探索性结果表明，尽管游戏外LGBTIQA+体验对于酷儿自我实现是必要的，但我们样本的游戏内体验有助于非顺直身份和社区。他们还证明了多样性和交叉性是ACNH酷儿社区样本的基础，LGBTIQA+玩家执行酷儿反游戏:改变游戏的工具和功能，以鼓励自我表达。
{"title":"“Video Games Were My First Safe Space”: Queer Gaming in the <i>Animal Crossing New Horizons</i> LGBTIQA+ Community","authors":"Vítor Blanco-Fernández, Jose A. Moreno","doi":"10.1177/15554120231205638","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120231205638","url":null,"abstract":"This article analyses LGBTIQA+ playing experiences of Animal Crossing New Horizons (ACNH). It first surveys LGBTIQA+ players of ACNH, with questions regarding ways of playing, identity, community, and fanfiction practices. It also analyses LGBTIQA+ ACNH YouTube videos, divided into three main categories: design, gaming, and fanfiction. The first category, design, is analyzed quantitatively. The second and third categories follow a qualitative analysis, grouping findings into seven subcategories: (a) decorating, (b) celebrating Pride, (c) counter-gaming, (d) weddings, (e) coming out, (f) self-determination and encouraging discourses, and (g) community building. Explorative results show that, although out-game LGBTIQA+ experiences are necessary for queer self-realization, the in-game experiences of our sample help non-cis-straight identities and communities. They also demonstrate that diversity and intersectionality are fundamental in the ACNH queer community sampled, and that LGBTIQA+ players perform queer counter-gaming: transforming the game's tools and affordances to encourage self-expression.","PeriodicalId":12634,"journal":{"name":"Games and Culture","volume":"25 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134975775","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-03DOI: 10.1177/15554120231204146
Ömer Faruk Cengiz, Kemal Ataman
Individuals who self-identify as “religious gamers” constitute a relatively new and niche category. This study aims to understand how these individuals evaluate their video game-playing activities in the face of their religious beliefs and commitments. To this end, we conducted semistructured interviews with 15 participants. The data suggests that for the participants, the religious status of video games is based on a broader evaluative framework than the religious one. The “vain act–beneficial act” dichotomy, which we conceptualized in this study, explains the difficulties and contradictions that religious gamers experience in legitimizing their gaming activities because they consider the game a vain act even though they play it with enthusiasm. Based on the evidence gathered, we concluded that religious gamers do not consider playing games illegitimate, either religiously or morally. However, they cannot conclusively legitimize it either—a delicate situation that drags them into a strange predicament.
{"title":"“Religious” and “Gamer”: Negotiating the Legitimacy of Video Games in a Muslim Context","authors":"Ömer Faruk Cengiz, Kemal Ataman","doi":"10.1177/15554120231204146","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120231204146","url":null,"abstract":"Individuals who self-identify as “religious gamers” constitute a relatively new and niche category. This study aims to understand how these individuals evaluate their video game-playing activities in the face of their religious beliefs and commitments. To this end, we conducted semistructured interviews with 15 participants. The data suggests that for the participants, the religious status of video games is based on a broader evaluative framework than the religious one. The “vain act–beneficial act” dichotomy, which we conceptualized in this study, explains the difficulties and contradictions that religious gamers experience in legitimizing their gaming activities because they consider the game a vain act even though they play it with enthusiasm. Based on the evidence gathered, we concluded that religious gamers do not consider playing games illegitimate, either religiously or morally. However, they cannot conclusively legitimize it either—a delicate situation that drags them into a strange predicament.","PeriodicalId":12634,"journal":{"name":"Games and Culture","volume":"83 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135695970","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-29DOI: 10.1177/15554120231204148
Kyle McPhail
Transgender representation is a complex subject and what constitutes “good” and “bad” representations has been scrutinized by trans, feminist and queer scholars, as well as fans of visual culture. A significant case study in trans representation and interpretation is the platformer Celeste (2018). The game's passionate and active fandom began to speculate about the potential trans narratives present in the game, including whether the main character, Madeline, was a trans woman. In 2020, game director Maddy Thorson confirmed that Madeline was trans. While many fans celebrated this retroactive identification, the value of Celeste as a trans artwork lies beyond Madeline's trans body. This article argues that, while representation matters, abstract or conceptual trans representation is an important tool that avoids conditional and limited trans representations that rely on a specific type of body. Abstraction centres experience, allowing for more creative, playful and intersectional ways of art becoming trans.
{"title":"Reflecting on <i>Celeste</i>: Abstracting Trans Representation","authors":"Kyle McPhail","doi":"10.1177/15554120231204148","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120231204148","url":null,"abstract":"Transgender representation is a complex subject and what constitutes “good” and “bad” representations has been scrutinized by trans, feminist and queer scholars, as well as fans of visual culture. A significant case study in trans representation and interpretation is the platformer Celeste (2018). The game's passionate and active fandom began to speculate about the potential trans narratives present in the game, including whether the main character, Madeline, was a trans woman. In 2020, game director Maddy Thorson confirmed that Madeline was trans. While many fans celebrated this retroactive identification, the value of Celeste as a trans artwork lies beyond Madeline's trans body. This article argues that, while representation matters, abstract or conceptual trans representation is an important tool that avoids conditional and limited trans representations that rely on a specific type of body. Abstraction centres experience, allowing for more creative, playful and intersectional ways of art becoming trans.","PeriodicalId":12634,"journal":{"name":"Games and Culture","volume":"16 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135246644","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-27DOI: 10.1177/15554120231203134
Bradley Robinson, André Czauderna, Sam von Gillern
The purpose of this study was to understand how players reckon with relentlessly challenging video games by exploring their interactions in a game-specific affinity space. The authors conducted a qualitative thematic analysis of a focal discussion thread on r/EldenRing, a Reddit community, to examine how players lend each other support in response to the game's mechanical, affective, and interpretive difficulty. The findings demonstrate how affinity spaces can play an important role in helping players navigate challenging games like Elden Ring by providing a space for them to strategize, vent, joke, and even philosophize about their experiences with the game. Through this study, the authors suggest that game designers might extend their design perspectives to consider players’ metagaming practices in affinity spaces, where they support one another to construct meaning of their suffering, perhaps leading to more players, more joy, and more joyful players.
{"title":"“I think I Get Why y’all do this Now”: Reckoning With <i>Elden Ring</i>'s Difficulty in an Online Affinity Space","authors":"Bradley Robinson, André Czauderna, Sam von Gillern","doi":"10.1177/15554120231203134","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120231203134","url":null,"abstract":"The purpose of this study was to understand how players reckon with relentlessly challenging video games by exploring their interactions in a game-specific affinity space. The authors conducted a qualitative thematic analysis of a focal discussion thread on r/EldenRing, a Reddit community, to examine how players lend each other support in response to the game's mechanical, affective, and interpretive difficulty. The findings demonstrate how affinity spaces can play an important role in helping players navigate challenging games like Elden Ring by providing a space for them to strategize, vent, joke, and even philosophize about their experiences with the game. Through this study, the authors suggest that game designers might extend their design perspectives to consider players’ metagaming practices in affinity spaces, where they support one another to construct meaning of their suffering, perhaps leading to more players, more joy, and more joyful players.","PeriodicalId":12634,"journal":{"name":"Games and Culture","volume":"20 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135537817","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-24DOI: 10.1177/15554120231202707
Johnathan Harrington
Modern board games are becoming more prevalent, increasing their market share on a year-by-year basis. However, since board games are physically oriented media, their community growth has been distinct across regions. While China saw growth through a wangba model focused on socially oriented games, western countries have grown through hobbyism. Hong Kong exists at a cultural crossroads, and its board game communities form directly in response to this larger board game landscape. In this paper, I analyze the two largest board game groups on Meetup in Hong Kong—Board Game Oasis, an Anglophone group; and BGHK, a Cantophone group. By analyzing six months of events hosted, I will show how board game selection goes beyond player preference, and how these communities are heavily influenced by board game distribution and access, motivation behind play, as well as language dependency leading to two distinct communities further entrenching a systemic board gamer separation.
现代桌面游戏正变得越来越流行，其市场份额也在逐年增加。然而,由于棋盘游戏身体面向媒体、社区增长不同的跨区域。中国是通过专注于社交游戏的网吧模式实现增长的，而西方国家则是通过业余爱好实现增长的。香港存在于一种文化的十字路口,和棋盘游戏社区的形式直接回应这个大棋盘游戏格局。本文分析了香港Meetup上两个最大的桌游群体——board game Oasis(一个以英语为母语的群体);以及粤语集团BGHK。通过分析6个月来举办的活动，我将展示桌游选择如何超越玩家偏好，以及这些社区如何受到桌游发行和访问、游戏动机以及语言依赖的严重影响，从而形成两个截然不同的社区，进一步巩固桌游玩家的系统性分离。
{"title":"Let's Meetup? Board Game Communities in Hong Kong","authors":"Johnathan Harrington","doi":"10.1177/15554120231202707","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120231202707","url":null,"abstract":"Modern board games are becoming more prevalent, increasing their market share on a year-by-year basis. However, since board games are physically oriented media, their community growth has been distinct across regions. While China saw growth through a wangba model focused on socially oriented games, western countries have grown through hobbyism. Hong Kong exists at a cultural crossroads, and its board game communities form directly in response to this larger board game landscape. In this paper, I analyze the two largest board game groups on Meetup in Hong Kong—Board Game Oasis, an Anglophone group; and BGHK, a Cantophone group. By analyzing six months of events hosted, I will show how board game selection goes beyond player preference, and how these communities are heavily influenced by board game distribution and access, motivation behind play, as well as language dependency leading to two distinct communities further entrenching a systemic board gamer separation.","PeriodicalId":12634,"journal":{"name":"Games and Culture","volume":"53 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135926284","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-20DOI: 10.1177/15554120231202175
Yansheng Liu
Avatars are an integral element in most virtual environments including virtual reality and video games, and the Proteus effect initially proposed by Yee and Bailenson (2007) is a framework that explains the psychological effects of individuals’ digital self-representation, which theorizes that the traits of avatars would affect individuals’ behavior and cognition accordingly. Although research on the Proteus effect has been fruitful over the years, this line of research also showed inconsistencies over whether the effect is significant, the direction of how avatars affect individuals, as well as its theoretical explanations, which suggests a lack of elucidation on the cognitive processes underlying the Proteus effect. Hence, this paper provides an overview of the Proteus effect research and offers a reflection on the current literature regarding the theoretical basis, empirical evidence, and methodological approaches of the Proteus effect research. Finally, this study provides three recommendations for future research on the Proteus effect.
{"title":"The Proteus Effect: Overview, Reflection, and Recommendations","authors":"Yansheng Liu","doi":"10.1177/15554120231202175","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120231202175","url":null,"abstract":"Avatars are an integral element in most virtual environments including virtual reality and video games, and the Proteus effect initially proposed by Yee and Bailenson (2007) is a framework that explains the psychological effects of individuals’ digital self-representation, which theorizes that the traits of avatars would affect individuals’ behavior and cognition accordingly. Although research on the Proteus effect has been fruitful over the years, this line of research also showed inconsistencies over whether the effect is significant, the direction of how avatars affect individuals, as well as its theoretical explanations, which suggests a lack of elucidation on the cognitive processes underlying the Proteus effect. Hence, this paper provides an overview of the Proteus effect research and offers a reflection on the current literature regarding the theoretical basis, empirical evidence, and methodological approaches of the Proteus effect research. Finally, this study provides three recommendations for future research on the Proteus effect.","PeriodicalId":12634,"journal":{"name":"Games and Culture","volume":"84 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136308531","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-20DOI: 10.1177/15554120231203859
Justin A. Bortnick
In this article, the author draws upon their own experience as a commercial alternate reality game designer and interviews with other working professionals, examining how the form moved from its origins as outsider art into the realm of commercial production and then beyond that as a tool of political influence. The article traces the long history of misinformation and conspiracy in American politics and demonstrates how the introduction of entertainment industry design methodologies has altered the production of disinformation campaigns. From Andrew Jackson and the New York Slave Conspiracy of 1741 through Gamergate and QAnon, the article argues that while conspiracy has always been a central part of American culture, the introduction of modern game design has altered the landscape, and that only by recognizing how our work as designers is being co-opted can we can begin to work to prevent additional social harms.
{"title":"Play and Misinformation: How America's Conspiracy Culture Became Gamified","authors":"Justin A. Bortnick","doi":"10.1177/15554120231203859","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120231203859","url":null,"abstract":"In this article, the author draws upon their own experience as a commercial alternate reality game designer and interviews with other working professionals, examining how the form moved from its origins as outsider art into the realm of commercial production and then beyond that as a tool of political influence. The article traces the long history of misinformation and conspiracy in American politics and demonstrates how the introduction of entertainment industry design methodologies has altered the production of disinformation campaigns. From Andrew Jackson and the New York Slave Conspiracy of 1741 through Gamergate and QAnon, the article argues that while conspiracy has always been a central part of American culture, the introduction of modern game design has altered the landscape, and that only by recognizing how our work as designers is being co-opted can we can begin to work to prevent additional social harms.","PeriodicalId":12634,"journal":{"name":"Games and Culture","volume":"9 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136312792","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-20DOI: 10.1177/15554120231202720
Robson Scarassati Bello
The purpose of this paper is to examine how History and Memory are depicted in the video game series Assassin's Creed from 2007 to 2020. These games aim to recreate various historical periods by immersing the player's character from the present into the memories of their ancestors’ using technology. Assassin's Creed portrays the past through specific means: a narrative conveyed through events, spatially explorable environments, and, most importantly, the ability to interact with these elements. The series presents a supposedly multicultural perspective by offering its own interpretations of “historical truth” and collective memory. I argue contend that cultural products, when reinterpreted in the context of contemporary discussions and their own unique format, significantly influence the perception of certain historical moments in the collective imagination.
{"title":"The Problem of Memory in the Assassin's Creed Series (2007–2020)","authors":"Robson Scarassati Bello","doi":"10.1177/15554120231202720","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120231202720","url":null,"abstract":"The purpose of this paper is to examine how History and Memory are depicted in the video game series Assassin's Creed from 2007 to 2020. These games aim to recreate various historical periods by immersing the player's character from the present into the memories of their ancestors’ using technology. Assassin's Creed portrays the past through specific means: a narrative conveyed through events, spatially explorable environments, and, most importantly, the ability to interact with these elements. The series presents a supposedly multicultural perspective by offering its own interpretations of “historical truth” and collective memory. I argue contend that cultural products, when reinterpreted in the context of contemporary discussions and their own unique format, significantly influence the perception of certain historical moments in the collective imagination.","PeriodicalId":12634,"journal":{"name":"Games and Culture","volume":"39 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136313562","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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