The cultural embeddedness of academic books on knowing, feeling, and queering video games

Gaming is not a niche activity any more. Play is ubiquitous. Games, gaming, and game development are a component part of contemporary culture. To ignore their embeddedness is intellectual folly. To this end, this review essay links together three recent scholarly books in the digital humanities on games, gaming, and game development, namely, Consalvo and Begy (2015) Players and Their Pets, Anable’s (2018) Playing with Feelings, and Ruberg’s (2020) The Queer Games Avant-Garde. As we shall see, each of these cutting-edge books extends the scholarly literature in new agenda-setting directions. This essay first positions them in a broader discussion in economic sociology and cultural sociology on the notion of “cultural embeddedness,” and then specifically considers the cultural embeddedness of scholarly books on video games published by academic presses. After reviewing the books, the authors of this review essay are forced to acknowledge and, ultimately, embrace the reflexive realization that if we are to critically evaluate or assess the publication of scholarly books about games, gaming, and game development, then what, in point of fact, does it mean for us to pen a scholarly review essay for a peer reviewed academic journal on the same topic? The essay authors conclude by exploring this awkward realization about the circulation of conspicuously academic ideas regarding contemporary gaming and play.