In this episode we celebrate the release of Sian’s book Video games and gender assemblages: Understanding #Gamergate and beyond. Following a chat about some games we’ve enjoyed lately, including Guardians of Azuma and We Know the Devil, we dive into the question “Why is gender, particularly women, such an ‘issue’ in video games?’. Sian’s attitude was that there’s so much research already on gender and games, maybe it’s a matter of needing to analyse it differently. The book investigates three research questions: 1) how is gender a factor in game content and production; 2) what kind of affects do video games amplify, and how can they impact player identities?, and 3) How do affects permeate and flow throughout communities of play?. We discuss the key threads connecting these questions and the use of conceptual tools including that of Deleuze & Guattari, Sara Ahmed, Bourdieu, Butler, and others.

Games

Marvelous Inc. (2025). Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma. XSEED Games, Marvelous USA, Inc., Marvelous Europe.

Next Studios. (2019). Unheard – Voices of Crime. 505 Games.

Pillow Fight & Worst Girls Games. (2016). We Know the Devil. Pillow Fight.

Rotten Raccoons. (2024). OBSCURA. Kaguya Project.

Shiying Studio. (2021). Firework. Gamirror Games.

References

Tomkinson, S. (2025). Video games and gender assemblages: Understanding #Gamergate and beyond. Lexington Books.

Tomkinson, S., & Harper, T. (2025). If it looks like violent extremism, and acts like violent extremism …: Comparing the framing of two Sydney stabbing attacks. Communication Research and Practice, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/22041451.2025.2528393

We’re back to haunt you! After our hiatus we’re back for our first episode of 2025. We discuss some games we’ve been playing lately, including The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria, Piofiore: Fated Memories, and The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, and South of Midnight. We then move on to discuss haunting in games, including the presence of spectres, haunting and temporality, and recursive themes and motifs. We discuss works by Derrida alongside Tuck and Ree’s ‘Glossary of haunting’, and reflect on intersections between haunting in games and coming-of-age, religion, aesthetics, and the gothic.

Media

Blue Isle Studios and Parsec Productions. (2013). Slender: The Arrival. Blue Isle Studios.

Compulsion Games. (2025). South of Midnight. Xbox Game Studios.

Daedalic Entertainment. (2023). The Lord of the Rings: Gollum. Daedalic Entertainment & Nacon.

Free Range Games. (2023). The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria. North Beach Games.

Gordon, A. & Hobbes, M. (2020). Maintenance Phase. Gordon, A. & Hobbes, M.

Hakababunko. (2025). Urban Myth Dissolution Center. Shueisha Games.

Design Factory Co., Ltd. & Otomate. (2018). Piofiore: Fated Memories. Idea Factory Co., Ltd. & Aksys Games.

Ko, K. (Director). (2022). Incantation. Yang, P., Ko, K. & Chun-lin, C (Producers).

Libii HK Limited. (2023). SuitU: Fashion Avatar Dress UP. Apple & Google Play.

Nakata, H (Director). (2002). Dark Water. Ichise, T (Producer).

Northway Games. (2022). I Was a Teenage Exocolonist. Finji.

Obsidian Entertainment. (2025). Avowed. Xbox Game Studios.

PlatinumGames. (2017). NieR: Automata. Square Enix.

Sandfall Interactive. (2025). Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Kepler Interactive.

Semiwork. (2025). R.E.P.O.. Semiwork.

Sony Computer Entertainment Japan. (2000). The Legend of Dragoon. Sony Computer Entertainment.

Tecmo. (2006). Fatal Frame III: The Tormented. Tecmo & Take-Two Interactive.

References

Blakey, H. (2025). Cute, interesting, zany ghosts: Examining aesthetic experience of ghosts in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Genshin Impact and Hades. Revenant, 12, 7–32. https://www.revenantjournal.com/contents/cute-interesting-zany-ghosts-examining-aesthetic-experience-of-ghosts-in-animal-crossing-new-horizons-genshin-impact-and-hades/

Boden, Z. V. R., & Eatough, V. (2020). Parallel returns- Feelings, temporality and narrative in the experience of guilt. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 17(1), 36–52.

Gardenour Walter, B. S. (2014). Silent Hill and Fatal Frame: Finding transcendent horror in and beyond the haunted magic circle. In H. Campbell & G. P. Grieve (Eds.), Playing with religion in digital games. Indiana University Press.

Gordon, A. (2008). Ghostly matters: Haunting and the sociological imagination. University of Minnesota Press.

Janik, J. (2019). Ghosts of the present past: Spectrality in the video game object. Journal of the Philosophy of Games, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.5617/jpg.2943

Kirkland, E. (2021). Videogames and the Gothic. Routledge.

Ngai, S. (2012). Our aesthetic categories. Harvard University Press.

Roy, A. (2014). Capitalism: A ghost story. Haymarket Books.

Tomkinson, S., & Harper, T. (2025). If it looks like violent extremism, and acts like violent extremism …: Comparing the framing of two Sydney stabbing attacks. Communication Research and Practice, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/22041451.2025.2528393

In this episode, Sian and Heather reflect on the past few busy months and discuss their favourite games of the year. From the psychological horrors Mouthwashing and The Coffin of Andy and Leyley to the action-RPG Dragon Age: The Veilguard and visual novel STOP BURYING ME ALIVE, BEAUTIFUL!, it certainly has been an eventful 2024. We discuss games we are looking forward to playing in the new year, including Incolatus: Don’t Stop, Girlypop!, The Crush House, and Sian’s extensive backlog. Wishing everyone an enjoyable and relaxing holiday season!

Ludography

Arrowhead Game Studios (2024) Helldivers II. Sony Interactive Entertainment.

BioWare (2024) Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Electronic Arts.

Clover Studio (2006) Ōkami. Capcom.

Funny Fintan Softworks (TBC) Incolatus: Don’t Stop, Girlypop! Funny Fintan Softworks. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2610650/Incolatus_Dont_Stop_Girlypop/.

Hatoge (2023) Sofia?. Available at: https://hatoge.itch.io/sofia.

He A, Robobarbie, Destini Islands, et al. (2023) STOP BURYING ME ALIVE, BEAUTIFUL! Available at: https://zephyo.itch.io/stop-burying-me-alive-beautiful.

Hit-Point (2024) Neko Atsume 2. iOS and Android.

KarinMalady (2020) BOOK OF PRAYERS. Available at: https://karinmalady.itch.io/book-of-prayers.

Kit9 Studio (2023) The Coffin of Andy and Leyley. Kit9 Studio. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2378900/The_Coffin_of_Andy_and_Leyley/.

Mojang Studios (2011) Minecraft. Mojang and Xbox Game Studios.

Nerial (2024) The Crush House. Devolver Digital. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2337820/The_Crush_House/.

PlatinumGames (2017) NieR: Automata. Square Enix.

Shiver Games (2012) Lucius. Lace Mamba Global and Shiver Games.

Shiver Games (2015) Lucius II. Shiver Games.

Wrong Organ (2024) Mouthwashing. Critical Reflex. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2475490/Mouthwashing/.

XEECEE (2023) Misericorde: Volume One. XEECEE. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1708110/Misericorde_Volume_One/.

References

Faxneld P (2017) Satanic Feminism: Lucifer as the Liberator of Woman in Nineteenth-Century Culture. Oxford Studies in Western Esotericism. Oxford University Press.

Magnuson J (2023) Game Poems: Videogame Design as Lyric Practice. Amherst College Press. https://www.gamepoemsbook.com/

Tan E (2020) Smart Ovens for Lonely People. Brio Books.

Credits
Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music.

In this episode, Sian and Heather reflect on the complexities of archiving video games. We discuss the way that formal archiving is often difficult and tied up with ideas and judgements about cultural value. We also reflect on the importance of fan preservation, and the discussions around ownership, accessibility, licencing, backwards compatibility, remixing, and more. Finally, we describe our explorations of the LGBTQ Video Game Archive and Play It Again Memory Archive.

Support the Internet Archive: https://blog.archive.org/2024/09/04/internet-archive-responds-to-appellate-opinion/.

Check out the Internet Arcade: https://archive.org/details/internetarcade

Ludography

7G06. (2013). Hypno’s Lullaby. ROM hack.

Bioware. (2010). Dragon Age: Origins. Electronic Arts.

Cobblemon (2022-2024). Cobblemon. https://cobblemon.com/en.

Game Freak. (2018). Pokemon Quest. Nintendo.

Pixelmon Mod. (2012-2024). Pixelmon. https://reforged.gg/.

T. Takemoto. (2007). Kaizo Super Mario World. ROM hack.

Team Folon. (2024). Fallout London. Team Folon.

Two and a Half Studios. (2023). A Date with Death.

Big Blue Box and Lionhead Studios. (2004-2010). Fable (series). Microsoft Game Studios.

References

De Kosnik, A. (2020). Piracy Is the Future of Culture: Speculating about Media Preservation after Collapse. Third Text, 34(1), 62–70. https://doi.org/10.1080/09528822.2019.1663687

Holm, P. (2014). Piracy on the simulated seas: The computer games industry’s non-legal approaches to fighting illegal downloads of games. Information & Communications Technology Law, 23(1), 61–76. https://doi.org/10.1080/13600834.2014.899770

LGBTQ Video Game Archive. https://lgbtqgamearchive.com/

Newman, J. (2018). Kaizo Mario Maker: ROM hacking, abusive game design and Nintendo’s Super Mario Maker. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 24(4), 339–356. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856516677540

Play It Again. https://ourdigitalheritage.org/hostedArchives/playitagain/index.html

SirRonLionHeart. (2009). Let’s Play Kaizo Super Mario World – Episode I. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZxu0Xzz79E

Stuckey, Helen, et al. “Remembrance of Games Past: The Popular Memory Archive.” ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, ACM, 2013, pp. 1–7, https://doi.org/10.1145/2513002.2513570.

Queer games? For pride month? Ground-breaking. This episode Sian and Heather chat about queer game design and the growing body of scholarship from writers including Bo Ruberg and Xavier Ho on queer games and the way queer games reimagine and play with the video game form. We catch up on what we’ve been working on and playing recently, including robobarbie’s Stop Burying Me Alive, Beautiful! We talk about some of our past research with the LGBTQIA+ Video Game Archive and queer representation in English-language romantic games. We discuss some queer games we find interesting including Lookouts and I was a teenage exocolonist. Lastly, we close with a discussion of some of Jack Halberstam and Bo Ruberg’s work on queerness and failure, and the provocative questions their scholarship asks about form and the status quo.

Ludography

Airdorf Games. (2022). FAITH: The Unholy Trinity. New Blood Interactive. https://new-blood.itch.io/faith-the-unholy-trinity

Akabaka. (2022). Sucker for Love: First Date. Dread XP.

Angela He, Robobarbie, Destini Islands, Allie Vera. (2024). Stop Burying Me Alive, Beautiful! Itch. https://zephyo.itch.io/stop-burying-me-alive-beautiful

Dino999z. (2019-2022). Vincent: The Secret of Myers. Itch. https://dino999z.itch.io/vincent-the-secret-of-myers

ParanoidHawk. (2022). Lookouts. Itch. https://paranoidhawk.itch.io/lookouts

Dreamfeel. (2014). Curtain. Itch. https://dreamfeel.itch.io/curtain

DigiTales Interactive. (2021). Lacuna. Assemble Entertainment, WhisperGames, Mayflower Entertainment. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1364100/Lacuna__A_SciFi_Noir_Adventure/

Northway Games. (2022). I was a teenage exocolonist. Finji.

References

Arasu, P. (2023). Lovecraftian Games: The Afterlife of Cthulhu on Valve’s Steam Client. Games and Culture. https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120231217538

Bernevega, A., & Gekker, A. (2022). The Industry of Landlords: Exploring the Assetization of the Triple-A Game. Games and Culture, 17(1), 47-69. https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120211014151.

Blakey, H. (2023). I was a teenage exocolonist is a posthuman childhood odyssey. GamesHub. https://www.gameshub.com/news/reviews/i-was-a-teenage-exocolonist-review-2606796/

Halberstam, J. (2011). The queer art of failure. Duke University Press.

Ho, X. (Ed.). (2023). Pride at play. Jump to Glide.

Ho, Xavier, Remedios Perez Escobar, and Natalie Tran. 2022. ‘Queer Indie Games on Itch.Io, 2013-2022’. In Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games. FDG ’22. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3555858.3555881.

Ruberg, B. (Ed.). (2020). The queer games avant-garde: How LBGTQ game makers are reimagining the medium of video games. Duke University Press.

Ruberg, B. (2019). Video games have always been queer. New York University Press.

Ruberg, B., Halberstam, J., & Juul, J. (2017). The Arts of Failure: Jack Halberstam in Conversation with Jesper Juul. In B. Ruberg & A. Shaw (Eds.), Queer Game Studies (pp. 201–210). University of Minnesota Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5749/j.ctt1mtz7kr.23

Tomkinson, S. (2024). “This kind of life has no meaning”: Neru’s Vocaloid album CYNICISM. M/C Journal, 27(2). https://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/view/3037

In this episode Sian and Heather reflect on ‘cosy’ games – games that are designed or played for relaxation and comfort. We recap our research over the past month or so, including the DIGRAA conference, and games we’ve played recently, including Signalis and Mato Anomalies. We consider what ‘cosy’ games are; a category that often includes farming sims such as Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley, but also games with an introspective or relaxing ‘vibe’. We note that that such games can encourage experiences of mindfulness–but that other games can too! Further, we consider specific political, social, and cultural contexts that complicate ‘cosy-ness’ as a concept. We note associated trends or aesthetics such as hygge and iyashikei, both of which have become prominent following times of crisis and stress.

Ludography

Arrowiz (2023). Mato Anomalies. Prime Matter, Plaion.

ConcernedApe. (2016). Stardew Valley. ConcernedApe.

Frogwares. (2019). The Sinking City. Frogwares.

Game Yarouze and Japan Studio. (2008). Echochrome, Sony Computer Entertainment.

Hoyoverse. (2020). Genshin Impact.

Maxis. (2021). The Sims 4: Cottage Living. Electronic Arts.

Mojang Studios. (2011). Minecraft. Mojang Studios, Xbox Game Studios, and Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Paralune LLC. Mythic Ocean. Paralunce LLC, Nakana.io, Untold Tales.

rose-engine. (2022). Signalis. Humble Games.

Second Face Software. (2024). Portal: Revolution. Second Face Software.

Sunblink (2023). Hello Kitty Island Adventure. Sanrio, Apple.

Thunder Lotus Games (2020). Spiritfarer.

Various. (2001-present). Animal Crossing (series). Nintendo.

References

Campbell, C. (2022). What are cozy games, and what makes them cozy?. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/what-makes-a-cozy-game-cozy

Hairston, M. (2008). A Healing, Gentle Apocalypse: Yokohama kaidashi kikō. Mechademia, 3(1), 256–258. https://doi.org/10.1353/mec.0.0036.

Murakami, H. (1991). Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. Kodansha International.

Nguyen, C. Thi. (2020). Games : Agency as Art. Oxford University Press, 2020.

Ren, J. (2020). Analysis of the Japanese Iyashikei Films and the Culture Behind These Films. Proceedings of the 2020 International Conference on Language, Art and Cultural Exchange (ICLACE 2020). Xiamen, China. https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.200709.007

Roquet, P. (2009). Ambient Literature and the Aesthetics of Calm: Mood Regulation in Contemporary Japanese Fiction. The Journal of Japanese Studies, 35(1), 87–111. https://doi.org/10.1353/jjs.0.0050.

Sliwinski, J., Katsikitis, M., & Jones, C. M. (2015). Mindful Gaming: How Digital Games Can Improve Mindfulness. In J. Abascal, S. Barbosa, M. Fetter, T. Gross, P. Palanque, & M. Winckler (Eds.), Human-Computer Interaction – INTERACT 2015 (pp. 167–184). Springer International Publishing.

Universal Music Japan. KIRIMIちゃん. – 「マジカルKIRIMI！」（Short Ver.). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lV719DU328

Yoshimoto, B. (1993). Kitchen. Grove Press.

Credits
Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music.

In this episode Sian and Heather ‘dive in’ to underwater worlds and level design in video games, particularly the kinds of storytelling inscribed in watery environments. We first catch up on different research projects we’ve been working on and what we’ve been playing recently, before discussing a few different artistic and scientific projects that bring game design and the ocean together. We discuss some projects where games are used to showcase underwater cultural heritage and others where game design is world in installations to simulate conditions underwater. Lastly, we talk about some of our favourite underwater levels in games, including the Bioshock series, Laguna Bend in Cyberpunk 2077, the Spyro series, and (of course) the new Fontaine region in Genshin Impact.

Ludography

2K Boston & 2K Australia. (2007). Bioshock. 2K.

2K Marin. (2010). Bioshock 2. 2K Games.

CD Projekt Red. (2020). Cyberpunk 2077. CD Projekt.

Colorful Palette & Crypton Future Media. (2020). Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage! [Project Sekai]. Sega.

f4samurai. (2020). Disney Twisted-Wonderland. Aniplex.

Giant Squid. (2016). Abzû. 505 Games.

Insomniac Games. (2000). Spyro: Year of the Dragon. Sony Computer Entertainment.

Kitfox Games. (2021). Boyfriend Dungeon. Kitfox Games.

Larian Studios. (2023). Baldur’s Gate 3. Larian Studios.

Microids Studio Lyon. (2023). Agatha Christie – Murder on the Orient Express. Microids.

miHoYo. (2020). Genshin Impact. HoYoverse.

Paralune LLC. (2020). Mythic Ocean. Untold Tales.

Rare. (2018). Sea of Thieves. Microsoft Studios.

References

Bellarbi, A., Domingues, C., Otmane, S., Benbelkacem, S., & Dinis, A. (2012). Underwater augmented reality game using the DOLPHYN. The 18th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236898930_Underwater_augmented_reality_game_using_the_DOLPHYN

Cozza, M., Isabella, S., Di Cuia, P., Cozza, A., Peluso, R., Cosentino, V., Berbieri, L., Muzzupappa, M., & Bruno, F. (2021). Dive in the Past: A Serious Game to Promote the Underwater Cultural Heritage of the Mediterranean Sea. Heritage. 4(4), 4001-4016. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage4040220.

Huang, C., Chen, Q., Petrovic, V., & Rissolo, D. (2021). Interactive Game-Based Exploration of an Underwater Paleontological Site. 7th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN). https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9459364

Pell, S. J., & Mueller, F. (2013). Designing for depth: underwater play. Proceedings of the 9th Australasian Conference on Interactive Entertainment: Matters of Life and Death (IE ’13). https://doi.org/10.1145/2513002.2513036

Credits
Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music.

In this episode, Sian and Heather ‘tuck in’ to video game food and its role from both  mechanical and narrative perspectives. Food, an essential part of life, is a constant presence in video games that rely on world-building and environmental storytelling to convey meaning. From cute cooking minigames to games that use food to inscribe safety, tension, intimacy and fear, food carries power as a narrative device in video games. We discuss Agata Waszkiewicz’s new book Delicious Pixels and Sarah Stang’s work on food in the Fallout series. We also, of course, catch up on the release of Baldur’s Gate 3, including Heather’s tempestuous relationship with gnomes, situationships with Shadowheart, and the sound design of clown body parts. 

Ludography

Arkane. 2017. Dishonored: Death of the Outsider.

Bethesda Game Studios. 2015. Fallout 4

Black Salt Games. 2023. Dredge.

Capcom. 2018. Monster Hunter: World.

CD Projekt Red. 2015. The Witcher 3.

Hoyoverse. 2020. Genshin Impact.

Kitfox Games. 2021. Boyfriend Dungeon.

Larian Studios. 2017. Divinity: Original Sin II.

Larian Studios. 2023. Baldur’s Gate 3.

Naughty Dog. 2020. The Last of Us Part II. 

Nintendo. 2017. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Nintendo. 2020. Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Square Enix Business Division 2. 2016. Final Fantasy XIV. Square Enix.

Square Enix. 2013. Final Fantasy XV: A Realm Reborn.

Supergiant Games. 2020. Hades.

Stoic Studio. 2014. The Banner Saga.

References

Henley, S. (2020, December 7). Eat, drink, play: the recipe for memorable food in video games. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/games/2020/dec/07/food-and-drink-in-video-games

Lamerichs, N. (2018). Hunters, climbers, flâneurs: How video games create and design tourism. In C. Lundberg & V.Ziakas (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of popular culture and tourism (pp. 161–169). Routledge.

Stang, S. (2021). Irradiated Cereal and Abject Meat: Food as Satire and Warning in the Fallout Series. Games and Culture 17(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120211030800 

Tomkinson, S. (2023, August 4). How Abby in ‘The Last of Us: Part 2’ challenged players to think differently. GamesHub. https://www.gameshub.com/news/features/the-last-of-us-part-2-how-abby-challenged-players-to-think-differently-2625606/

Waszkiewicz, A. (2022). Delicious Pixels: Food in video games. De Gruyter.

Credits
Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music.

Gamification is the practice of applying game design elements in non-game contexts. Both the term and practice have been applied to various activities including education, work, fitness, romance, finances, and beyond. In this episode, we slow down and unpack what the term means and some of the research around its application from various game studies scholars. We also touch on the potential intersection between gamification and serious games. We wrap by discussing some games designed to forge a relationship between play and behaviour, including Lumi Interactive’s Kinder World.  

*Heather’s comment about the French cartography project refers to the Cassini map, which was worked on by four generations of the Cassini family (not six, as Heather speculates in this episode).

Ludography

Konami. 2009. Love Plus.

Larian Studios. 2023. Baldur’s Gate III.

Niantic. 2021. Pikmin Bloom.

Lumi Interactive. 2022. Kinder World. 

Q Dork. Morning Makeup Madness.

References

Beth Bos, Lucy Wilder, Marcelina Cook, & Ryan O’Donnell. (2014). Learning mathematics through Minecraft. Teaching Children Mathematics, 21(1), 56–59. https://doi.org/10/gf8qtb

Bogost, I. (2011). Gamification is Bullshit. Bogost.Com. http://bogost.com/writing/blog/gamification_is_bullshit/

Brooks, R. (2021). Artificial Intimacy. NewSouth Books.

Calvino, I. (2020). The Narrative of Trajan’s Column. Translated by M McLaughlin. Penguin Books.

Deterding, S., Dixon, D., Khaled, R., & Nacke, L. (2011). From Game Design Elements to Gamefulness: Defining ‘Gamification’. Proceedings of the 15th International Academic MindTrek Conference: Envisioning Future Media Environments, 9–15. https://doi.org/10.1145/2181037.2181040

Ho, X., Daunt, F., Mackenzie, M., and Appleby, C., curators. (2023). Pride at Play. Jump to Glide.

O’Donnell, C. (2014). Getting played: Gamification, bullshit, and the rise of algorithmic surveillance. Surveillance and Society, 12(3), 349–359. https://doi.org/10/ggnsv2

Ruffino, P. (2018). Future gaming: Creative interventions in video game culture. Goldsmiths Press.

Tsumura, K. (2020). There’s No Such Thing as an Easy Job. Translated by P Barton. Bloomsbury.

Zimmerman, E. (2022). The rules we break: Lessons in play, thinking, and design. Princeton Architectural Press.

Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music.

What does the phrase ‘gaming lifestyle’ mean in 2023? In this episode, we talk about the spaces, times, and activities that come to mind when we think of gaming as a hobby. From stylised gaming setups and the visuals of video game streaming; to challenging and toxic communities; to game design exhibitions and the community of LGBTQIA+ game designers publishing on Itch.io.

We also catch up on some of the recent Digital Games Research Association events (DiGRA), some of (our!) highlights from DiGRA International and GSOAP, and the games we’ve playing this month, including Honkai: Star Rail, Tokyo Ghostwire, and The Sims 4: High School Years.

Ludography

Experience Inc. 2017. Spirit Hunter: Death Mark. Aksys Games.

Hoyoverse. 2020. Genshin Impact.

Hoyoverse. 2023. Honkai: Star Rail.

Maxis. 2022. The Sims 4: High School Years. Electronic Arts.

Spike Chunsoft. 2009. Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors. Aksys Games.

Square Enix, h.a.n.d., Jupiter Corporation. 2007. The World Ends With You. Square Enix.

Tango Gameworks. 2022. Ghostwire Tokyo. Bethesda Softworks.

viv_url. 2021. Off Day. Itch.io.

References

Boudreau, K., (2019). Beyond Fun: Transgressive Gameplay—Toxic and Problematic Player Behavior as Boundary Keeping, in: Jørgensen, K., Karlsen, F. (Eds.), Transgression in Games and Play. The MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11550.003.0022 

Chess, Shira, (2017). Ready Player Two: Women Gamers and Designed Identity. University of Minnesota Press.

Ho, Xavier, et al. (2022). “Queer Indie Games on Itch.io, 2013-2022”. ACM International Conference Proceeding Series. https://doi.org/10.1145/3555858.3555881.

Moore, Kyle. (2023). Global Mobile Game Cultures, in Proceedings of the Games Symposium for Oceania and the Asia Pacific, 15 June, Melbourne, Australia.

Perreault, G., & Vos, T. (2019). Metajournalistic discourse on the rise of gaming journalism. New Media & Society, 22(1), 159–176. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819858695

Liu, T. (2023). Keynote, in Proceedings of the Games Symposium for Oceania and the Asia Pacific, 14 June, Melbourne, Australia.

Ruberg, Bonnie “Bo”, and Daniel Lark. (2021). “Livestreaming from the Bedroom: Performing Intimacy through Domestic Space on Twitch.” Convergence, 27(3), 679–695, https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856520978324 

Ruberg, Bo. (2022). “Live Play, Live Sex: The Parallel Labors of Video Game Live Streaming and Webcam Modeling.” Sexualities, 25(8), 1021–1039. https://doi.org/10.1177/13634607221103204 

YiangJing. (2023). Keynote: Fear & Care in the Museum: The Politics of Exhibiting Chinese Games, in Proceedings of the Games Symposium for Oceania and the Asia Pacific, 15 June, Melbourne, Australia.

Credits
Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music.

What makes something cute, and what does a cute thing do in the context of video games? As a surprisingly (or perhaps unsurprisingly) dominant aesthetic of the contemporary era, cuteness is an area of interest for various scholars. In the episode, Sian and Heather unpack some of the developing ideas around cuteness within and outside the discipline of cute studies. We discuss Sianne Ngai, Emma Reay, Ina Saltz, Erica Kanesaka, vocaloids, vtubers, and eebly-fying of everyday life. We also catch up on what we’ve been playing recently and our favourite cute games.

Ludography

2K Boston and 2K Australia. 2007. Bioshock. 2K.

CD Projekt Red. 2020. Cyberpunk 2077. CD Projekt.

Game Freak. 2022. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Nintendo and The Pokémon Company.

Irrational Games. 2013. Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea. 2K Games.

Massive Monster. 2022. Cult of the Lamb. Devolver Digital.

Maxis. 2014. The Sims 4. Electronic Arts.

miHoYo. 2020. Genshin Impact. HoYoverse.

Nintendo EPD. 2020. Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Nintendo.

ParanoidHawk. 2022. Lookouts. Itch.io

Q_dork’s games available at https://q_dork.itch.io/ 

Sketchy Logic. Aviary Attorney. 2015.

Team Salvato. 2017. Doki Doki Literature Club!.

Triskell Interactive. 2023. Pharaoh: A New Era. Dotemu.

ZA/UM. 2019. Disco Elysium.

References

Allison, Anne. 2004. ‘Cuteness as Japan’s Millennial Product’. In Pikachu′s Global Adventure: The Rise and Fall of Pokemon, edited by Joseph Tobin, 34–49. Durham: Duke University Press.

Annett, Sandra. 2017. ‘What Can a Vocaloid Do? The Kyara as Body without Organs’. Mechademia 10: 163–77. https://doi.org/10/ghp4mw.

Brazil, Kevin, 2020. Interview with Sianne Ngai, The White Review.

Carpenter, Nicole, 2023. Cosy games are getting darker, Polygon.

Kanesaka, Erica, 2023. The Mixed-Race Fantasy Behind Kawaii Aesthetics, Catapult.

Matsue, Jennifer Milioto. 2017. ‘The Ideal Idol: Making Music with Hatsune Miku, the “First Sound of the Future”’. In Vamping the Stage: Female Voices of Asian Modernities, edited by Andrew N Weintraub and Bart Barendregt, 320–48. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.

Ngai, Sianne. Our Aesthetic Categories: Zany, Cute, Interesting, Harvard University Press, 2012

Özdal, Öznur, and Güven Çatak. 2022. ‘Breaking the Fourth Wall in Video Games: A New Terminology and Methodology’. In Games and Narrative: Theory and Practice, edited by Barbaros Bostan, 45–59. Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81538-7_3.

Pellitteri, Marco. 2018. ‘Kawaii Aesthetics from Japan to Europe: Theory of the Japanese “Cute” and Transcultural Adoption of Its Styles in Italian and French Comics Production and Commodified Culture Goods’. Arts 7 (3): 24. https://doi.org/10.3390/arts7030024.

Reay, Emma. 2021. Cute, cuddly and completely crushable: Plushies as avatars in video games. Journal of Gaming and Virtual Worlds, 13(2), 131–149.

Saltz, Ina. 2004. “Step Out: The Aesthetics of Cute.” Step Inside Design, vol. 20, no. 6, pp. 14.

Waszkiewicz, Agata, and Martyna Bakun. 2020. ‘Towards the Aesthetics of Cozy Video Games.’ Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds 12 (3): 225–40. https://doi.org/10.1386/jgvw_00017_1.

Credits

Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music.

In this episode, Sian and Heather get stuck into the influential concept of flow. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s writing and lectures on the flow state have been applied by designers and scholars alike to understand and articulate the unique experiences of play that video games facilitate. We walk through what the concept means and discuss some later research, including Soderman’s Against Flow, that questions the way flow is understood in the wider discipline of game studies. 

Ludography

RachelDrawsThis. 2022. Elevator Hitch. Itch.io. https://racheldrawsthis.itch.io/elevator-hitch 

Motvind Studios. 2021. How We Know We’re Alive. Itch.io. https://motvind-studios.itch.io/how-we-know-were-alive

RoboBarbie. 2023. Today I’m Harvesting You!. Itch.io. https://robobarbie.itch.io/today-im-harvesting-you 

Cocoa Moss Games. 2023. A Day in the Life of Death. https://cocoamoss.com/a-day-in-the-life-of-death/a-day-in-the-life-of-death.html

Cocoa Moss Games. 2020. Hide and Seek. https://cocoamoss.com/hide-and-seek/hide-and-seek.html 

Kitfox Games. 2021. Boyfriend Dungeon. 

References

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2008). Flow (2nd edn). HarperCollins e-books.

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihalyi (2008, 25 October). Flow, the secret to happiness. TED Talks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXIeFJCqsPs

Jin, S.-A. A. (2012). “Toward integrative models of flow”: Effects of performance, skill, challenge, playfulness, and presence on flow in video games. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 56(2), 169–186. https://doi.org/10/gfgxhv

Mansfield, B. E., Oddson, B. E., Turcotte, J., & Couture, R. T. (2012). A possible physiological correlate for mental flow. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 7(4), 327–333. https://doi.org/10/ghp4t6

Soderman, Braxton. (2021). Against flow: Video games and the flowing subject. Cambridge: The MIT Press.

Teng, C.-I. (2011). Who are likely to experience flow? Impact of temperament and character on flow. Personality and Individual Differences, 50(6), 863–868. https://doi.org/10/fnqxq4

Tien, Amanda. (2021, 27 August). ‘In defense of Boyfriend Dungeon and its troubling content’. The Punished Backlog. https://punishedbacklog.com/in-defense-of-boyfriend-dungeon-and-its-troubling-content/ 

Zimmerman, Eric. (2022). The rules we break: Lessons in play, thinking and design. New York: Princeton Architectural Press.

Credits

Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music.

Happy new year! In this episode Sian and Heather talk about failure in video games. Failure has been an aspect of gameplay that has fascinated many scholars studying video games. We walk through the theories of several scholars, including Jesper Juul, Jane McGonigal, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Ronald Tocci, Christopher Paul, Bonnie Ruberg, and Jack Halberstam, reflecting on their theories in the context of our play of video games in various genres. We think about what the word failure means in the context of gameplay, and moments of failure in gameplay we find joyful and interesting.

Ludography

Bethesda Game Studios. 2011. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Bethesda Softworks.

Bethesda Game Studios. 2018. Fallout 76. Bethesda Softworks.

Blizzard Entertainment. 2012. World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria. 

Game Freak. 2022. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Nintendo and The Pokémon Company.

Kyle Horwood. 2022. Security Booth. Itch.io. https://3dkyle.itch.io/security-booth 

Majick. 2022. Last Bus Home. Itch.io. https://majikgames.itch.io/lastbushome 

Northway Games. 2022. I Was a Teenage Exocolonist. Finji.

Volition. 2011. Saints Row: The Third. THQ.

Volition. 2013. Saints Row IV. Deep Silver.

Warrrkus. Harvest Festival 64. Itch.io. https://warrrkus.itch.io/harvest-festival-64

References

Halberstam, Jack. 2011. The Queer Art of Failure. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Juul, Jesper. 2013. The Art of Failure: An Essay on the Pain of Playing Video Games. Playful Thinking. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.

Ruberg, Bonnie. 2017. ‘Playing to Lose: The Queer Art of Failing at Video Games’. In Gaming Representation: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Video Games, edited by Jennifer Malkowski and TreaAndrea M Russworm, 197–210. Indiana University Press.

Ruberg, Bonnie, Jack Halberstam, and Jesper Juul. 2017. ‘The Arts of Failure: Jack Halberstam in Conversation with Jesper Juul’. In Queer Game Studies, edited by Bonnie Ruberg and Adrienne Shaw, 201–10. University of Minnesota Press.

Tocci, J 2008, ‘“You Are Dead. Continue?”: Conflicts and Complements in Game Rules and Fiction’, Eludamos. Journal for Computer Game Culture, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 187–201.

Adinolf, S. and Turkay, S. 2018. ‘Toxic Behaviors in Esports Games: Player Perceptions and Coping Strategies’,

Paul, CA 2018, The Toxic Meritocracy of Video Games: Why Gaming Culture is the Worst, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.

McGonigal, J 2011, Reality is Broken: Why games make us better and how they can change the world, The Penguin Press, New York.

McQuown, Nino. ‘Why I Hope HBO’s “The Last of Us” Is Nothing Like the Games’. Catapult. Accessed 26 January 2023. https://catapult.co/stories/nino-mcquown-the-last-of-us-hbo-zombie-apocalypse-postapocalyptic-stories.

Messner, Steven. ‘Meet WoW’s Biggest Hippie, a Panda Who Reached Max Level by Picking Thousands of Flowers’. PC Gamer. Accessed 11 January 2023. https://www.pcgamer.com/meet-wows-biggest-hippie-a-panda-who-reached-max-level-by-picking-thousands-of-flowers/.

Messner, Steven. ‘World of Warcraft’s Pacifist Panda Just Hit Level 60 by Picking Millions of Flowers’. PC Gamer, 12 December 2020. https://www.pcgamer.com/world-of-warcrafts-pacifist-panda-just-hit-level-60-by-picking-millions-of-flowers/.

Wakeby, Jacoby. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@JacobyWakeby/playlists 

/r/Skyrim. ‘Ever just had a normal playthrough, such as a farmer, or trader or mercenary?’. https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrim/comments/662aax/ever_just_had_a_normal_playthrough_such_as_a/ 

Credits

Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music.

Welcome to our last episode of 2022–and what a year it has been! Sian and Heather take it light and breezy and discuss some of their favourite games from this year, titles they loved, titles they spent a lot of time on (hello Genshin Impact …) and those with some interesting mechanics. We catch up on a few titles on the horizon for 2023 that we’re looking forward to and those we’ll be playing during the summer. We wrap with a discussion of festivity in games–moments of light and levity that punctuate the flow of game time with joy and playfulness.

We wish everyone a happy new year and look forward to catching up with you all in 2023!

Ludography

CD Projekt Red. 2020. Cyberpunk 2077. CD Projekt.

FromSoftware. 2022. Elden Ring. Bandai Namco Entertainment.

miHoYo. 2020. Genshin Impact. HoYoverse.

Niantic. 2021. Pikmin Bloom.

Square Enix. 2010. Final Fantasy XIV.

Toylogic and Square Enix. 2021. Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139…. Square Enix.

Credits

Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music.

Happy Halloween! In this episode Sian and Heather catch up on what they’ve been playing and researching lately before moving into a discussion of the gothic, the horrible, and the spooky in video games. We reflect on some different ways of thinking about these genres and their appearances in different video games, discussing scholarship, the sublime, southern gothic and beyond! We close by discussing some of our favourite scary or horrible moments in video games, including moments from Bioshock, Fatal Frame, Elden Ring and of course, The Sims.

Ludography

Blizzard Entertainment. 2022. Overwatch 2. 

BlueTwelve Studio. 2022. Stray. Annapurna Interactive.

CD Projekt Red. 2015. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Hearts of Stone. CD Projekt.

Future Games. 2003. The Black Mirror. The Adventure Company and GMX Media.

Housemarque. 2021. Returnal. Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Ion Lands. 2020. Cloudpunk. Maple Whispering Limited.

Massive Monster. 2022. The Cult of the Lamb. Devolver Digital.

Maxis. 2000. The Sims. Electronic Arts.

Rockstar San Diego. 2010. Red Dead Redemption. Rockstar Games.

Rockstar Studios. 2018. Red Dead Redemption 2. Rockstar Games.

Supermassive Games. 2021. The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes. Bandai Namco Entertainment.

Tecmo. 2005. Fatal Frame III: The Tormented. Tecmo and Take-Two Interactive.

Toylogic and Square Enix. 2021. Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139…. Square Enix.

References

Kirkland, Ewan. (2021). Videogames and the Gothic. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003026501

Bjerre, Thomas Ærvold. (2017). Southern Gothic Literature. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature.  https://oxfordre.com/literature/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190201098.001.0001/acrefore-9780190201098-e-304

Derrida, Jacques. (1994). Specters of Marx : the State of the Debt, the Work of Mourning, and the New International. Routledge.

De Rochefort, Simone. (2022, June 21). Leave me alone, Elden Ring dogs. Polygon. https://www.polygon.com/videos/23176905/elden-ring-dogs-git-gud

Ngai, Sianne. (2012). Our Aesthetic Categories : Zany, Cute, Interesting. Harvard University Press.

Tomkinson, Sian. (2022). “She’s Built Like a Tank”: Player Reaction to Abby Anderson in The Last of Us: Part II. Games and Culture. https://10.1177/15554120221123210.

Williams, Linda. (1991). Film Bodies: Gender, Genre, and Excess. Film quarterly, vol. 44, no. 4, 1991, pp. 2–13, https://doi.org/10.2307/1212758.

Credits

Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music.

Bandai Namco sends a prolific Elden Ring player a sword and God gives you a phone in Pokemon Arceus. This episode, Sian and Heather dive into the idea of generous play. While over the years there has been plenty of discussion on the more negative emotions associated with games and play, there is plenty to be said on how games facilitate experiences of generosity, collaboration and kindness. We discuss interactions in various MMOs, including Destiny 2, World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy, and Runescape. We also talk about generosity by design, talking about some of the design process behind Journey. We wrap with a discussion on recent NieR: Automata news and the recent hacking of the Neopets database.

Ludography

Adam Kwapiński. 2018. Nemesis. Awaken Realms.

Blizzard Entertainment. 2004. World of Warcraft.

Bungie. 2017. Destiny 2. Activision and Bungie.

FromSoftware. 2022. Elden Ring. Bandai Namco Entertainment.

Future Games. 2003. The Black Mirror. The Adventure Company and GMX Media.

Game Freak. 2022. Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Nintendo and The Pokémon Company.

Game Grumps. 2017. Dream Daddy.

Jagex. 2001. RuneScape.

Independent, Viacom and Nickelodeon, and Jumpstart Games. 1999. Neopets. 

miHoYo. 2020. Genshin Impact. HoYoverse.

PlatinumGames. 2017. NieR: Automata. Square Enix.

Square Enix. 2013. Final Fantasy XIV.

Stephen Hand. 2019 (4th ed). The Fury of Dracula. WizKids Games.

Thatgamecompany. 2012. Journey. Sony Computer Entertainment.

Toylogic and Square Enix. 2021. Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139…. Square Enix.

Volition. 2021. Saints Row Boss Factory. Deep Silver.

References

Blakey, H. (2021). Designing Player Intent through “Playful” Interaction: A Case Study of Techniques in Transistor and Journey. M/C Journal, 24(4). https://doi.org/10.5204/mcj.2802

Gach, E. (2022). ‘Elden Ring’s ‘Let Me Solo Her’ Gifted Actual Sword By Devs, Because He’s A Legend’. Kotaku. 2022. https://kotaku.com/elden-ring-solo-her-malenia-fromsoftware-expansion-1849151918 

Jenson, J., Taylor, N., De Castell, S., & Dilouya, B. (2015). Playing with Our Selves. Feminist Media Studies, 15(5), 860–879. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2015.1006652

Muddled Times. (2004, March). A Group Discussion on Female Players. Muddled Times, 26. http://mud2.net/muddledtimes/site/article.fod_IssueId_25_ArticleId_1491

Muddled Times. (2004, June). A Group Discussion on Male Players. Muddled Times, 27. http://mud2.net/muddledtimes/site/article.fod_IssueId_26_ArticleId_1514

Todd, C. (2012). “Troubling” gender in virtual gaming spaces’, New Zealand Geographer, 68(2), 101–110. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-7939.2012.01227.x

Webber, Jordan Erica. “The Road to Journey.” Videogames: Design/Play/Disrupt. Eds. Marie Foulston and Kristian Volsing.  V&A Publishing, 2018. 14–31.

Voll, K., & Hart, W. (2020). Designing for Multiple Minds: Crafting the Craft of Player Dynamics. Game Developers Conference. https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1026819/Designing-for-Multiple-Minds-Crafting

Yee, N. (2021, August 5). About one out of three men prefer playing female characters. Rethinking the importance of female protagonists in video games. Quantic Foundry. https://quanticfoundry.com/2021/08/05/character-gender/

Credits

Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music.

In Episode 24 of Meaningful Play, Sian and Heather catch up on some recent research projects before diving into a thinking exercise around the recent discussions on open world games—their MacGuffins, beauty, and all the quirks in between. What is it about this prolific genre (and its mechanics) that is at times so wonderfully compelling and at others critiqued for being tired and repetitive? We talk about spatial design and interaction as well as zeitgeist moments in the popularity of open world games in the last decade. We wrap with a chat about archiving games and the exciting news about Untitled Goose Game (House House) being preserved by some major Australian institutions in acknowledgement of its cultural significance—ensuring it will be accessible to generations of players for enjoyment and study.

You can access q_dork’s collection of free games at: q_dork.itch.io

Ludography

Bethesda Game Studios. 2011. The Elder Scrolls IV: Skyrim. Bethesda Softworks

BioWare. 2011. Dragon Age II. Electronic Arts.

Blizzard Entertainment. World of Warcraft.

Cosmonaut Studios. 2022. Eternal Threads. Secret Mode.

FromSoftware. 2022. Elden Ring. Bandai Namco Entertainment.

Guerrilla Games. 2017. Horizon: Zero Dawn. Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Hello Games. 2016. No Man’s Sky. 

House House. 2019. Untitled Goose Game. Panic Inc.

Insomniac Games. 2021. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Mediatonic. 2020. Fall Guys. Devolver Digital and Epic Games.

miHoYo. 2020. Genshin Impact. HoYoverse.

Nintendo EPD. 2017. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Nintendo.

q_dork. 2018. Wobble Yoga. Itch.io. https://q_dork.itch.io/wobble-yoga

q_dork. Morning Makeup Madness. Itch.io. https://q_dork.itch.io/morning-makeup-madness 

Square Enix. 2013. Final Fantasy XIV.

Ubisoft Montreal. 2007. Assassin’s Creed. Ubisoft.

References

Barkman, C. (2021). “There’s no point in saving anymore”: Diegesis and Interactional Metalepsis in Pony Island and Doki Doki Literature Club. Journal of Games Criticism, 5(1), 22.

Ngai. (2020). Theory of the gimmick: aesthetic judgment and capitalist form. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674245365

Nguyen. (2020). Games: Agency As Art. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190052089.001.0001

Ruppert, L. (2021, March 8). Dragon Age 2 Was a Phenomenal Game Buried Beneath Repetition And A Rushed Timeline. Game Informer. https://www.gameinformer.com/opinion/2021/03/08/dragon-age-2-was-a-phenomenal-game-buried-beneath-repetition-and-a-rushed arts 

Stuart, K. (2022, May 31). Pushing Buttons: ‘Open world’ games are in need of a reboot. Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/games/2022/may/31/pushing-buttons-open-world-games 

Williams, L J. (2022, July 11). ACMI, NFSA and The Powerhouse team up to preserve video game history. Gameshub. https://www.gameshub.com/news/news/untitled-goose-game-preservation-acmi-powerhouse-video-game-history-australia-23646/ 

Credits

Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music.

In episode 23 of Meaningful Play, Sian and Heather get stuck into a discussion on difficulty in video games—a subject that has resurfaced in significance with the release of FromSoftware’s latest title Elden Ring. While touching on some of the rich scholarship around community behaviour and polarisation in relation to difficulty, the discussion branches out to consider game difficulty in its broader sense and makes the distinction between accessibility and difficulty. They consider how time factors into assessments of difficulty, recent changes in how difficulty is represented, how different player typologies influence perceptions of difficulty, and the narrative function of difficulty in some games.  

Ludography

CD Projekt Red. 2020. Cyberpunk 2077. CD Projekt.

FromSoftware. 2016. Dark Souls III. Bandai Namco Entertainment.

FromSoftware. 2022. Elden Ring. Bandai Namco Entertainment.

miHoYo. 2020. Genshin Impact. HoYoverse.

Parabole. 2017. Kona. 

PlatinumGames. 2017. NieR: Automata. Square Enix.

P-Studio. 2016. Persona 5. Atlus and Deep Silver.

Square and Square Enix. 1987-present. Final Fantasy (series).

Supergiant Games. 2017. Pyre. 

References

Bycer, J. (2021) ‘Why Accessible Design Can’t Save Inaccessible Gameplay’, SuperJump, 23 August. Available at: https://superjumpmagazine.com/why-accessible-design-cant-save-inaccessible-gameplay-c9b287cef2fa (Accessed: 30 August 2021). 

Chess, S., & Paul, C. A. (2018). The End of Casual: Long Live Casual. Games and Culture, 14(2), 107–118. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412018786652

Consalvo, M., & Paul, C. A. (2019). Real Games. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004

Hanford, N.A., 2018. At the Intersection of Difficulty and Masculinity: Crafting the Play Ethic, in: Taylor, N., Voorhees, G. (Eds.), Masculinities in Play. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp. 149–164. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90581-5_9

Juul, J 2010, Casual Revolution Reinventing Video Games and Their Players, MIT Press, Cambridge.

Kivijärvi, M., & Katila, S. (2021). Becoming a Gamer: Performative Construction of Gendered Gamer Identities. Games and Culture, 15554120211042260. https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120211042260.

Paul, CA 2018, The Toxic Meritocracy of Video Games: Why Gaming Culture is the Worst, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis

Credits

Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music.

In Episode 22 of Meaningful Play, Sian, Heather and Jordana discuss one of the most controversial topics in the realm of videogames – NFTs! In discussing NFTs, they attempt to define and understand NFTs and how they can be used in relation to videogames as a distinct medium.

Ludography

CD Projekt Red. 2020. Cyberpunk 2077. CD Projekt.

Game Freak. 2022. Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Nintendo and The Pokémon Company.

Independent, Viacom and Nickelodeon, and Jumpstart Games. 1999. Neopets. 

Kinetic Games. 2020. Phasmophobia.

miHoYo. 2020. Genshin Impact. HoYoverse.

Pendulo Studios. 2019. Bladsad: Under the Skin. Microids.

Square Enix. 2013. Final Fantasy XIV.

The Game Kitchen. 2013-2016. The Last Door. 

The Game Kitchen. 2019. Blasphemous. Team17.

References

D’Angelo, W (2022). [Update] Nintendo on Metaverse & NFTs: ‘We Feel the Potential in This Area’ – News. VGChartz. https://www.vgchartz.com/article/452460/nintendo-on-nfts-we-feel-the-potential-in-this-area/

Gach, E (2022). EA’s Boss Went From Calling NFTs The ‘Future’ To Running Away From Them. Kotaku. https://www.kotaku.com.au/2022/02/eas-boss-went-from-calling-nfts-the-future-to-running-away-from-them/

Gunner, S (2021). Tolkien Society purchases historic collection of Tolkien photos and letters. The Tolkien Society. https://www.tolkiensociety.org/2021/12/tolkien-society-purchases-historic-collection-of-tolkien-photos-and-letters/

JellyNeo (2021). Say it with us: #NoNeoNFTs. JellyNeo. https://www.jellyneo.net/nfts/ 

Jiang, S. (2021). Good Riddance: Steam Bans Games That Feature Crypto and NFTs. Kotaku. https://kotaku.com/good-riddance-steam-bans-games-that-feature-crypto-and-1847874385

Knoop, J. (2021). Steam bans all games with NFTs or cryptocurrency. PC Gamer.https://www.pcgamer.com/au/steam-bans-nfts-cryptocurrencies-blockchain/

Lawler, R. (2022). Another gaming company just gave up on NFTs. The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/1/22913110/team17-worms-nft-metaworms-gaming-playtonic-overcooked

Tolkien Society Tweet – https://archive.is/NMyVL 

Steamworks. (n.d.). Onboarding. https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/gettingstarted/onboarding

Articles about NFTs

Boscovic, D (2021). How nonfungible tokens work and where they get their value – a cryptocurrency expert explains NFTs. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/how-nonfungible-tokens-work-and-where-they-get-their-value-a-cryptocurrency-expert-explains-nfts-157489

Clark, M (2021). NFTs, explained. The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/22310188/nft-explainer-what-is-blockchain-crypto-art-faq

Groux, C (2022). What are NFTs in video games? 9 publishers on the future of the technology. Inverse. https://www.inverse.com/gaming/nfts-in-video-games-square-enix 

Jordan, H (2021). No, NFTs aren’t copyrights. TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2021/06/16/no-nfts-arent-copyrights/ 

Stead, C (2022). Interview: Ubisoft responds to angry NFT Digits and Quartz reaction. Finder. https://www.finder.com.au/ubisoft-interview-nfts

Credits

Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music.

*Apologies for the audio quality – due to COVID-19 we were not able to record with our usual equipment*

In Episode 21, Jordana, Sian, and Heather discuss what games they have been playing recently, and consider what makes their favourite boss battles so memorable. 

Ludography

Kinetic Games. 2020. Phasmophobia.

miHoYo. 2020. Genshin Impact. HoYoverse.

Pendulo Studios. 2019. Bladsad: Under the Skin. Microids.

Square Enix. 2013. Final Fantasy XIV.

The Game Kitchen. 2019. Blasphemous. Team17.

References

McMullan, T. (2019, 7 October). How the Video Game ‘Blasphemous’ Embraces the Catholic Gothic Tradition. Frieze. https://www.frieze.com/article/how-video-game-blasphemous-embraces-catholic-gothic-tradition

Shanley, P. (2019, 10 September). ‘Blasphemous’ Team Took “Purist” Approach to Game’s Pixel Art Style. The Hollywood Reporter.https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/blasphemous-designer-purist-approach-games-pixel-art-style-1238370/

Credits

Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music.

In the twentieth episode of Meaningful Play, Sian and Jordana welcome a special guest, Heather Blakey(!), a PhD candidate focused on games and aesthetics. Together, they discuss the concept of environmental storytelling (or “embedded narratives” as termed by scholar Henry Jenkins), sharing some of their favourite or notable games that have successfully implemented environmental objects as key narrative builders.

Games:

Animal Crossing, Bioshock (series), Convenience Store, Cyberpunk 2077, Destiny 2, Final Fantasy XIV, Hades, Life is Strange, Mass Effect Andromeda, Phasmophobia, The Last of Us Part II, The Sims 2, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Blood and Wine (DLC).

References:

Barbet, R., & Koch, M. (2016, March 14-18). “Life is Strange” Case Study: Using Interactive Storytelling and Game Design to Tackle Real-World Problems [Conference presentation]. Game Developers Conference 2016. San Francisco, California. https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1023468/-Life-is-Strange-Case

Gameumentary. (2021, March 26). Designing The Opening Moments of Bioshock with Bill Gardner | Gameumentary [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zfv9v4bdTCw. 

GDC. (2017, May 16). Building Beauclair in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Blood and Wine [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vEfH9SJ9mY 

Goins, E. (2018, December 5-8). Structuring Digital Game Stories. In R. Rouse, H. Koenitz & M. Haahr (Eds.), Interactive Storytelling: 11th International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling (pp. 265–269). Dublin, Ireland. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04028-4_27 

Graff, L. (2018). How narrative techniques affect players’ engagement in action RPG Dark Souls II. Bachelor’s thesis. Uppsala University. Available at: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-355846 

Jenkins, H. (2003). Game Design as Narrative Architecture. Response, 44(3), 118–130. DOI: 10.1111/b.9781444331899.2011.00023.x.

Nguyen, C. T. (2020). Games: Agency As Art. Oxford University Press.

Martens, S. (2021). The responsibilities in Red Dead Redemption 2: An analysis of playful learning through environmental storytelling in a videogame. Bachelor’s Thesis. Utrecht University. Available at: https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/402055

Morphologis. (2021, January 3). An Architect Reviews: Cyberpunk 2077’s Night City [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IklZS20rJoI&t=657s 

Nielsen, T. L., Rafferty, E. I., Schoenau-Fog, H. S., & Palamas, G. (2020, November 3-6). Embedded Narratives in Procedurally Generated Environments [paper presentation]. In A. Bosser, D. Millard & C. Hargood (Eds.), Interactive Storytelling: 13th International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling (pp. 30-43). Bournemouth, UK. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62516-0_3 

Vredenberg, B. (2017). Signposting, Mise-en-Scene, and Environmental Storytelling: Understanding signposting as part of the embedded narrative in environmental storytelling [Master’s thesis, Utrecht University]. Utrecht University Repository. https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/352414 

Shibolet, T. (2019). Towards a Framework for Embodied Narrativity: An enactive study of narrative phenomenology, through the lens of interactive digital media [Master’s thesis, Utrecht University]. Utrecht University Repository. https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/381437 

Carson, D. (2000, March 1). Environmental Storytelling: Creating Immersive 3D Worlds Using Lessons Learned from the Theme Park Industry. Game Developer.  https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/environmental-storytelling-creating-immersive-3d-wo…

Zakowski, S. (2016, August). Environmental Storytelling, Ideologies and Quantum Physics: Narrative Space And The BioShock Games. In, DiGRA/FDG ’16 – Proceedings of the First International Joint Conference of DiGRA and FDG. http://www.digra.org/digital-library/publications/environmental-storytelling-ideologies-and-quantum-physics-narrative-space-and-the-bioshock-games/.

Credits:
Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music.

In this episode Jordana provides an analysis of the game Bully. After recapping what we’ve been playing lately, we explore player typologies: what are some of the ways that researchers have tried to understand player motivations and preferences? We take Quantic Foundry’s gamer motivation profile survey and discuss our results.

Games:

Animal Crossing, Bully, Greedfall, Moons of Madness, The Call of Cthulu, The Forgotten City, Spyro Reimagined

References:

Bartle, R. A. (2013). Design Principles: Use and Misuse. In T. Quandt & S. Kröger (Eds.), Multiplayer: The Social Aspects of Digital Gaming.

Crecente, B. (2013, Sep 25). Rockstar’s Dan Houser would still love to make another Bully game. Polygon. https://www.polygon.com/2013/9/25/4769298/rockstars-dan-houser-would-still-love-to-make-another-bully-game

Bartle, R. (1996). Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades: Players Who Suit MUDs. MUD. http://mud.co.uk/richard/hcds.htm

Kallio, K. P., Mäyrä, F., & Kaipainen, K. (2011). At Least Nine Ways to Play: Approaching Gamer Mentalities. Games and Culture, 6(4), 327-353. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412010391089

Klevjer, R., & Hovden, J. F. (2017). The Structure of Videogame Preference. Game Studies, 17(2). https://doi.org/10/d6cxsv

Lazzaro, N. (2004). Why We Play Games: Four Keys to More Emotion Without Story. XEODesign. https://www.xeodesign.com/research/

Quantic Foundry (2021). The 9 Quantic Gamer Types. https://quanticfoundry.com/gamer-types/

Quantic Foundry (2021). The Quantic Lab. https://apps.quanticfoundry.com/

Quantic Foundry. (2020). Player segments based on gamer motivations. https://quanticfoundry.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/9-Player-Segments-GDC-2020-Excerpt.pdf

Yee, N. (2014). The Proteus Paradox. Yale University Press.

Credits:
Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music.

In the eighteenth episode of Meaningful Play, Sian and Jordana discuss a genre of videogames that has become increasingly popular in the last decade – walking simulators! Resultingly, this episode discusses definitions of walking simulators and how they are categorised by games audiences and games scholars, as well as dissects and muses upon some notable walking simulator titles.

References:

Consalvo, M., & Paul, C. A. (2019). Real Games. The MIT Press.

Kagen, M (2018). Walking, Talking and Playing with Masculinities in Firewatch. Game Studies 18(2). http://gamestudies.org/1802/articles/kagen

Montembeault, H. M., & Deslongchamps-Gagnon, M. M. (2019). The Walking Simulator’s Generic Experiences. Press Start, 5(2), 1-28.

Suits, B (1967). What is a Game?, Philosophy of Science, 34(2), pp. 148–156. doi: 10/bsnxpc.

Sliva, M (2020, December 20). ‘Walking Simulator’ Is a Bad Name for a Genre So Diverse, as Call of the Sea Proves. The Escapist. https://www.escapistmagazine.com/v2/call-of-the-sea-walking-simulator-genre-needs-new-name/

Feldman, K (2020). Wandering Videogames: Play, Performance, Protest. Tufts Experimental College: News. https://excollege.tufts.edu/news-wandering-videogames

Further reading:

Polygon 2020, ‘Ranking walking simulators by how good the walking is’, YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQst_UtBj6c

Games:

Abzu, Animal Crossing, Anodyne, Blair Witch, Dear Esther, Death Stranding, Depression Quest, Firewatch, Gone Home, Infra, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Layers of Fear, Observer, Octodad, Pamali, Paratropic, Return of the Obra Dinn, Sagebrush, Slender, Super Mario 3D All Stars, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, The Legend of Dragoon, The Station, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.

Credits:

Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music.

We’re back!

Neopets is a virtual pet website that launched in 1999 and surged popularity, but two decades later is under threat of becoming obsolete. Easing back into our podcast, we take a trip down memory lane and reflect on our experiences of Neopets as children. We reflect on what we enjoyed and why, the rise and fall of Neopets, and its possible resurgence.

References:

Carpenter, N (2021, March 16). Inside the Neopets ‘black market’. Polygon. https://www.polygon.com/22334511/neopets-still-exists-black-market-cheating

Carpenter, N (2021, March 8). Neopets is reckoning with black market pet trading. Polygon. https://www.polygon.com/22319750/neopets-uc-pets-trading-black-market

Dumitrica, DD (2011). An exploration of cheating in a virtual gaming world. Journal of Gaming and Virtual Worlds. 3(1), 21-36.

Grimes, SG & Shade, LR (2005). Neopian economics of play: Children’s cyberpets and online communities as immersive advertising in NeoPets.com. International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics. 1(2) 191-198.

Reddit AMA with a founder of Neopets Powell, D (2014, May 25). I am Donna, one of the founders of Neopets, ask me anything… Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/neopets/comments/26fwhh/i_am_donna_one_of_the_founders_of_neopets_ask_me/

Teruelle, R (2011). Stealing the age of innocence: A critique of the commodification of children’s Culture Through an Analysis of Neopets. Teaching & Learning. 6(1) 53-61. https://journals.library.brocku.ca/teachingandlearning/index.php/home/article/view/377

Further Reading:

PAX (2020). GOOD NIGHT mr.coconut – The Rise and Fall of Neopets. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYPFI0NXHao

Kidwell, E (2018, August 15). How Neopets has influenced a generation of game developers. https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/324436/How_Neopets_has_influenced_a_generation_of_game_developers.php

Neopets (2020). What’s Happening to Neopets When Flash Ends? | Producer Chat. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoeOQZqd4Ns

Games:

Alphabear 2, Cyberpunk, Final Fantasy VII Remake, I Love Hue Too, KHUx, Neopets, Persona 4: Golden, Plants vs Zombies, Sea of Thieves, The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages, The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons

Credits:
Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music.

*Apologies for our extended absence and this episode’s recording quality, there were some technical issues and we have not been able to record with our usual equipment due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the sixteenth episode of Meaningful Play, Jordana and Sian discuss Life Simulation videogames. They converse with a strong focus on what constitutes a ‘life simulation’ game (i.e. the elements that define the genre), the history of this genre, what our own favourite simulation titles are, and of course, what issues currently surround popular life simulation series such as Animal Crossing and The Sims.

References:

Crogan, P 2012, ‘Simulation’, in, M. J P. Wolf (eds), Encyclopedia of video games: The Culture, Technology and Art of Gaming, pp. 581-586. ABC-CLIO, United States.

Donovan, T 2011, ‘The Replay Interviews: Will Wright’, Gamasutra, 23 May. Available from: <https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/134754/the_replay_interviews_will_wright.php>. 

Fantone, L 2009, ‘Female players from margin to centre: female sociality, digital consumer citizenship and reterritorialisations’, Digital Creativity, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 211–224.

Frasca, G 2001, ‘The Sims: Grandmothers are cooler than trolls’, Game Studies, vol. 1, no. 1. Available from: <http://gamestudies.org/0101/frasca/>.

MacDonald, K 2020, ‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the escape we all need right now’, The Guardian, 17 March. <https://www.theguardian.com/games/2020/mar/16/animal-crossing-new-horizons-review-nintendo-switch>

Sicart, M 2003, ‘Family Values: Ideology, Computer Games & Sims’, in DiGRA ’03 – Proceedings of the 2003 DiGRA International Conference: Level Up, pp. 1–12, retrieved November 13, 2018, from <http://www.digra.org/wp-content/uploads/digital-library/05150.09529.pdf&gt;.

Triple J, 2020, ‘CLUB ISOLATION: Animal Crossing over to the light side of life’, Triple J Music News, 9 April. https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/news/musicnews/club-isolation:-animal-crossing/12133496

Whitta, G 2000, ‘The Sims’, PC Gamer, Vol. 7 no. 4, pp. 82-85. 

Games:

Animal Crossing, Attentat 1942, Beat Saber, Detroit: Become Human, Fantasy Life, Farming Simulator, Farmville, Harvest Moon, Imagine (series), Little Computer People, Neopets, Nintendogs, Persona 5, Resident Evil 4, Runescape, Tales from the Borderlands, The Invisible Hour, The Last of Us Part II, The Sims

Credits:
Season 1 artwork created by Amber Collins.
Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music.

In the fifteenth episode of Meaningful Play, we continue to discuss user-generated-content related to videogames. Specifically, we discuss our favourite gaming-based YouTubers and Twitch streamers, and the reasons behind why we tune into these certain content creators – why do they appeal to us, and what use do we get out of their content? Moreover, we explore some of the ethical issues surrounding content creation, such as creator burnout and toxic spaces.

Games:

Castlevania, Katamari Damacy, Silent Hill (series), Red Dead Redemption 2, Kingdom Hearts (series), Kaizo Super Mario World, Fatal Frame 4, Minecraft, Siren, Silent Hill 2, Pokemon, Borderlands 3, Overwatch.

YouTube and Streams:

Sir Ron Lion Heart, Sky Does Everything, Jacksepticeye, Markiplier, Supergreatfriend, Twitch Plays Pokemon, Games Done Quick (GDQ), Felicia Day.  

References:

Alexander, J 2018, ‘YouTubers, Twitch streamers are opening up about serious burnout, personal struggles’, Polygon, 18 Jan. Available from: < https://www.polygon.com/2018/1/18/16899532/youtube-twitch-burnout-h3h3-pewdiepie-lirik>.

Bishop, S 2018, ‘Anxiety, panic and self-optimization: Inequalities and the YouTube algorithm’, Convergence, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 69–84.

Cunningham, S & Craig, D 2017, ‘Being ‘really real’ on YouTube: authenticity, community and brand culture in social media entertainment’, Media International Australia, vol. 164, no. 1, pp. 71-81.

Ferchaud, A, Grzeslo, J, Orme, S, & LaGroue, J 2018, ‘Parasocial attributes and YouTube personalities: Exploring content trends across the most subscribed YouTube channels’, Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 80, pp. 88–96

Glas, R 2015, ‘Vicarious play: Engaging the viewer in Let’s Play videos’, Empedocles: European Journal for the Philosophy of Communication, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 81-86. 

Credits:
Season 1 artwork created by Amber Collins.
Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music.

In this episode of Meaningful Play, we discuss user-generated-content (UGC) focused on videogames. Specifically, we explore what makes UGC appealing to audiences (i.e. the use of cultural or ‘gaming capital’ – see Consalvo 2007, and common video templates, formats, and topics) as well as discussing some of our favourite YouTubers (such as Felicia Day, and Summoning Salt), some in which have created channels around videogames and gaming culture specifically. This is the first part of our two part series on UGC, and focuses more generally on YouTube as an online platform for UGC creation.

Games:

A Hat in Time, Alan Wake, Alan Wake: American Nightmare, Control, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Mario Kart, Runescape, Sonic Heroes, Soulsborne.

YouTube Channels:

Contrapoints, Felicia Day/Geek and Sundry, Lindsay Ellis, Polygon’s Unraveled, Summoning Salt, Vaati Vidya.

References:

Bourdieu, P 1989, Distinction: A social critique of the judgement of taste, Routledge, London.

Bruns, A 2008, Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life, and Beyond: From Production to Produsage, Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., United States.

Consalvo, M 2007, Cheating: Gaining Advantage in Videogames, MIT Press, United States. 

D’onfro, J 2015, ‘The ‘terrifying’ moment in 2012 when YouTube changed its entire philosophy’, Business Insider 4 July. https://www.businessinsider.com.au/youtube-watch-time-vs-views-2015-7

Perreault, G & Vos, T 2019, ‘Metajournalistc discourse analysis on the rise of gaming journalism’, new media & society, pp. 1-18. 

Webster, JG 2014, The Marketplace of Attention. The MIT Press, Cambridge.

Credits:
Season 1 Artwork created by Amber Collins.
Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music.

In the thirteenth episode of Meaningful Play, Sian and Jordana discuss their favourite games of the decade, as well as the concept of a ‘canon’ of video games – what are the best games of all time, and how is their position justified?

Games:
Minecraft, God of War, Pokémon Sword/Shield, Death Stranding, I Love You, Colonel Sanders, Super Smash Bros, Three Burly Men, A Bewitching Revolution, Persona 5, World of Warcraft Classic, Assassin’s Creed Revelations, Portal 2, Slenderman, The Last of Us, Hatoful Boyfriend, Rocket League, Firewatch, Prey, Divinity: Original Sin II, Nier: Automata, Super Mario Odyssey, Overcooked 2, Red Dead Redemption 2, Anthem, Dark Souls, Amnesia: The Dark Descent.

References:

Consalvo, M & Paul, C 2019, Real Games: What’s Legitimate and What’s Not in Contemporary Videogames, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusettes.

IGN n.d., ‘Top 100 Video Games of All Time’, IGN. Available from: <https://au.ign.com/lists/top-100-games>.

Metacritic n.d., ‘Best Video Games of All Time’, Metacritic. Available from: <https://www.metacritic.com/browse/games/score/metascore/all/all/filtered>.

Parker, F 2018, ‘Roger Ebert and the Games-as-Art Debate’, Cinema Journal, vol. 57, no. 3, pp. 77-100.

Stuart, K & MacDonald, K 2019, ‘The 50 best video games of the 21st century’, The Guardian, 19 September. Available from: <https://www.theguardian.com/games/2019/sep/19/50-best-video-games-of-the-21st-century>.

Thomas, D; Zagal, J; Robertson, M; Bogost, I & Huber, W 2009, ‘You played that? Game studie meets game criticism’, Breaking New Ground: Innovation in Games, Play, Practice and Theory – Proceedings of DiGRA 2009, pp. 1-6.

Credits:
Season 1 Artwork created by Amber Collins.
Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music.

In this episode of Meaningful Play, we discuss the notion of ‘realism’ in video games. Using a framework developed by scholar Ciara Cremin’s succinct typology of realism in video games, this episode asks questions such as what realism is (or is generated by) in video games and their construction, what forms of realism we personally respond to personally and why, and how audience’s interpret and expect realism to be produced and represented in games.

Games:
Assassin’s Creed (series), Back to the Future: The Game, Battlefield V, Control, Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, Dark Souls II, Darksiders (series), Death Stranding, Destiny 2, Fatal Frame (series), Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy XV, Grand Theft Auto (series), Journey, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time , LOTR Online, Minecraft, Persona 5, Saints Row (series), Silent Hill (series), The Sims (series), Super Mario Bros. (movie), Super Mario Galaxy, The Witcher 3, World of Warcraft, Yooka-Laylee The Impossible Lair

References:

Braithwaite, A 2014, ‘“Seriously, get out”: Feminists on the forums and the War(craft) on women’, New Media & Society, vol. 16, no. 5, pp. 703–718.

Calleja, G 2010, ‘Digital games and escapism’, Games and Culture, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 335–353.

Cremin, C 2015, Exploring videogames with Deleuze and Guattari, Routledge, London.

Reyes, I & Adams, S 2010, ‘Screening Play: Rules, Wares, and Representations in “Realistic” Video Games’, Eludamos, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 149-166. Available from: <https://www.eludamos.org/index.php/eludamos/article/view/vol4no2-3/174>.

Schubert, D 2013, ‘Do we always have to strive for “realism”? (Reprint)’, Gamasutra, accessed from <https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/196663/Do_we_always_have_to_strive_for_realism.php>.

Young, H 2014, ‘Race in online fantasy fandom: Whiteness on Westeros.org’, Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, vol. 28, no. 5, pp. 737–747.

Gaming Historian 2016, ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie – Gaming Historian’, YouTube, accessed from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve26GpPDTgY>

Credits:
Artwork created by Amber Collins.
Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music.

Welcome back to Meaningful Play! Our second season begins with a discussion on empathy in video games. We reflect on how we understand empathy and feeling in games, and consider some of the ways that researchers and philosophers encourage us to think about these issues. We find that in many cases empathy is linked to immersion and identification (but it certainly remains a separate issue). Next, we discuss numerous games in which we experienced some kind of empathy, such as NieR: Automata, The Wolf Among Us, Dark Souls, and The Last of Us. We also consider some games where we did not emotionally respond, such as Final Fantasy XV and Fallout: New Vegas. Many game designers want to elicit an emotional response from their players, and empathy can be highly effective, but players experiences will vary and it’s not always easy to get it right.

Games:
Bloodborne, Control, Dark Souls, Detroit: Become Human, Fallout: New Vegas, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy XV, Inside, Mass Effect 3,Murdered: Soul Suspect, NieR: Automata, Okami, Red Dead Redemption II, Silent Hill 2, Spec Ops: The Line, The Last of Us, The Last of Us 2, The Wolf Among Us

In the tenth and final episode of the first season of Meaningful Play, we discuss the incredibly popular open world genre in video games. Specifically, we discuss key questions and issues pertaining to the open world genre, such as what constitutes the open world genre, how the genre is generally defined in terms of constructive elements, what games historically contributed to the development of the genre, and what our favourite open-world games are.

Games:
Ghostwire: Tokyo, Cyberpunk 2077, The Outer Worlds, Watchdogs: Legion, Gods & Monsters, Elden Ring, The Hobbit, The Portopia Serial Murder Case, Shenmue (series), Yazuka (series), Grand Theft Auto (series), World of Warcraft, Legend of Zelda (series), Super Mario 64, Red Dead Redemption, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Assassin’s Creed (series), Assassin’s Creed: Origins, Fallout (series), Far Cry (series), Horizon Zero Dawn, Elder Scrolls (series), Minecraft.   

References:

Giant Bomb 2019, ‘Open World’, Giant Bomb Wiki. Available from: <https://www.giantbomb.com/open-world/3015-207/>.

Graft, K 2016, ‘In open world game design, curiosity is key, says Bethesda’s Todd Howard’, Gamasutra, 17 March. Available from: <https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/268274/In_open_world_game_design_curiosity_is_key_says_Bethesdas_Todd_Howard.php>.

Jaekle, B 2018, ‘The Four Basics of Open World Storytelling’, Gamasutra, 4 January. Available from: <https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/BenjaminJaekle/20180401/315969/The_Four_Basics_of_Open_World_Storytelling.php>.

Moby Games n.d., Sandbox / Open World. Available from: <https://www.mobygames.com/genre/sheet/sandbox/>.

Credits: 
Artwork created by Amber Collins.
Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music

In the ninth episode of Meaningful Play, we discuss horror as a video game genre. Specifically, we ask questions such as what elements we believe constitute horror, how current academic literature conceives of horror as a genre in games (with reference to scholarly research focusing on body genre), and how horror games will develop in the future. We also discuss what our favourite horror games are, as well as games we enjoy that incorporate ‘horror’ elements.

Games:
Final Fantasy VII, God of War, Warlock: Master of the Arcane, Persona 5, Fatal Frame, Layers of Fear, Siren (series), Silent Hill (series), Amnesia (series), Outlast (series), Bioshock (series), Resident Evil (series), Until Dawn, Doki Doki Literature Club, Bloodborne, Control, The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, Pony Island, Oxenfree, Prey, Red Dead Redemption, Simulacra, Alien Isolation.

References:

Habel, C & Kooyman, B 2014, ‘Agency mechanics: gameplay design in survival horror video games’, Digital Creativity, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 1–14.

Krzywinska, T 2002, ‘Hands-On Horror’, Spectator, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 12–23.

Perron, B 2009, ‘The Survival Horror: The Extended Body Genre’, in, Horror Video Games: Essays on the Fusion of Fear and Play, McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers, pp. 121-144.

Roose III, R 2009, ‘Match Made in Hell: The Inevitable Success of the Horror Genre in Video Games’, in B. Perron (eds), Horror Video Games: Essays on the Fusion of Fear and Play, McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers, Jefferson, North Carolina, pp. 15-25.

Williams, L 2009, ‘Film Bodies: Gender, Genre, and Excess’, in L Braudy & M Cohen (eds), Film Theory & Criticism, Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford, pp. 602–616.

Credits: 
Artwork created by Amber Collins.
Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music

In the eighth episode of Meaningful Play, we reflect on our favourite kinds of games, and quickly realise that genre is quite complex in game studies. We discuss what genres are comprised of, how they are established, and how they change. In particular, we consider the role that genre has in games compared to film, noting that it communicates theme and mechanics, and so game genres are often difficult to pin down. We share games that stood out because of their ability to cross genre boundaries, such as Portal and Doki Doki Literature Club. Finally, we consider the usefulness of genre – while games are constantly crossing boundaries, genre is important in marketing, and can help players understand their own preferences. Genre is also quite important for certain players who want to experience certain kinds of play.

Games:

Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, Assassin’s Creed: Origins, Beyond: Two Souls, Bioshock, Children of the Nile: Alexandria, Detroit: Beyond Human, Doki Doki Literature Club, Dragon Age: Origins, Elder Scrolls, Grand Theft Auto, Heavy Rain, Life is Strange, Mini Ninjas, Portal, Shadow of Mordor, Super Mario Bros, Watchdogs (series).

References:

Buchanan, I 2010, Oxford dictionary of critical theory, Oxford University Press, New York.

Chandler, D & Munday, R 2016, A dictionary of media and communication 2nd edn., Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Clarke, RI, Lee, JH & Clark, N 2017, ‘Why video game genres fail: A classificatory analysis’, Games and Culture, vol. 12, no. 5, pp. 445-465.

Costikyan, G 2005, ‘Game styles, innovation, and new audiences: An historical view’, in DiGRA 2005: Changing views – worlds in play, Vancouver, pp. 1–5, accessed October 13, 2016, from <http://www.digra.org/wp-content/uploads/digital-library/06278.11155.pdf&gt;.

Doherty, SM, Keebler, JR, Davidson, SS, Palmer, EM & Frederick, CM 2018, ‘Recategorization of video game genres’, Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting.

Faisal, A & Peltoniemi, M 2015, ‘Establishing video game genres using data-driven modeling and product databases’, Games and Culture, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 20–43.

Pinchbeck, D 2013, DOOM: SCARYDARKFAST, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.

In the seventh episode of Meaningful Play, we discuss sex and romance in games once again! In this much anticipated part two, we talk about sex with greater consideration, asking how sex, as well as the distinction between sex and romance, is discussed within the relevant academic literature. Moreover, we discuss depictions of sex and romance in games that we believe are excellent, and those we believe are disappointing, in terms of their reflection of sex/romance in contemporary culture and society. We conclude by discussing what we would like to see from representations of sex and romance in videogames in future releases.

Games: 

Detroit: Become Human, The Last Door, The Sims (series), Custer’s Revenge, Super Mario (series), Doki Doki Literature Club, Dragon Age (series), Red Dead Redemption II, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, VR Chat, Tomb Raider (series), Remember Me.

References: 

Consalvo, M 2003, ‘Hot Dates and Fairy-Tale Romances: Studying Sexuality in Video Games, in, M. J.P. Wolf & B. Perron (eds), The Video Game Theory Reader, pp. 171-194. Routledge, New York, New York.

Krzywinska, T 2015, ‘The strange case of the misappearance of sex in videogames’, in, M. Wysocki & E. W. Lauteria (eds), Rated M For Mature: Sex and Sexuality in Video Games, pp. 105-118. Bloomsbury Academic, New York, New York.

In the sixth episode of Meaningful Play, we discuss sex and romance in video games. We discuss our experiences of romance in video games, and the difficulties in portraying a believable romantic experience. One interesting aspect of this is procedural rhetoric, which Ware (2015) touches on in his discussion of how video games can encourage ‘Nice Guy Syndrome’. We also briefly outline the history of controversial sex in video games, including Custer’s Revenge, and the proliferation of visual novels.

Games:
Bayonetta, Custer’s Revenge, Dead or Alive, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Duke Nukem Forever, Far Cry 3, Fatal Frame, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Heavy Rain, Night in the Woods, Overwatch, Persona 5, Resident Evil, Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

References:

Bogost, I 2007, Persuasive games: The expressive power of videogames, MIT Press, Cambridge.

Payne, MT, Alilunas, P 2016, ‘Regulating the desire machine: Custer’s Revenge and 8-Bit Atari porn video games’, Television & New Media, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 80-96.

Taylor, E 2007, ‘Dating-simulation games: Leisure and gaming of Japanese youth culture’, Review of Asian Studies, vol. 29, pp. 192–208.

Ware, N 2015, ‘Iterative romance and button-mashing sex: Gameplay design and video games’ Nice Guy Syndrome’, in M Wysocki & EW Lauteria (eds), Rated M for Mature: Sex and sexuality in video games, Bloomsbury, New York & London, pp. 225–239.

Visual Novel Database: https://vndb.org/

Credits: 
Artwork created by Amber Collins.
Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music

In the fifth episode of Meaningful Play, we discuss Ann Takamaki from Persona 5 (2017), a character we feel is hypersexualized and objectified, and in conjunction with both audio-visual elements and mechanics, highly contradictory in her depiction. As is well documented in games studies, female representation in video games has been highly controversial, with female characters having a long history of being constructed as sexualized, passive, and Lynch et al. (2016) note, secondary. We discuss Ann in relation to player identification, cultural relativism, and media effects. We ask whether we can identify or relate with Ann, how the world of Persona 5 impacts the framing of Ann’s character, and what other female characters in games we have potentially struggled to identify with.

Games:
Final Fantasy X, NieR: Automata, Persona 5, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, The Last Door, Tomb Raider (series)

References:

Behm-Morawitz, E & Mastro, D 2009, ‘The effects of the sexualization of female video game characters on gender stereotyping and female self-concept’, Sex Roles, vol. 61, no. 11/12, pp. 808–823.

Lynch, T, Tompkins, JE, van Driel, II & Fritz, N 2016, ‘Sexy, strong, and secondary: A content analysis of female characters in video games across 31 years’, Journal of Communication, vol. 66, no. 4, pp. 564–584.

Summers, A & Miller, M 2014, ‘From damsels in distress to sexy superheroes: How the portrayal of sexism in video game magazines has changed in the last twenty years’, Feminist Media Studies, vol. 14, no. 6, pp. 1028–1040.

Credits: 
Artwork created by Amber Collins.
Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music

Welcome to the fourth episode of Meaningful Play. In this episode, we discuss why there are so many franchises in the games market, as well as the industry’s struggle to balance innovation and familiarity. We also consider the role that nostalgia plays in game production and consumption, as well as discuss what our favourite franchises* are, and how do their developers keep things fresh and interesting in the face of repetition? Why do we believe remakes have a lot of value? Finally, we also contemplate what new features would we like to see in remakes of our most cherished games.

* The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s ‘divine beasts’ are
incorrectly stated as ‘guardians’ in this episode. Apologies!

Games:
Anthem, Assassin’s Creed (series), Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, Final Fantasy (series). Final Fantasy X, Spyro (series), Spyro Reignited, The Legend of Dragoon, The Legend of Zelda (series), The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Yooka-Laylee.

References:

Tschang, FT 2007, ‘Balancing the tensions between rationalization and creativity in the video games industry’, Organization Science, vol. 18, no. 6, pp. 989-1005.

Wulf, T, Bowman, ND, Rieger, D, Velez, JA & Breuer, J 2018, ‘Video games as time machines: Video game nostalgia and the success of retro gaming’, Media and Communication, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 60-68.

Credits: 
Artwork created by Amber Collins.
Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music

Welcome to the third episode of Meaningful Play. In this episode we discuss what kinds of avatars we design or choose in games, and what kinds of patterns we notice in this behaviour. We also discuss the ever-controversial concept of immersion – do you feel ‘immersed’ in certain games? How do you view yourself in relation to the avatar? What impact does this have on the way you play?

Games:
Assassin’s Creed: Origins, Bioshock, Bloodborne, Dark Souls (series), Dead by Daylight, Divinity: Original Sin II, Fallout 4, Gone Home, Heavy Rain, Infra, Katamari Damacy, Life is Strange, Mario Kart, Muppet RaceMania, NieR: Automata, Okami, Overwatch, Persona 5, Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver, Pokemon Sun/Moon, Pokemon Sword/Shield, Red Dead Redemption, Resident Evil (remake), The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, The Witcher 3.

References:

Banks, J 2015, ‘Object, me, symbiote, other: A social typology of player-avatar relationships’, First Monday, vol. 20, no. 2, accessed November 22, 2017, from <http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/5433/4208>.

Mancini, T & Sibilla, F 2017, ‘Offline personality and avatar customisation. Discrepancy profiles and avatar identification in a sample of MMORPG players’, Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 69, pp. 275–283.

Paik, PC & Shi, C-K 2013, ‘Playful gender swapping: User attitudes toward gender in MMORPG avatar customisation’, Digital Creativity, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 310–326.

Shaw, A 2013, ‘Rethinking Game Studies: A case study approach to video game play and identification’, Critical Studies in Media Communication, vol. 30, no. 5, pp. 347–361.

Shaw, A 2015, Gaming at the edge: Sexuality and gender at the margins of gamer culture, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.

Stabile, C 2014, ‘“I will own you”: Accountability in massively multiplayer online games’, Television & New Media, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 43–57.

Credits:
Artwork created by Amber Collins
Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music

Welcome to the second episode of Meaningful Play. In this episode, we discuss our enjoyment (and frustrations!) in playing video games cooperatively. How does local coop compare to online play, and is passing the controller around enough? How do you deal with disagreements when playing with others? How is the video game industry currently approaching co-op titles (if at all)? Find out above!

Articles:

Ewoldson, DR, Eno, CA, Okdie, BM, Velez, JA, Guadagno, RE, & DeCoster, J 2012, ‘Effect of playing violent video games cooperatively or competitively on subsequent cooperative behavior’, Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, vol. 15, no. 5, pp. 277-280.

Loomis, M 2015, ‘The rise of online multiplayer games and the collapse of couch co-op’, Game Rant. Available from: <https://gamerant.com/rise-of-online-multiplayer-games-couch-coop/> [28 February 2019].

New York Film Academy 2015, ‘The decline of couch co-op’. Available from: https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/the-decline-of-couch-co-op/ [28 February 2019].

Credits:
Artwork created by Amber Collins.
Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music.

Welcome to the very first episode of Meaningful Play. In this episode we briefly introduce ourselves before having a chat about our difficulties in finishing games. What constitutes finishing a game? And what factors impact whether we finish a game?

Articles:

Bailey, EN & Miyata, K 2017, ‘Analyzing video game completion achievements: Implications for game project scope’ in N Munekata, I Kunita, & J Hoshino (eds), Entertainment computing – ICEC 2017, vol. 10507, Springer, Cham. 

Sifa, R, Bauckhage, C & Drachen, A 2014, ‘The playtime principle: Large-scale cross-games interest modeling’, Proceedings of the 2014 IEEE conference on computational intelligence and games, Dortmund. 

Sotamaa, O 2009, ‘Achievement unlocked: Rethinking game capital’, Proceedings of the future and reality of gaming conference, Vienna. Available from: < https://www.slideshare.net/ollisotamaa/sotamaa-achievement-unlocked-270909-final&gt; [22 February 2019]. 

Credits:
Artwork created by Amber Collins 
Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music