archaeology

Archaeogaming

“Video games exemplify contemporary material objects, resources, and spaces that people use to define their culture. Video games also serve as archaeological sites in the traditional sense as a place, in which evidence of past activity is preserved and has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology, and which represents a part of the archaeological record. This book serves as a general introduction to “archaeogaming”; it describes the intersection of archaeology and video games and applies archaeological method and theory into understanding game-spaces as both site and artifact.” – Publisher

game design political science social justice theatre and performance

Videogames of the Oppressed

“Is it possible to design videogames that deal with social and political issues? Could videogames be used as a tool for encouraging critical thinking? Do videogames offer an alternative way of understanding and dealing with reality? While videogames are now about three decades old, these questions remain unanswered.” – Gonzalo Frasca, “Videogames of the Oppressed”

game studies

The End of Gamers

” Gamer identity was simply not fluid enough to apply to a broad spectrum of people. It could not meaningfully contain, for example, Candy Crush players, Proteusplayers, and Call of Duty players simultaneously. When videogames changed, the gamer identity did not stretch, and so it has been broken.” – Dan Golding, “The End of Gamers.”

economics

Game Workers Unite

“Game Workers Unite is a broad-reaching organization that seeks to connect pro-union activists, exploited workers, and allies across borders and across ideologies in the name of building a unionized game industry. We are building pro-union solidarity across disciplines, classes, and countries.” – About Us, Game Workers Unite

economics game Political Game political science Socio-economic Game

Class Struggle

“Class Struggle” reflects the real struggle between the classes in our society. The object of the game is to win the revolution…ultimately. Until then, classes—represented by different players—advance around the board, making and breaking alliances, and picking up strengths and weaknesses that determine the outcome of the elections and general strikes which occur along the way.” – Game Description

women's studies

Sex Workers and Video Games

“Although countless studies have researched violence in video games and the sexualization of women in video games, there has yet to be academic research on sex workers and video games – a topic that sits at a unique intersection of those two prevalent themes.” – Kaeleigh Evans and Emma Traver, First Person Scholar

psychology women's studies

The Gamer’s Gaze

“With very few exceptions, a film director or a game designer doesn’t set out actively thinking, “I am going to make this to appeal directly to straight white men and everyone else can get bent.” Rather, the likelihood is high that the creator himself is a straight white male, and so comes to production with unconscious biases in place…And even if the creator in question is not all three (straight, white, male), the media landscape has been dominated by those elements for such a long time that this perspective is the default, and its point of view may not be challenged. Thus: the male gaze.”

english

Speaking in Accents & the American Ethnocentrism in Video Games

“Voice acting has become a staple in gaming that helps flesh out characters and setting…The cultural politics that voice acting implies, however, often escape analysis. The default English accent is General American and deviations from this tap into a subtext that assumes an American player. How accents communicate information to the player exposes the subliminal effects of American ethnocentrism.” Mattie Brice, Pop Matters

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