arts

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

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 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

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

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

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.”

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

Corporate Vandals

“Inspired by observing the ongoing battle between corporations & street culture, Corporate Vandals pits corporate vandals and the city against indies and their activist allies. Corporate Vandals is a fast paced sticker turf warfare game using physical stickers on boards to spread your brand across the city of East Fulton (aka Beatdown City).” About Corporate Vandals, IndieCade