Bonnie Ruberg. 2018. Queerness and Video Games: Queer Game Studies and New Perspectives through Play

Bonnie Ruberg; Queerness and Video Games: Queer Game Studies and New Perspectives through Play. GLQ 1 October 2018; 24 (4): 543–555. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/10642684-6957940

Pages:13
Peer Reviewed: Yes
Annotation Word Count: 382

Ruberg believes that because of video game’s huge social influence on most of the planet, it is important for queer studies to research and analyze how video games handle queer content. Ruberg believes that play is the most important tool video games can use to explore LGBTQ content. Having players experience LGBTQ content through play allows the player to gain a greater grasp of the experiences someone for the LGBTQ community may go through. Whether those experiences are negative or positive are up to the developers. The purpose of Ruberg’s paper is to explore the importance of queer studies to investigate how video games have and may be able to help the player experience what it is like to be apart of the LGBTQ community.

Ruberg recounts the history of queer studies in games, starting with how it got its foundation in the gender studies that occurred in video games in the 90s. Ruberg also credits the indie game revolution with increasing the amount of video games with positive LGBTQ content. Ruberg specifically mentions Twine, a website that allowed computer scientists to produce video games. Ruberg also mentions GaymerX, Conn’s video game convention that connects the LGBTQ community with the gaming community. Ruberg does state that video game queer studies covers a wide array of disciplines and that makes it hard to set a framework for how LGBTQ content is studied. Ruberg is also a strong advocate for video games that implement game play mechanics that revolve around exploring LGBTQ content. Ruberg analyzes the current trends in video game studies including identifying LGBTQ characters, arguing for a fundamental connection between video games and queerness, reflecting on the connection between queerness and the game design process, analyzing games through queer theory with an emphasis on queer failure or queer affect, and studying the issues of community, culture, and history that surround queerness and video games.

This article’s purpose as a starting point for understanding queer studies in video games is extremely effective. The connection to both Conn’s studies and his convention, along with Shaw and Friesem’s work creating a database for LGBTQ content in video games. Ruberg gives specific examples of what different fields are being explored in video game queer studies such as exploring the connection between the game design process and queerness.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Przybylski, A., & Weinstein, N. (2019). Violent video game engagement is not associated with adolescents' aggressive behaviour: evidence from a registered report

Andrew Przybylski and Netta Weinsteins’ study shows that violent video games have a null effect on aggressive behavior in adolescents. The study was done in 2019 and was authorized by University of Oxford. Although Przyblski and Weinstein initially predicted that adolescents who played violent video games would be more aggressive. The data collected from the psychological form used showed that aggression increases were null. “Despite the null findings identified in the present study, history gives us reason to suspect the idea that violent video games drives aggressive behaviour will remain an unsettled question for parents, pundits and policy-makers. Although our results do have implications for these stakeholders, the present work holds special significance for those studying technology effects, in general, and video games, in particular.” (Conclusion). This study used 1000 adolescents (500 male and 500 female) as the study group. This group would then play video games that ei...
Read more

Qian and Clark. 2016. Game-based Learning and 21st century skills: A review of recent research

Qian, M., & Clark, K. R. (2016). Game-based learning and 21st century skills: A review of recent research. Computers in Human Behavior, 63, 50-58. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2016.05.023 The purpose of this paper was to conduct a literature review of the current research of 21 studies that were focused around game-based learning and 21st century skills as the outcome. “The findings suggest that a game-based learning approach might be effective in facilitating students’ 21st century skill development.” (p. 50). This paper also has some recommendations about what future researchers, teachers, and game designers should to about implementation of games as well as educational game design. Or rather that Game-Based Learning (GBL) is dependent on game design. Specifically, game designs which feature a blending of established learning theories with game design elements proven successful in the entertainment game industry are most likely to lead to effective learning. With regard to game genres, ...
Read more

Mouaheb, Fahli, Moussetad, & Eljamali (2012) The serious game: What educational benefits?

The purpose of this article is to discuss the importance of the serious game in learning. This article analyzed the game Virtual University in order to find the uses of the serious game. It was discussed that this type of game can be used by a variety of ages for various purposes. These uses are teaching tools, entertainment, and a technology of information and communication. After listing the uses of this type of game it was shown how these uses show up in Virtual University. It was discussed after this analysis that the serious game has educational values which have been based on learning concepts that were advocated for in several theories. In having these educational values it was stated that this type of game allows for intrinsic motivation, generates cognitive conflicts and provides situated learning. All of these things were shown in Virtual University. This article relates to Assessing Higher Order Thinking in Video Games because these both analyze the educational benefits of g...
Read more