ENG 225 Rhetoric and Gaming

Adrienne Staw and Elizaveta Friesem 2016. explores the ways in which LGBTQ+ identities are portrayed and shown in video game media. Shaw & Friesem collected data from 300 hundred games with over 500 examples of queer characters or plot lines and placed them into nine categories. These games have been made over the last thirty years. The categories are characters which also has character gender as a part of this section. Relationships/romance/sex this section includes stereotypes that code a character as LGBTQ+. Actions are any actions that let you challenge hetro-normative actions. Locations these are just queer coded locations such as a gay nightclub or other location. Mentions are subtle hints that these issues exist in the world but are not the primary focus. This section is combined with the artifacts and traits. Queer games/narratives focus on queer narratives and the experiences of queer people. The final section focuses on homophobia/transphobia. This is a categorization m...

Conn, M. (2015). Gaming’s Untapped Queer Potential as Art.  QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking,   2 (2), 1-5. doi:10.14321/qed.2.2.0001 Matt Conn argues that before games can be seen as an art form, developers and players have to be open to the idea of allowing games that discuss gender and sexuality .  Conn describes he came to this conclusion by drawing from past experiences. Being the founder of GaymerX, an LGBTQ event revolving around gaming, Conn was able to hear about so many different stories revolving around games and gender/ sexuality . Conn argues that the prices of developing video games forces developers to play it safe in terms of storytelling and appealing to the masses. Conn has founded a studio that will focus on LGBTQ-centric games to hopefully show that they can be successful. Conn believes this success will allow for developers to open up to the idea of LGBTQ-centic games. Conn credits games like LIM, Portal, and Dys4ia for showcasing a positive ...

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...

Pulos, A. (2013). Confronting Heteronormativity in Online Games: A Critical Discourse Analysis of LGBTQ Sexuality in World of Warcraft. Games and Culture, 8(2), 77–97. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412013478688 Pages: 21 Peer Reviewed: Yes Annotation Word Count: 329 Pulos analyzed how the World of Warcraft (WoW) community talks about and interacts with people who are a part of the LGBTQ community. Pulos argues that WoW’s community is based on a system that Blizzard created that does not support LGBTQ friendly content. Pulos found that Blizzard actively investigated their forums for content relating to anything LGBTQ and taking it down because it “violated their terms of service.” Pulos analyzed 400 messages on the Blizzard forums that focused on “LGBTQ players and the Wow community.” Pulos also drew upon her own experience from playing WoW. Pulos spoke with Sara Andrews, who started an LGBTQ friendly guild. Andrews had her post/guild taken down and was told by Blizzard that...