Queerness in Play

Description

Queerness in Play examines the many ways queerness of all kinds—from queer as ‘LGBT’ to other, less well-covered aspects of the queer spectrum—intersects with games and the social contexts of play. The current unprecedented visibility of queer creators and content comes at a high tide of resistance to the inclusion of those outside a long-imagined cisgender, heterosexual, white male norm. By critically engaging the ways games—as a culture, an industry, and a medium—help reproduce limiting binary formations of gender and sexuality, Queerness in Play contributes to the growing body of scholarship promoting more inclusive understandings of identity, sexuality, and games. Front Matter ....Pages i-xvii Queer Game Studies: Young But Not New (Todd Harper, Nicholas Taylor, Meghan Blythe Adams)....Pages 1-13 Front Matter ....Pages 15-15 Queer(ing) Game Studies: Reviewing Research on Digital Play and Non-normativity (Sarah Evans)....Pages 17-33 Envisioning Queer Game Studies: Ludology and the Study of Queer Game Content (Evan W. Lauteria)....Pages 35-53 Front Matter ....Pages 55-55 The Representation (or the Lack of It) of Same-Sex Relationships in Digital Games (Yowei Kang, Kenneth C. C. Yang)....Pages 57-79 Affliction or Affection: The Inclusion of a Same-Sex Relationship in The Last of Us (Daniel Sipocz)....Pages 81-96 What If Zelda Wasn’t a Girl? Problematizing Ocarina of Time’s Great Gender Debate (Chris Lawrence)....Pages 97-113 Maidens and Muscleheads, White Mages and Wimps, from the Light Warriors to Lightning Returns (Mark Filipowich)....Pages 115-129 The Big Reveal: Exploring (Trans)Femininity in Metroid (Evelyn Deshane, R. Travis Morton)....Pages 131-146 Bye, Bye, Birdo: Heroic Androgyny and Villainous Gender-Variance in Video Games (Meghan Blythe Adams)....Pages 147-163 Front Matter ....Pages 165-165 Cues for Queer Play: Carving a Possibility Space for LGBTQ Role-Play (Tanja Sihvonen, Jaakko Stenros)....Pages 167-184 “Sexified” Male Characters: Video Game Erotic Modding for Pleasure and Power (Nathan Thompson)....Pages 185-201 Let’s Come Out! On Gender and Sexuality, Encouraging Dialogue, and Acceptance (Maresa Bertolo, Ilaria Mariani, Clara Gargano)....Pages 203-221 Front Matter ....Pages 223-223 Outside the Lanes: Supporting a Non-normative League of Legends Community (Nicholas Taylor, Randall Hammond)....Pages 225-242 The Abject Scapegoat: Boundary Erosion and Maintenance in League of Legends (Elyse Janish)....Pages 243-260 Out on Proudmoore: Climate Issues on an MMO (Carol A. Stabile, Laura Strait)....Pages 261-272 Back Matter ....Pages 273-279