I don’t play Bethesda RPGs. Not because they aren’t good; in fact my second-hand opinion is that they’re very good. I’ve developed this opinion after a lot of critics and writers I respect have engaged with Bethesda RPGs in very intelligent ways. To see what I mean take a look at Michael Clarkson’s critical compilation … Continue reading Nuking the Family in Fallout 4
[This piece was written as a part of Critical Distance‘s February 2015 Blogs of the Round Table feature] One way of looking at storytelling as a historical practise is as a simulated socialization. Anthropologically, storytelling is a way to facilitate prosocial behaviour and ideation. The point being that stories are imagined social extremes where the … Continue reading Friends that Play Together
The duo at Abnormal Mapping, Jackson Tyler and Matthew Marko, recently posted a podcast with guest, Lana Polansky (“Lana From the Block.” Jan 30 2015.). It’s a good long conversation and I encourage you to listen to the whole thing. About an hour into the cast, they turn briefly to the ways games (specifically what they call … Continue reading Politics, Bodies and Videogames
2014’s final Moving Pixels podcast at PopMatters covers the ever-divisive Spec-Ops: the Line (Williams, G. Christopher, Nick Dinicola, Eric Swain. “The Moving Pixels Podcast Steps Over ‘The Line’.” PopMatters. Dec 8 2014.). It was a good discussion and it inspired me to review a some of the writing about the game which, in turn, inspired … Continue reading The Great Expectations of Spec-Ops: The Line
[This piece was written as a part of Critical Distance‘s November 2014 Blogs of the Round Table feature] I’ve been considering how space makes meaning in games. I’ve been considering this not only in response to my past writings, but also to some amazing responses from some of my favourite games writers. Earlier this year … Continue reading Thoughts on Representations of Space
The Magus by John Fowles follows an entitled, selfish English graduate as he escapes his failed ambitions and relationships to a Greek island. There he meets Maurice Conchis, a billionaire intellectual who may be (but probably isn’t) connected to a supernatural force. The novel, set just after the Second World War, explores post-war masculine anxiety, … Continue reading Life at the Grindstone: the small significance of grinding
Quite a bit of early (or at least earlier) videogame criticism strove to prove videogame exceptionalism. Videogames had a gift, and it was called interactivity. And while the concept of interactivity eventually proved more suffocating than liberating, for a time it felt like videogames actually were unique and by playing them players actually were using … Continue reading The Narration and Abstraction of the Camera in Games
