2023
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BINARIES ON A CIRCLE: ENGAGING WHITENESS ON THE PLAYGROUND
by Shagun Singha First published January 2022 Download full article PDF here. Abstract As scholars continue to colonize and de/colonize whiteness (Bhattacharya, 2019; 2020) within game studies, often tethering our efforts to tracing the binary of colonizer/colonized, we end up with our own disparate set of binaries. Thus, we begin to engage in the very… Continue reading
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THE FIGHT IS THE DANCE: MODDING CHINESE MARTIAL ARTS AND CULTURE INTO BEAT SABER
by Yunyu Ong, Rhett D. Loban, and Rauno K. Parrila First published January 2022 Download full article PDF here. Abstract The article explores the design process of a Beat Saber mod called Good Bag. In the Good Bag mod level, players perform saber-sword Wushu martial art moves to the rhythm of contemporary Wuxia-influenced (Chinese martial… Continue reading
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THE MAN WITH THE GUN IS A BOY WHO PLAYS GAMES: VIDEO GAMES, WHITE INNOCENCE, AND MASS SHOOTINGS IN THE U.S.
by Carly A. Kocurek First published January 2022 Download full article PDF here. Abstract In the aftermath of the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, survivors, parents, police investigators, journalists, lawyers, and other members of the public looked for explanations for what seemed a senseless eruption of horror. In the narratives that emerged, the two… Continue reading
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HIGHWAY TO THE GOLDEN ZONE(FIRE): PC BANGS AND TECHNO-ORIENTALISM IN THE STARTCRAFT II VISUAL NOVEL
by Matthew Jungsuk Howard First published January 2022 Download full article PDF here. Abstract The StarCraft II Visual Novel (2015; SC2VN) is a fish-out-of-water story following a white, nominally North American or European, StarCraft II (2010; SC2) player who goes to South Korea to try and make it as a professional gamer in the world’s… Continue reading
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BLACK DEPRIVATION IN NAUGHTY DOG’S THE LAST OF US REMASTERED AND THE LAST OF US PART II
by Melvin G. Hill First published January 2022. Download full article PDF here. Abstract In recent years, several content creators and game developers have attempted to engage the complexities of re-articulating, re-creating, and re-narrating black subjectivity being-in-the-digital-world as a way of proactively creating more diverse and authentic representations. Though these developers’ earnest efforts are appreciated… Continue reading
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THEORIZING WHITENESS AS A PROCEDURALIZED IDEOLOGY IN VIDEOGAMES
by Earl R. Aguilera First published January 2022 Download full article PDF here. Abstract Over the course of the past two decades, a growing number of scholars have mapped the ways that ideologies of whiteness have pervaded videogames and other kinds of digital interactive media. Oftentimes, the most discussed examples of whiteness-in-gaming involve the features… Continue reading
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THE EVOLUTION OF POKÉMON GO: A SURVEY OF FINNISH PLAYER EXPERIENCES
by Kati Alha, Elina Koskinen, Dale Leorke, & Elisa Wiik First published April 2023. Download full article PDF here. Abstract In this article we unpack responses (n = 1,741) by Finnish Pokémon GO players to an open-ended survey question “how has your experience of the game changed throughout the time you’ve played it?” The survey,… Continue reading
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THE KID IN THE FRIDGE: SACRIFICIAL CHILDREN AND VENGEFUL MASCULINITY IN CONTEMPORARY VIDEOGAMES
by Emma Reay First published March 2023. Download full article PDF here. Abstract A recent content analysis of child characters in contemporary videogames found that over a third of the digital kids recorded in the dataset were murder victims – their lives cut short by drownings, shootings, stabbings, hangings, intentional traffic collisions, cannibalism, murderous religious… Continue reading
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Labour and Love: Play-Centrism and Procedurality in Spiritfarer
by Eoghain Meakin, Brian Vaughan, & Charlie Cullen First published March 2023 Download full article PDF here. Abstract Extrapolating from the pioneering work of Ian Bogost (2007) and Miguel Sicart (2011), this essay aims to re-explore the perspectives of procedurality and play-centrism, interrogate their relationship, and show how potential player subjectivities can emerge from that… Continue reading
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“I NEVER ASKED FOR IT, BUT I GOT IT AND NOW I FEEL THAT MY KNOWLEDGE ABOUT HISTORY IS EVEN GREATER!”: PLAY, ENCOUNTER AND RESEARCH IN EUROPA UNIVERSALIS IV
by Rhett Loban First published January 2022 Download full article PDF here. Abstract This article discusses interlinked findings that stem from the complex and dynamic ways that Grand Strategy video games, especially Europa Universalis IV (EUIV), represents history and how players engage with history outside the game. To discuss these points, the article draws upon… Continue reading
The Journal of Games Criticism is a non-profit, peer-reviewed game studies journal that strives to connect the conversations between traditional academics and popular game critics. The journal strives to be a producer of feed-forward approaches to video games criticism with a focus on influencing gamer culture, the design and writing of video games, and the social understanding video games and video game criticism.
ISSN: 2374-202X
Recent Articles
- A Contemporary Take on Victorian Lunacy: Representations of the Asylum in the Neo-Victorian Video Game Alice: Madness Returns
- Investigating Development Crunch in Games and its Impact on Creative Expression
- Character Affectivity in Newton and the Apple Tree
- Colonized Morality Mechanics: The Struggle to Be Good in Telltale’s The Walking Dead
- Videogame Distribution and Steam’s Imperialist Practices: Platform Coloniality in Game Distribution
Journal of Games Criticism 