2023
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR: “CYBORGS AND ACADEMIA”
by Johannes Köller First published June 2014. Full letter PDF here. To the Editor: Let me start off by congratulating you on the first issue of your new journal. The launch of a new academic publication is rarely accompanied by much fanfare, so the fact that you have already started discussions in the wider game-dissecting public, or… Continue reading
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WHY FAILING IN GAMES IS A POSITIVE ASPECT OF PLAY: A REVIEW OF JESPER JUUL’S THE ART OF FAILURE
by Pascaline Lorentz First published June 2014. Full article PDF here. Jesper Juul. The Art of Failure: An Essay on the Pain of Playing Video Games. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2013, 157 pp., ISBN NO.9780262019057. Jesper Juul is a well-known and established game scholar recognized as one of the pioneers in game studies. His doctoral dissertation, which was… Continue reading
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DO YOU FEEL LIKE A HERO YET? EXTERNALISED MORALITY IN VIDEO GAMES
by Michael James Heron & Pauline Helen Belford First published June 2014. Download full article PDF here. Abstract Video games have a long tradition of including elements of moral decision making within their ludic and narrative structures. While the success of these endeavours has been mixed, the systems used to express moral choices within a game have grown… Continue reading
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BEYOND IDENTIFICATION: DEFINING THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PLAYER AND AVATAR
by Luca Papale First published June 2014. Download full pdf here. Abstract When discussing what happens when a player acts into the game world by using an avatar, many people may refer to the feeling he or she experiences as “identification”. But while identification may indeed occur during play, it’s far from being the one and… Continue reading
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THE BRECHTIAN, ABSURDIST, AND POOR VIDEO GAME: ALTERNATIVE THEATRICAL MODELS OF SOFTWARE-BASED EXPERIENCE
by Chaz Evans Published June 2014 Download full article PDF here. Abstract Springing from an interview with video game critic Morgan Webb, this essay proposes a set of avant-garde models for video game illusions prioritizing artistic goals that do not necessarily function in terms of the market. These models are derived from the history of 20th… Continue reading
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GAMING FOR BETTER LIFE: A REVIEW OF JANE MCGONIGAL’S REALITY IS BROKEN
by Qihao Ji Published January 2014. Download full PDF here. Jane McGonigal. Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. New York: Penguin Books, 2011, 416 pp., ISBN NO.9781594202858. Jane McGonigal, a digital game designer who earned her Ph.D. in performance from the University of California, Berkeley, Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies, has… Continue reading
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VISUALIZING GAME STUDIES: MATERIALITY AND SOCIALITY FROM CHESSBOARD TO CIRCUIT BOARD
by Aaron Trammell & Aram Sinnreich First published January 2014. Download full article PDF here. Abstract This article presents an alternate narrative of the way that game studies has been framed as a field of research. In order to challenge a definition of the field that is at times too insular, it is important to visualize the field’s… Continue reading
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ACROSS WORLDS AND BODIES: CRITICISM IN THE AGE OF VIDEO GAMES
by Brendan Keogh First published January 2014. Download full PDF of article here. Abstract Despite being the focus of academic studies for close to two decades and a significant part of popular culture for much longer, the humanities generally and cultural studies in particular lacks a coherent vocabulary to perform strong, analytical criticism of individual videogame… Continue reading
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PUBLIC MEMORY AND GAMER IDENTITY: RETROGAMING AS NOSTALGIA
by David S. Heineman Published January 2014 Download full PDF of article here. Abstract This essay explores the success of retrogaming to show how new public memories about gaming history are being rhetorically constructed. It argues that recent arguments about this history function to reshape the identities of retrogamers and retrogaming communities. After explaining the… Continue reading
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“YOU’RE JUST GONNA BE NICE”: HOW PLAYERS ENGAGE WITH MORAL CHOICE SYSTEMS
by Amanda Lange Published January 2014 Download full pdf of article here. Abstract Some data available from games with moral decision systems show that gamers are generally unwilling to play as evil characters. In a study, over 1000 gamers were surveyed to see how the average player interacts with a game system that allows the… 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 