July 4th
byAfter a troubling set of weeks, it seems a lot of games critics are thinking about how escapism is more than it appears on the surface. A major theme of this week’s blogging is how games can provide a sense of release…
Episode 36 – The Hows and Whys of TWIVGB
byWelcome to another episode of the Critical Distance Confab! We are taking a mid-summer break from our series on video producers and critics to talk about Critical Distance. Senior Curator Zoya Street and I have decided to talk about the site and…
June 26th
byI am spending a few days staying in a cheap Bed and Breakfast in an run-down Victorian seaside resort in the North of England. It is a spooky place where nothing seems to make sense. At one point I saw a white…
June 19th
byIt is hard, in the context of this week, to feel able to do justice to many of the themes that come up often in these roundups: queer liberation, decolonization, safe spaces, and of course, the fraught relationship between violence and media….
June 12th
byThis week, I’m at Doc/Fest Sheffield, watching documentary films, trying out some exciting new VR projects, and listening to people talk about truthful storytelling in screen media. So far I’ve seen software allowing a holocaust survivor to keep answering people’s questions long…
June 2016: ‘Parenthood’
byWelcome back to part two of our spring season Blogs of the Round Table! In May we called for any post concerned with ‘Childhood’ and games; for June we want to hear from the other side of that relationship in posts on ‘Parenthood’! How does being…
June 5th
byThis week there has been an upswing in articles about mental health and gaming, in no small part because of an excellent series run by Not Your Mama’s Gamer. I’m very glad to see this conversation gaining traction, and it sits well next to…
May 30th
byThis roundup comes a little bit late, as I was kept busy this week by a conference about care and technology. As it turns out, the topic of care is not a bad lens for looking at this week’s blogging! Stardew Valley…
May 22nd
byThis week sees some fantastic thoughts on role-playing. Which roles are represented in narratives, what it would have been like to play a particular role in its historical context, and how we deal with the pressure to perform in a particular role….
May 15th
byWelcome back! I’m filled with determination after spending three days running a small exhibit of games, talking with artists who are more familiar with work in other mediums about some of the things that make this form critically interesting. I did most of the…