"Where is all the good writing about games?"
The familiarity of portrayals of combat, pain, and trauma were explored by many critics this week, as people look at how tropes get started, how they are perpetuated, and how they can be subverted. E3 Critical reflection on E3 has so far…
People often say that games give us a chance to try out being somebody else. But I think a great strength of this week’s writing was the pieces challenging us to be more aware of who we already are. Appropriation This week…
What is a role playing game? You might have a fixed idea of what the genre is and how it works, but this week some writers are challenging those assumptions and asking you to see them differently. That plus discussions of gender…
There’s a little event called E3 going on this week, and with it comes plenty of new games and rapid-fire discourse. Yet we stand firm in our mission to curate the internet’s most intriguing critical writing and challenging media. This week you’ll…
This week we take a look at how we shape our personal worlds, and how games are shaped by us. Not just from a design standpoint, but by the way we explore our worlds and how that world informs the games we…
How can game creators design for specific flavours of fear? This question is a big theme of writing this week, in what has turned out to be a particularly good selection of critical writing on games. I’m excited to hit “publish” on this…
Worried about the future? Pull up a chair! This week features writing on fear and the economy in games such as Night in the Woods and Prey. The thrill of reaching an audience The Personal-Essay Boom Is Over – The New Yorker…
Sound, size, and space are all discussed this week as critics work out what makes games affect us more deeply. Speaking First, an investigative piece about paying people to chat and play with you, and then a reflection on the voices of…
On your own in an unfamiliar place, where nothing is real, and powerful structures overshadow everything? Games critics this week venture out alone. Technical limitations Narrative-focused games are encouraging increasingly nuanced analyses of inaction, peace, and pacing. Gamasutra: M. Joshua Cauller’s Blog –…
This week saw some social media drama in the games criticism sphere, as Georgia Tech Professor Ian Bogost invoked the pantomime conflict that is Ludology vs. Narratology. Beyond that discussion, it’s been a busy week for quality writing, with a lot of…