"Where is all the good writing about games?"
…the dark seas
Enormous thanks to Sarah Cole (@iRNY on Twitter) for retrieving this list (sorry for the dodgy abbreviated titles). Sarah also sent us a local download of all articles included under this tag, which we are now working out how to make available. … All articles from the”in depth”tag 2014-2018
…— Gamers with Glasses Don Everhart muses on what happens, via Spelunky 2, when complex authored systems and players collide.
“For survival horror, mastery is a superficial fantasy that covers over the player-character’s vulnerability to their environment. The Dead Space series, and Dead Space 2 in particular, positions players so that they’re caught between the drive to master their surroundings and…
…industry is, and you don’t even have to work in it to know that. You’re just that special. And if you’ve been at this for a long time, like a year or something, that’s when you get really good at calling people out on their shit. Think about it: One day they’re names on your most favorite website, the next they’ve got a lot of explaining to do. They’re accountable to you. That’s part of your job.
No one is spared when Alexander gets her rant on. Not even the children.
You Can’t Stop the Signal, Mal
…
…venturing out into the world, they act as the player’s moral compass, her checks and balances in a way. This affects the game in two ways: decisions made while adventuring (both primary story and side-quests), and companion availability.
View From the Top
Gita Jackson—who is, I’m proud to remind you, Critical Distance’s blogger of the year for 2015—pens a piece for Kotaku on Dwarf Fortress, escapism and life as a millennial under neoliberal austerity.
The point, really, is to build something that lasts. In Dwarf Fortress, “something that lasts,” is often a trial by very…
…to simulate the experience of losing a child.
At Kill Screen, Alexander Kriss focuses on That Dragon, Cancer’s methods to express the deep sadness of the Green family’s situation.
Our own Riley MacLeod specifically looks at the way that That Dragon, Cancer tells Joel’s, the Green family’s son, story when he is too young to tell it himself.
Intertwining an interview with creator Ryan Green with his own reactions to the game, Satchbag’s Goods reflects on the game’s greater implications on our purpose in life (video, no captions available).
The Art of Speedrunning
Awesome Game…
The month has passed, and even if we haven’t yet climbed the mountain, cast the ring into the fires, or defeated the evil wizard, we’re spent some time dwelling on the process and the scope of this adventure we’re on. So, without dwelling too long in this leg of our trials, let’s buckle down to discuss the whole nine yards of the long journey in Blogs of the Round Table.
Graham Markusson
Graham Markusson kicks us off this month by reflecting on his 262 hour journey through Lu-Mulana, an…
…Phallic Desire | Traverse Fantasy Marcia B. ties colonial and misogynistic structural elements of Dungeons & Dragons to its ever-moving goalposts of desire (content notification here for a brief reference to rape in the context of Greek Mythology).
“For the Gygaxian adventurer, there is always another dungeon to loot. In the same way, the phallic drive always ensures that in the subject’s imagination there is always another thing to desire. For the traditional male subject, there is always another woman to fuck.” Two very different pieces now, united by a focus on …
City Spaces
…studying different kinds of paratextual material is so important to the way that we understand, and in the way that we think about historical digital games and the kinds of arguments that they are making about the past. So, I did that really through looking at different kinds of official communication. So, a range of different paratextual promotional materials that were created and published by Rockstar and communicated then through their official channels. So, through the sort of official Rockstar website, and the kind of Newswire, somewhat sort of almost bulletin board, I guess, section of the, the Rockstar website,…
…personal. It’s too casual. Too many writers inserting too much of themselves in ways that nobody in their right minds cares about. Too many armchair journalists speaking as though their word is gospel. Really, think about that. Armchair journalism has become the standard. Kids on forums actually now truly believe that their opinions are hyper-relevant, because after all, they can write just as convincingly as your average blogger. They’re not really wrong!
Although I confess to skimming parts of the lengthy manifesto, enduring TWIVGB favourite Leigh Alexander’s contribution (Chapter 7) is also well worth a read.
You…
…for proactive responses to inequality. To this end we’ve seen quite a few answers: Rhianna Pratchett initiated the #1ReasonToBe hashtag, and almost immediately in its wake emerged #1ReasonMentors, designed to create a support network for women developers. Elsewhere, IndieCade speaker and LA-area developer Akira Thompson has set up Be the Solution, a new tumblr intended as “a proactive response to #1reasonwhy.”
MARATHON FOR EQUALITY
Many articles this week tackled discrimination in the industry and gamer culture at large beyond the scope of the #1Reason hashtags.
On Polygon, Tracey Lien profiles Iron Ribbon, a grassroots effort to end…