{"product_id":"the-queer-games-avantgarde-9781478006589","title":"The Queer Games AvantGarde","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThe Queer Games Avant-Garde\u003c\/i\u003e, Bonnie Ruberg presents twenty interviews with twenty-two queer video game developers whose radical, experimental, vibrant, and deeply queer work is driving a momentous shift in the medium of video games. Speaking with insight and candor about their creative practices as well as their politics and passions, these influential and innovative game makers tell stories about their lives and inspirations, the challenges they face, and the ways they understand their places within the wider terrain of video game culture. Their insights go beyond typical conversations about LGBTQ representation in video games or how to improve “diversity” in digital media. Instead, they explore queer game-making practices, the politics of queer independent video games, how queerness can be expressed as an aesthetic practice, the influence of feminist art on their work, and the future of queer video games and technology. These engaging conversations offer a portr\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“In their new book, Bonnie Ruberg introduces and documents the provocative, playful, and occasionally weird world of queer game-making. \u003ci\u003eThe Queer Games Avant-Garde\u003c\/i\u003e provides a compelling collection of interviews from many of the designers who dance at the edges of what games can be. This book is recommended reading for designers, artists, researchers, and anyone who takes play seriously.” -- Carly A. Kocurek, author of * Brenda Laurel: Pioneering Games for Girls *\u003cbr\u003e“Bonnie Ruberg and twenty-two incredible game makers give voice to a game revolution. The queer games avant-garde isn't just pushing at the boundaries of the medium, it's exploding what games can be into millions of multi-colored worlds where we can all play! An exuberant and essential exploration of the personal, political, and playful.” -- Colleen Macklin, Associate Professor of Media Design at Parsons School of Design\u003cbr\u003e\"The queer game makers who operate from marginalised subject positions, making their voices heard in and through games, form an important and timely topic for a book. For a European reader, \u003ci\u003eThe Queer Games Avant-Garde\u003c\/i\u003e offers a fascinating glimpse of contemporary North American realities and the anxieties around doing creative work in the current political climate.\" -- Tanja Sihvonen * Times Higher Education Supplement *\u003cbr\u003e\"This is a special book. . . . The world of video games is so much bigger and more spectacular than the AAA marketing cycle would have you believe. Ruberg’s conversations are a reminder of the breath of the medium, and also the steps we must take collectively for a healthier, safer, and more vibrant future.\" -- Sharon Ross * Report Door *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"The book’s 20 chapters run the gamut of queer desire and representation, intimacy (rather than empathy), community, intersectionality, influences, and queering games beyond representation. . . . [I]t’s accessible for those who aren’t scholars including game makers, gamers, games journalists, and anyone interested in the present and future of queer and indie games.\"\u003c\/p\u003e -- Naseem Jamnia * Bitch *\u003cbr\u003e\"Given both its fascinating subject and its approach to the subject, \u003ci\u003eThe Queer Games Avant-Garde\u003c\/i\u003e is a fresh and fascinating peek into an underexplored area of video games, as well as a highly relevant exploration of the ways in which these games both draw from and give back to their creators and players.… All in all, \u003ci\u003eThe Queer Games Avant-Garde\u003c\/i\u003e will provide an interesting and accessible read for a wide range of readers interested in the creation and theorization of video games.\" -- Maria Alberto * Information, Communication \u0026amp; Society *\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThe Queer Games Avant-Garde\u003c\/i\u003e is a generous and generative book; it is approachable, accessible, teachable, and complements Ruberg's other books and projects.… But most importantly, the book offers radical possibilities, both practical and playful.\" -- Edmond Y. Chang * American Journal of Play *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"\u003ci\u003eQueer Games Avant-Garde\u003c\/i\u003e is a superb teaching tool across game design, digital arts, queer studies, and digital humanities classrooms that will be sure to spark numerous meaningful debates, both critical and practical. . . . It will also be an excellent resource for scholars seeking to reimagine what academic knowledge production looks like and who counts as a contributor to knowledge.\" -- Daniella Gati * Information and Culture *\u003cbr\u003e“Venkat’s storytelling is absorbing. He appears a writer who finds joy in crafting prose, sometimes imbuing it with a playfulness that lands most aptly. . . . This is a meticulously crafted book, but it is nowhere stilted or overworked. It performs deep conceptual labor with a jargon-free lightness of touch that academic writing would do well to emulate.” -- Zahra Hayat * Medical Anthropology Quarterly *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments  ix\u003cbr\u003e Introduction. Reimagining the Medium of Video Games  1\u003cbr\u003e Part I. Queer People, Queer Desires, Queer Games\u003cbr\u003e 1. Dietrich Squinkifer: Nonbinary Characters, Asexuality, and Game Design as Joyful Resistance  33\u003cbr\u003e 2. Robert Yang: The Politics and Pleasures of Representing Sex between Men  42\u003cbr\u003e 3. Aevee Bee: On Designing for Queer Players and Remaking Autobiographical Truth  51\u003cbr\u003e Part II. Queerness as a Mode of Game-Making\u003cbr\u003e 4. Llaura McGee: Leaving Space for Messiness, Complexity, and Chance  63\u003cbr\u003e 5. Andi McClure: Algorithms, Accidents, and the Queerness of Abstraction  73\u003cbr\u003e 6. Liz Ryerson: Resisting Empathy and Rewriting the Rules of Game Design  81\u003cbr\u003e Part III. Designing Queer Intimacy in Games\u003cbr\u003e 7. Jimmy Andrews + Loren Schmidt: Queer Body Physics, Awkwardness as Emotional Realism, and the Challenge of Designing Consent  93\u003cbr\u003e 8. Naomi Clark: Disrupting Norms and Critiquing Systems through \"Good, Nice Sex with a Tentacle Monster\"  102\u003cbr\u003e 9. Elizabeth Sampat: Safe Spaces for Queerness and Games against Suffering  113\u003cbr\u003e Part IV. The Legacy of Feminist Performance Art in Queer Games\u003cbr\u003e 10. Kara Stone: Softness, Strength, and Danger in Games about Mental Health and Healing  125\u003cbr\u003e 11. Mattie Brice: Radical Play through Vulnerability  134\u003cbr\u003e 12. Seanna Musgrave: \"Touchy-Feely\" Virtual Reality and Reclaiming the Trans Body  143\u003cbr\u003e Part V. Intersectional Perspectives in\/on Queer Games\u003cbr\u003e 13. Tonia B****** + Emilia Yang: Making Games about Queer Women of Color by Queer Women of Color  153\u003cbr\u003e 14. Nicky Case: Playable Politics and Interactivity for Understanding  162\u003cbr\u003e 15. Nina Freeman: More Than Just \"the Women Who Make Sex Games\"  171\u003cbr\u003e Part VI. Analog Games: Exploreing Queerness Through Non-Digital Play\u003cbr\u003e 16. Avery Alder: Queer Storytelling and the Mechanics of Desire  183\u003cbr\u003e 17. Kat Jones: Bisexuality, Latina Identity, and the Power of Physical Presence  192\u003cbr\u003e Part VII. Making Queer Games, Queer Change, and Queer Community\u003cbr\u003e 18. Mo Cohen: On Self-Care, Funding, and Other Advice for Aspiring Queer Indie Game Makers  205\u003cbr\u003e 19. Jerome Hagan: Are Queer Games Bringing \"Diversity\" to Mainstream Industry?  215\u003cbr\u003e 20. Sarah Schoemann: The Power of Community Organizing  223\u003cbr\u003e Afterword. The Future of the Queer Games Avant-Garde  233\u003cbr\u003e Appendix. Queer Indie Games to Play at Home or in the Classroom  245\u003cbr\u003e Notes  257\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography  265\u003cbr\u003e Index  271","brand":"Duke University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49408980156759,"sku":"9781478006589","price":19.79,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781478006589.jpg?v=1730504949","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-queer-games-avantgarde-9781478006589","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}