The Queer Games Avant-Garde

In their new book, Bonnie Ruberg introduces and documents the provocative, playful, and occasionally weird world of queer game-making. The Queer Games Avant-Garde 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 * 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 "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, The Queer Games Avant-Garde 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 * "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. Rubergs 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 * "The books 20 chapters run the gamut of queer desire and representation, intimacy (rather than empathy), community, intersectionality, influences, and queering games beyond representation. . . . [I]ts accessible for those who arent scholars including game makers, gamers, games journalists, and anyone interested in the present and future of queer and indie games." -- Naseem Jamnia * Bitch * "Given both its fascinating subject and its approach to the subject, The Queer Games Avant-Garde 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, The Queer Games Avant-Garde 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 & Society * "The Queer Games Avant-Garde 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 * "Queer Games Avant-Garde 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 * Venkats 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 *

Bonnie Ruberg is Assistant Professor in the Department of Informatics and the Program in Visual Studies at the University of California, Irvine, and is author of Video Games Have Always Been Queer and coeditor of Queer Game Studies.

Acknowledgments ix Introduction. Reimagining the Medium of Video Games 1 Part I. Queer People, Queer Desires, Queer Games 1. Dietrich Squinkifer: Nonbinary Characters, Asexuality, and Game Design as Joyful Resistance 33 2. Robert Yang: The Politics and Pleasures of Representing Sex between Men 42 3. Aevee Bee: On Designing for Queer Players and Remaking Autobiographical Truth 51 Part II. Queerness as a Mode of Game-Making 4. Llaura McGee: Leaving Space for Messiness, Complexity, and Chance 63 5. Andi McClure: Algorithms, Accidents, and the Queerness of Abstraction 73 6. Liz Ryerson: Resisting Empathy and Rewriting the Rules of Game Design 81 Part III. Designing Queer Intimacy in Games 7. Jimmy Andrews + Loren Schmidt: Queer Body Physics, Awkwardness as Emotional Realism, and the Challenge of Designing Consent 93 8. Naomi Clark: Disrupting Norms and Critiquing Systems through "Good, Nice Sex with a Tentacle Monster" 102 9. Elizabeth Sampat: Safe Spaces for Queerness and Games against Suffering 113 Part IV. The Legacy of Feminist Performance Art in Queer Games 10. Kara Stone: Softness, Strength, and Danger in Games about Mental Health and Healing 125 11. Mattie Brice: Radical Play through Vulnerability 134 12. Seanna Musgrave: "Touchy-Feely" Virtual Reality and Reclaiming the Trans Body 143 Part V. Intersectional Perspectives in/on Queer Games 13. Tonia B****** + Emilia Yang: Making Games about Queer Women of Color by Queer Women of Color 153 14. Nicky Case: Playable Politics and Interactivity for Understanding 162 15. Nina Freeman: More Than Just "the Women Who Make Sex Games" 171 Part VI. Analog Games: Exploreing Queerness Through Non-Digital Play 16. Avery Alder: Queer Storytelling and the Mechanics of Desire 183 17. Kat Jones: Bisexuality, Latina Identity, and the Power of Physical Presence 192 Part VII. Making Queer Games, Queer Change, and Queer Community 18. Mo Cohen: On Self-Care, Funding, and Other Advice for Aspiring Queer Indie Game Makers 205 19. Jerome Hagan: Are Queer Games Bringing "Diversity" to Mainstream Industry? 215 20. Sarah Schoemann: The Power of Community Organizing 223 Afterword. The Future of the Queer Games Avant-Garde 233 Appendix. Queer Indie Games to Play at Home or in the Classroom 245 Notes 257 Bibliography 265 Index 271