Bloomsbury Handbook of Sex and Sexuality in Game Studies

Matthew Wysocki serves as coordinator of Media Studies and Film Studies as an Associate Professor at Flagler College, USA. He also is co-area Chair of Game Studies for the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association. He has written or co-written numerous chapters on control and player agency, a plethora of them on the BioShock series. He edited CTRL-ALT-PLAY: Essays on Control in Video Gaming (2013) and co-edited Rated M for Mature: Sex and Sexuality in Video Games from Bloomsbury (2015).Steffi Shook is Clinical Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at Manhattanville University, USA. Her research focuses on queer game studies, independent media production, and gender and sexuality. Steffi has previously published on sex/sexuality, female avatars, and racism in American film. She serves as area co-chair of Game Studies at the Popular Culture Association conference.

Drawing together a range of scholars from around the globe, this book provides a vital overview for how sex and sexuality can be analyzed in digital games. The chapters cover an array of games (including AAA and indie texts) and player practices, showing readers the way sex and sexuality are interwoven into games in sometimes unexpected ways. It will be required reading for anyone writing about such topics, and ideally for anyone making games as well.

• Notes On ContributorsAcknowledgementsList of FiguresButton Mashing: Introduction to The Bloomsbury Handbook on Sex and Sexuality in Video GamesMatthew Wysocki (Flagler College, USA) and Steffi Shook (Manhattanville College, USA)I: PLAYING WITH SEXUALITIES1. Now You’re Playing with Polyamory: Ludonarrative Resonance and Intentional Non-Monogamy in Games as Queer Play Nathan Rambukkana (Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada) and Meghan Adams (Ontario Tech University, Canada) 2. A Question of Breeding: Reproduction, Evolution, and Heredity in Video GamesRob Gallagher (King's College London, UK)3. Streaming, Play, and SexualityAshley ML Guajardo (University of Utah, USA)4. I Don't Care Who You Are, As Long As You Love Me: Playersexuality in Video GamesAlayna Cole (Sledgehammer Games, USA)5. Castlevania: Monstrously Queer AJ Castle (Stony Brook University, USA)6. “He Was My Favorite”: Sander Cohen as Queer Stereotype in BioShockGalen David Bunting (Northeastern University, USA)7. Bisexual Representation in Games: Erasure, Stereotypes, and Independent Game DevelopmentSteffi Shook (Manhattanville College, USA)II: PERFORMING THE MECHANICS OF SEX8. Digital Submission: Playfulness and Performance in BDSM and VR Game Dominatrix SimulatorAgata Waszkiewicz (The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland) and Victor Navarro-Remesal (Tecnocampus, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain)9. Press X for Lust: Sex as Reward in GamesRenata E. Ntelia (University of Lincoln, UK)10. Playing with Oneself: The Space of Fantasy in Virtual Sex SimulatorsFilip Andjelkovic (University of Toronto, Canada)11. Flagging Iono: The Hanky Code, Material-Semiotics, and Reading Gender Too CloselyMichael Anthony DeAnda (DePaul University, USA)12. Modding, Pleasure, and the Female Gaze: How Women-created Mods Challenge In-game Portrayals of Sexuality and SexFinja Walsdorff (University of Siegen and the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany)III: WHEN SEXUAL CONTENT IS A GAME13. Tame, Suggestive, and Lewd: Early Erotic Play Encoded in Leather Goddesses of PhobosAnastasia Salter (University of Central Florida, USA)14. The Limits of Queer Choices: The Neoliberal Logic and Gameplay Mechanics of Mass EffectTyler Quick (Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, USA)15. Plow Her Well. Show Her You're A Man”: Language, Sex, and Heteronormativity From a Diachronic Perspective in The Witcher Video Game SeriesFrazer Heritage (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK)16. I Could Make You Care: Longing, Frustration, and Playersexuality in FalloutJ. Burbage (McMaster University, Canada)17. “Let's See How Special You Are”: The “Complicated Women” of Resident Evil VillageMarc Ouellette (Old Dominion University, USA)18. An Unknown Sex Game: Navigating Challenges in Game StudiesMayara Araujo Caetano (University of Turku, Finland)19. Libidinal Politics of Games: Mass Effect Suggestive Sex and Hardcore PornLeandro Augusto Borges Lima (Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil)IV: ENGAGING WITH SEX IN GAMES20. Input/Output: Mapping Sex and Sexuality in AAA Video Game Play-Spaces Through the Metal Gear Solid SeriesChristopher McMahon (University of Liverpool, UK)21. Hobbyist Methodology for History and Creation: Studying 80s Micro-computer Pornography Charlotte Courtois (Université de Montréal, Canada)22. Digital Games and Sexual HealthNina Kiel (Game Developer and Independent Scholar, Germany)23. Deplatforming Digital Sex: Self-Governing Sex in Video GamesJean Ketterling (Carleton University, USA and Mount Allison University, Canada)24. Pushing Digital Boundaries: Exploring Sex and Love in Video GamesChristine Tomlinson (University of California, Irvine, USA)25. Drawing Queer Intersections Through Video Game ArchivesCody Mejeur (University at Buffalo, SUNY, USA) and Xavier Ho (Monash University, Australia)Index