Call for Papers: Decolonising Queer Games and Play

An FPS Special Issue

In Race, Gender, and Deviance in Xbox Live, Kishonna L. Gray states that “There is a common misconception of minority gamers that they are not in fact true gamers… This mythical assumption is also evident in the limited amount of academic scholarship devoted to the topic.” In order to address the issue of the overwhelming need for more scholarship devoted to said topic, we want to dedicate a space to the marginalized, particularly to queer and trans people of colour.

Expanding on the work of queer games scholars such as Bo Ruberg and Adrienne Shaw (see: Queer Game Studies 2017), artists and designers such as Mattie Brice and Robert Yang, and events like GaymerX and QGCon (the Queerness and Games Conference), and our last Queer Game Making special issue, this special issue will take an intersectional approach in seeking work that explores games studies from the viewpoint of queer and trans people of colour. We want to hear from scholars, designers, makers, artists and others who make or study games with these perspectives at the core of their work. We’re also looking for works that address the notion of how race plays into LGBTQ identities, particularly of queer characters in games, or how they can complement or complicate anti-racist works. There are a lot of white LGBTQ+ characters in mainstream games, and therefore it’s important to give space for this topic. However, we are also accepting works discussing similar or related topics.

Articles might discuss (but are not limited to):

  • autoethnography of design practices
  • games postmortems
  • queer and trans design theories
  • racialized design and/or playing perspectives
  • alternative controllers as queer design tools
  • interviews with trans and/or queer people of colour makers and designers
  • acts of resistance in and around games and play
  • game modding practices
  • queer and trans readings, rewrites, or remediations of mainstream games
  • annotated game design documents and other traces
  • queer and trans design and/or player communities

Abstracts should be 150-250 words in length and are due by March 8, 2021.  Articles may be commentaries, essays, book reviews, interviews, multi-media projects, or other formats. Send to guest editor Khee Hoon Chan at  kheehoon.chan@gmail.com .