Generated by All in One SEO v4.9.3, this is an llms.txt file, used by LLMs to index the site. # First Person Scholar Weekly critical essays, commentaries, and book reviews on games ## Sitemaps - [XML Sitemap](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website. ## Posts - [Special Issue: Gaming Paratexts](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/special-issue-gaming-paratexts/) - Lead Editor: Aleksander Franiczek Managing Editor: Emma Vossen Introduction Co-authored by: Aleksander Franiczek and Emma Vossen Welcome to the Fall 2024 special issue of First Person Scholar examining game paratexts! While the vast majority of game studies work examines games themselves, the paratexts that surround them are equally important for giving games their cultural meaning. - [2025: The Close Readings Issue:](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/2025-the-close-readings-issue/) - Lead Editor: Aleksander Franiczek Managing Editor: Emma Vossen Introduction Co-authored by: Aleksander Franiczek and Emma Vossen This issue of First Person Scholar is not a "Special Issue" in the everyday academic parlance, but it is a very special issue of FPS because it will be our last issue for some time. FPS is taking an - [Lara Crofts’s Colonialist Shadow:](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/lara-croftss-colonialist-shadow/) - Anoushka Lad completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Toronto, where she studied critical gender and race theory in relation to digital media. This paper, written during that time, builds on her interest in how identity, power, and technology intersect. She will soon begin graduate studies in Information Science at Cornell University, where she - [First Person Scholar Takes a Break](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-scholar-takes-a-break/) - Hi, everyone. First Person Scholar is going on hiatus. What you’re reading right now is the final posting until we establish its future directions. FPS will remain available as an archive for everyone to access and use. The publication, which has succeeded wildly over its twelve-year existence, has reached the point where rethinking and restrategizing - [Interpretation as Interaction and the Horror of Limited Agency in Until Dawn](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/interpretation-as-interaction-and-the-horror-of-limited-agency-in-until-dawn/) - Julie Veitch is a PhD student at the University of Waterloo whose research focuses on “detecting figures” and the construction of authority in modern Occult-Detective fiction. She is particularly interested in the way that form affects narrative content and how player agency in video games factors into narrative. You can contact Julie on Twitter Until - [A game within another game:](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/a-game-within-another-game/) - Simon Dor is an Associate Professor at Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, teaching in the game development program in Montréal, Québec. He first played Pokémon games during the pandemic with his children Laurent and Thierry. You can find him on: TikTok , Threads, Twitter In Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee! (Game Freak, 2018a) and Let’s Go, Pikachu! - [Art for the periphery of consciousness:](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/art-for-the-periphery-of-consciousness/) - Gurn Group is a video game enthusiast and philosophy student in Shanghai, China. David Kanaga’s 2017 game Oikospiel Book I is difficult to summarize, but the first moments of the game offer a glimpse of what it’s like to play. Huge red rain particles fall from the top of the screen as the introductory credits - [Ecocritical Conflicts in Form and Content](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/ecocritical-conflicts-in-form-and-content/) - Andrew Kirby is a PhD candidate in the Screen Cultures and Curatorial Studies program at Queen’s University. His research focuses on the representation of urban environments in digital media and how these environments impact their human inhabitants. His research is forthcoming in The Neutral: Graduate Journal of Cinema and Media Studies. Contact: andrew.kirby@queensu.ca Final Fantasy - [Queer Games and Straight Play?](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/queer-games-and-straight-play/) - Luke Hernandez is currently a Ph.D. Student in the Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication program at the University of Texas at Dallas. Luke’s research work lies at the intersection of Critical Game Studies, Latinx Studies, and Queer Theory. Luke works to show how marginalized communities, such as Queer Latinidad, both resist and thrive in online - [Is it “A Profound Waste of Time” to Like a Video Game Magazine?](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/is-it-a-profound-waste-of-time-to-like-a-video-game-magazine/) - Luis Aguasvivas is a writer and researcher based in New York City. He has written about video games, game studies, and pop culture at large for numerous publications including PopMatters, Ars Technica, Aguas’ Points, and New York University’s Urban Democracy Lab. Memories of Video Games and Magazines Prior to the widespread use of the internet - [The Stanley Paratexts](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-stanley-paratexts/) - Miriam Scuderi is a student assistant researcher at the Johannes Gutenberg Universität of Mainz where they are obtaining a Master of Arts degree in American Studies. Their research focus is all over the place, ranging from media studies to queer theory and landing on digital humanities. You can find them on BlueSky. “You will follow - [TRPG wiki writing](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/trpg-wiki-writing/) - Joe is a multi-class Teacher/Game Designer/PhD Student from Canterbury in the UK. His scholarly and creative projects focus on tabletop role-playing games while his teaching is an eclectic mix of Biosciences, History and Classical Civilisation, though not normally to the same class. His PhD project is on the literary nature of TRPG (Tabletop Roleplaying Games) - [Listening, Watching, Gaming](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/listening-watching-gaming/) - Dr. Chris Hall is Assistant Professor of English at the University of the Ozarks, and the co-editor, with Steven Kielich, of a volume in progress on the Metal Gear Solid series. He has published previously on Metal Gear Solid as well as on political themes in popular culture and twentieth-century literature. You can find him - [Descending Deeper Still](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/descending-deeper-still/) - Chris Martin is an English PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo, whose dissertation research focuses on the QANON conspiracy community and the social media based disinformation networks that allow it flourish. When he’s not wading through the fever swamp of the reactionary conspiracy community, he can typically be found pouring hours into sprawling RPGs - [EverQuest and the Progressive Nostalgia of Project 1999](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/everquest-and-the-progressive-nostalgia-of-project-1999/) - Alexander Hurezeanu is a PhD Candidate at Toronto Metropolitan University in the Communication and Culture Graduate Program and teaches in the Centre for Preparatory and Liberal Studies at Toronto’s George Brown College. His research examines how gameplay experiences produce new opportunities for transcultural communication in Eastern and Western cultural contexts. Nostalgic reimagining of early - [Down the Rabbit Hole We Go](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/down-the-rabbit-hole-we-go/) - There is something particularly unique about the experience of playing, then writing, then reading about the games we play. When I get to read the articles submitted to FPS for publication, it feels like I’m gaining access into a piece of the game’s, or even the gaming industry’s, intangible puzzle - whether it’s due to - [Nostalgia in Play: How Video Games Shape a Player’s Coming of Age ](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/nostalgia-in-play-how-video-games-shape-a-players-coming-of-age/) - For the better part of a year, I looked at video games using the same critical lens that shaped my master’s dissertation. My studies began in the fall of 2020 when, despite all odds and a nerve-racking flight across the Atlantic, I enrolled in a master’s program at the University of St Andrews. I studied - [Please Save the Booklet for Future Reference](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/please-save-the-booklet-for-future-reference/) - Nate Schmidt is a contributing editor for GamerswithGlasses.com, and holds a PhD in English from Indiana University Bloomington. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the IUPUI Arts and Humanities Institute. His work can also be found in The Rambling, Unwinnable Magazine, and in the Bloodborne anthology Blood Echoes, out later this year from Tune - [The Image Stares Back: Spectacular Violence In Danganronpa](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-image-stares-back-spectacular-violence-in-danganronpa/) - Zain Zahran is a writer from Saudi Arabia with a minor in Literature. He likes reading detective stories. These days, he mostly plays visual novels and action-adventure games. His favorite game series include Zone of the Enders and Metal Gear Solid. Danganronpa (2010–2017) is an acclaimed series of videogames by Spike Chunsoft as well as - [Water, Survival-Horror’s Most Untapped Potential.](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/water-survival-horrors-most-untapped-potential/) - Michael Stamper is an aspiring writer with a hopeless addiction to overthinking the intricacies of game design. He currently resides in Tampa Florida with an exceptionally wonderful dog named after the black mage from Final Fantasy IX. He is also a lover of all things Silent Hill, Resident Evil and horror related. Fear is a - [First Person Podcast Episode 60: War… Changes? Exploring the Popularity of Post Apocalyptic Settings in Video Games](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-60-war-changes-exploring-the-popularity-of-post-apocalyptic-settings-in-video-games/) - Embed code: FirstPersonPodcast · Episode 60: War… Changes? Exploring the Popularity of Post Apocalyptic Settings in Video Games Welcome to the 60th episode of the First Person Podcast! The apocalypse is something we often perceive as a cataclysmic event or phenomena representing the harbinger of the end- the utter extinguishment of life as a society - [Call for Papers: Gaming Paratexts](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/call-for-papers-gaming-paratexts/) - While the vast majority of game studies work examines games themselves, the paratexts that surround them are equally important for giving games their cultural meaning. We consider paratexts themselves as artifacts, pieces, and/or objects that are game-adjacent or surround the main artifact. Harvie (2017) importantly explores how they are meaningful in terms of influencing our - [Review of Writing for Games: Theory and Practice by Hannah Nicklin](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/review-of-writing-for-games-theory-and-practice-by-hannah-nicklin/) - Scott DeJong is a Concordia Public Scholar and Communication PhD Candidate at Concordia University. His work explores issues of media literacy, play in the Canadian far right, and serious game design. He engages in research-creation to discuss digital issues, designing games such as escape rooms about echo chambers, and simulation games about conspiracy theory. In - [“Hey! Look! Listen! – We're Back!"](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/hey-look-listen-were-back/) - Wow! It has been some time since I’ve had the pleasure of writing an editorial. I am VERY excited to be announcing this term’s issue, as well as the internal changes that have come about since we last published! For starters, we’ve had a shift in team members. Patrick Dolan, Alex Chalk, and Andrew Bailey - [To Grasp GAMEBOOKS, Turn to MEDIA ARCHAEOLOGY](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/to-grasp-gamebooks-turn-to-media-archaeology/) - Luke Arnott is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at the University of Western Ontario, where he teaches courses on video games, live streaming, popular culture, and critical theory. His last article for First Person Scholar was “Blasto Sacer: Mass Effect as an Allegorithm of Sovereign Exception.” In 2019, - [Episode 59: Oops, Did I Do That? Benevolence, Malevolence, and Playing God in Video Games](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/episode-59-oops-did-i-do-that-benevolence-malevolence-and-playing-god-in-video-games/) - FirstPersonPodcast · Episode 59: Oops, Did I Do That? Benevolence, Malevolence, and Playing God in Video Games Welcome to the 59th episode of the First Person Podcast! This month, our new Podcast Producer, Collin Walsh, is joined by Sabrina Sgandurra and Dakota Pinheiro to discuss how we approach power in video games when we're given - [Enchanted Outer Worlds](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/enchanted-outer-worlds/) - Christopher Howell teaches religious studies at Elon University. He holds a PhD in Religion from Duke University and an MTS from Duke Divinity School. George Seferis, the Greek poet and Nobel Laureate, once had a nightmare that the Parthenon stood for auction. After it was purchased by a group of American advertisers, they promptly set - [Reconceiving Player Agency with Disco Elysium](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/reconceiving-player-agency-with-disco-elysium/) - Aleks is an English PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo whose research focuses on narrative design and how it facilitates immersion and roleplaying in single-player videogames. He is also the Section Head of Essays at First Person Scholar and a writer at RPGFan. In her pioneering book, Hamlet on the Holodeck, Janet Murray theorizes - [First Person Podcast Episode 58 - Horror Game Adaptations](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-58-horror-game-adaptations/) -  FirstPersonPodcast · First Person Podcast Episode 58 - Horror Game Adaptations Welcome to the 58th episode of the First Person Podcast. This Halloween we will be looking at the horror game titles that were adapted into movies and vice versa. I am joined today by Dr. James Rendell from the University of South Wales - [First Person Podcast Episode 41: Button Mapping](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-41-button-mapping/) - FirstPersonPodcast · First Person Podcast Episode 41: Button Mapping We are ending this year on a more technical note by discussing the button mapping that we see in our modern games. Join Giuseppe, Sabrina, Lia, and Patrick as we discuss the intuitive design of the controls we’ve come to know and hate. Brian Massumi’s Parables - [First Person Podcast Episode 54 – The Social Functions of Roleplaying Games](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-54-the-social-functions-of-roleplaying-games/) - FirstPersonPodcast · First Person Podcast Episode 54: The Social Functions Of RPGs Welcome to the 54th episode of the First Person Podcast. This month will be examining the social functions of roleplaying games: how the stories and characters we make in RPGs can have a positive and healing impact on ourselves and our community. We - [First Person Podcast Episode 56 – Nostalgia and Capitalism in Gaming](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-56-nostalgia-and-capitalism-in-gaming/) - FirstPersonPodcast · First Person Podcast Episode 56 - Nostalgia And Capitalism In Gaming Welcome to the 56th episode of the First Person Podcast. This month will examine the relationship between capitalism and nostalgia. We’ll be looking at ways the gaming market today appeals to our warm and fuzzy memories to move units, where we sit - [First Person Podcast Episode 57 - The Progression of Video Game Narratives](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-57-the-progression-of-video-game-narratives/) - FirstPersonPodcast · First Person Podcast Episode 57 – The Progression of Video Game Narratives Welcome to the 57th episode of the First Person Podcast. We are back with another academic semester and since we have been running with the theme of nostalgia lately, it’s about time that we take a look at how far the - [“The Cavalry’s Here!”](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-cavalrys-here/) - Gregory Blomquist is a PhD candidate in the department of English and Film Studies at the University of Alberta, whose research explores the intersections of game studies and transmedia storytelling. During its reveal at the 2014 BlizzCon, Overwatch introduced players to its vibrant and colourful world with the character Tracer announcing that “the cavalry’s here!” - [Rifts, Memories, and Community](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/summer2022/) - We are thrilled to welcome you to First Person Scholar's first issue in its new form! Our new format will take the place of our weekly publishing schedule from before, and replace it with a term-based publishing schedule (Fall, Winter, and Spring/Summer). These issues may be published around a theme, or may be geared to - [Griefing the Climate Apocalypse in ECO](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/griefing-the-climate-apocalypse-in-eco/) - Laura op de Beke (www.lauraopdebeke.com) is a PhD fellow at the University of Oslo, Norway. In her doctoral project she looks at Anthropocene temporalities in videogames, which manifest as temporal affects: for instance anxiety over the future, petro-melancholia, a preoccupation with death, failure and extinction, as well as technofuturistic hope. Laura’s other interests include science - [Rural Ontario, 1937](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/rural-ontario-1937/) - Eric is a history PhD Candidate at the University of Waterloo. He studies history at the intersection of disability and fandom. Aside from work on his dissertation, he co-hosts a podcast on Canadian ghost stories called The Before Midnight Society (available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify). He also sometimes publishes on supertheorycraft.wordpress.com. He identifies as - [REBEL INC., COLONIALISM SIMULATOR](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/rebel-inc-colonialism-simulator/) - Alex Adams is an independent scholar based in North East England. He has written widely on securitization and popular culture, publishing three monographs: Political Torture in Popular Culture (Routledge, 2016), How to Justify Torture (Repeater, 2019), and Death TV: Drone Warfare in Contemporary Popular Culture (Drone Wars UK, 2021). He is currently writing a book - [The Lion’s Song and Old Vienna as a Meeting Point Between Urban and Gaming Memory Culture](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-lions-song-and-old-vienna-as-a-meeting-point-between-urban-and-gaming-memory-culture/) - Giorgio Chiappa is a PhD student, writer and teacher based in Berlin, where he is working on a dissertation in theatre history. Some of his work on videogames, literature and other nice things can be found here. Emma the mathematician sits through her library shift in The Lion’s Song Vienna, the Austrian capital that once - [SINoALICE and the question of authorship](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/sinoalice-and-the-question-of-authorship/) - Hélène is a video game researcher and narrative designer. Her Ph.D. thesis is about the relationships between literature and video games, studying the diverse forms of frictions and hybridizations between the two media cultures. She writes visual novels and expressive games for game studios (Beemoov, The Seed Crew) and teaches Interactive Fiction Writing and Media Cultures - [Places of Wonder, Objects of Power](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/places-of-wonder-objects-of-power/) - Kylie Broderick is a Ph.D. candidate and Mellon Fellow in modern Middle East history at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She is also the managing editor of Jadaliyya and a Co-Editor of the Resistance, Subversion, and Mobilization page. At the National Humanities Center, she teaches the Introduction to the Modern Middle East course. - [First Person Podcast Episode 55 – RPG Actual Play with Mariah E. Marsden and Kelsey Paige Mason](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-55-rpg-actual-play-with-mariah-e-marsden-and-kelsey-paige-mason/) - FirstPersonPodcast · First Person Podcast Episode 55: RPG Actual Play With Mariah E. Marsden And Kelley Paige Mason Hello, and welcome to the 55th episode of the First Person Podcast! I’m Alex Chalk, resident labour guy and editor for Commentaries, and today I’m filling in for Giuseppe Femia as moderator as I talk with Mariah - [Decolonising queer games and play](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/decolonising-queer-games-and-play/) - Guest editor Khee Hoon Chan is a writer from Singapore, with bylines in Polygon, Edge Magazine, PC Gamer, Unwinnable and more. They daydream about being a professional Street Fighter player. It isn’t exactly a little-known secret, but do you know that queer people have always lived on a different temporal dimension—in other words, in - [Special Issue: Decolonising queer games and play](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/special-issue-decolonising-queer-games-and-play/) - We are very excited to announce our latest Special Issue! In this issue, we focused on the voices and experiences of queer and trans people of colour, and efforts to decolonizing the games studies space. With amazing work by our guest editor, Khee Hoon Chan, and our fantastic contributors, this issue focuses on decentering colonial - [Unmaking and Undoing](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/unmaking-and-undoing/) - Julie Fukunaga is a recent Sociology grad living on unceded Miwok land (in the Central Valley of California). In their free time, they write about identity and digital media. While in theory, video games offer expanded potential for embodiment and self-expression, marginalised identity has often been reduced to a “re-skinning,” in which gender, race, - [A Boy Is A Gun](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/a-boy-is-a-gun/) - Oluwatayo Adewole is a critic, poet, and editor. They're interested in the way that art interacts with and challenges society, while also digging deep into people's stories and perspectives (especially if they're marginalised). She also loves to do the absolute most. You'll most likely find him rambling on Twitter or wandering the streets of London - [Interview with Caro Asercion](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/interview-with-caro-asercion/) - Olivia Popp is an arts and culture writer with a particular interest in suburbia, queer socialization, Asian America, and speculative worlds. A graduate of Stanford University with a background in feminist technoscience studies, Olivia enjoys longboarding, eating passionfruit, and watching mid- to late 2000s sci-fi TV shows. Caro Asercion is a nonbinary mixed-race Filipinx - [First Person Podcast Episode 53 – Video Game Preservation Part 2: Return of the Pirates](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-53-video-game-preservation-part-2-return-of-the-pirates/) - Embed code: FirstPersonPodcast · First Person Podcast Episode 53 – Video Game Preservation Part 2: Return of the Pirates Welcome to the 53rd episode of the First-Person Podcast! We are continuing our conversation from February by discussing video game preservation and the industry. So, if you haven’t seen that one, please do check it out. - [A Pace of Walking](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/a-place-of-walking/) - Matthew Schwager practices butoh, vogue, and modern dance in Chicago. He is working on his first novel. It occurs to me that some video games might have a “soul” or a thesis kept out of sight, locked away from interactive or procedural elements. And to access this soul one might have to look at these - [Academic Vigilantism](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/academic-vigilantism-and-middle-state-publishing/) - Emma Vossen is a PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo studying gender and spaces (both online and offline) of game play and games criticism. She was the Commentaries editor of FPS from 2014-2015 and the EIC and Podcast host of FPS from 2015-2016. Her favorite game is Majora’s Mask, and right now she is - [First Person Podcast Episode 52 – Video Game Preservation](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-52-video-game-preservation/) - FirstPersonPodcast · First Person Podcast Episode 52: Video Game Preservation Welcome to the 52nd episode of the First-Person Podcast! This month, we are going to be talking about video game preservation and the industry. We have brought on special guest Alex Fleck to talk about his work in this relatively new academic realm. From archiving - [Video Games: The Future of Documentaries](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/video-games-the-future-of-documentaries/) - Caio Sampaio is a video game journalist and master’s student in the University of Porto, Portugal. His MA thesis studies the potential of video games as a platform to tell journalistic stories in an engaging manner. He graduated from college in Brazil and lived in America for High School. Technology has changed the world. Every - [First Person Podcast Episode 51 – Best Games of 2021](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-51-best-games-of-2021/) - Welcome to the 51st episode of the First-Person Podcast and the annual Best Games episode of 2021! This year we wanted to take this opportunity to introduce the current FPS team, so you will hear some new and old voices. They are going to tell you about their favourite games of this past year - [First Person Podcast Episode 50 – State of Game Studies](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-50-state-of-game-studies/) - FirstPersonPodcast · First Person Podcast Episode 50: State of Game Studies Welcome to the 50th episode of the First-Person Podcast and the last episode of the year 2021! As this is our 50th episode we wanted to take some time to look at the current state of academia and games studies. A lot has changed - [First Person Podcast Episode 49 – Game Work and Unions](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-49-game-work-and-unions/) - FirstPersonPodcast · First Person Podcast Episode 49: Game Work And Unions Welcome to the 49th episode of the First-Person Podcast. After being off for a month we are coming back strong for the beginning of a new semester to look at what has been going down in the videogame industry since we’ve been away. Oh - [Where We're At](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/where-were-at/) - To make a long story short: We took a break over the summer. The way FPS had been running for years is no longer sustainable at this time. So things are going to change, we aren’t sure exactly how, but we have some great ideas. We thank you for your patience and your support. - [First Person Podcast Episode 48](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-48/) - FirstPersonPodcast · First Person Podcast Episode 48: Disco Elysium The Final Cut Welcome to a very special 48th episode of the First-Person Podcast. The world is opening back up and gaming backlogs are clogging up with sweet savings from summer sales. With the regular crew on a well-deserved break, we have some fantastic guests from - [First Person Podcast Episode 47](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-47/) - FirstPersonPodcast · First Person Podcast Episode 47: Queer Representation In Gaming Welcome to the 47th episode of First-Person Podcast and Happy Pride Month everybody! This episode we are going to be looking at and talking about queer representation in gaming. Whether it be queer theming, queer performativity, or explicitly queer characters, we want to try - [Interview with Kishonna gray](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/interview-with-kishonna-gray/) - Check out the edited transcript for an interview with Kishonna Gray below! You can also listen to the interview on Soundcloud by clicking here or following this link: https://soundcloud.com/firstpersonpodcast/racial-equity-games-showcase-an-interview-with-kishonna-gray Additionally, if you'd like to see the full transcript, please click here: http://www.firstpersonscholar.com/true-transcript-for-interview-with-kishonna-gray/ Intro P: Welcome, everyone. I'm Pallavi, and today, I have the honor and - [True transcript for Interview with Kishonna Gray](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/true-transcript-for-interview-with-kishonna-gray/) - Racial Equity Games Showcase Interviewee: Dr. Kishonna Gray Interviewer: Pallavi Sodhi Date: April 20, 2021 Intro Pallavi: Welcome everyone. I'm Pallavi and today I have the honor and privilege of speaking with Dr. Kishonna Gray about designing games with racial equity focus. So, a little bit of background to introduce Dr. Kishonna to people at - [Remaking Legitimacy in Final Fantasy VII](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/remaking-legitimacy-in-final-fantasy-vii/) - Ian R. Larson is a Ph.D. student at the University of California, Irvine in the Informatics department. His research focuses on exploring alternative histories of play through analysis of devices, games, and communities that fall at the cultural and geographical gaming peripheries. Welcome to Gaia The game starts with a familiar scene: Cloud Strife, our - [FPS @ CGSA 2021](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/fps-cgsa-2021/) - A word from our managing editor, Patrick: I’m biased. As a fan of game writing, Canadian game conferences, and open access journals, I am really excited for this year’s Canadian Game Studies Association (CGSA) conference. Having only attended once before in 2019, I’m a bit of a greenhorn, but in just that one time, I - [Beyond Elliot Page](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/beyond-elliot-page/) - Editor's note: This article was written before Elliot page came out publicly as a trans man. All instances of his dead name and feminine pronouns have been changed accordingly. The name and pronoun of the character he played in the game have been left as is. Matthew Wysocki is an Associate Professor of Media Studies - [First Person Podcast Episode 46](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-46/) - FirstPersonPodcast · First Person Podcast Episode 46: Player-Narrative Dissonance Welcome to the 46th episode of the First-Person Podcast. This month we aren’t going to be talking about the Ludonarrative Dissonance but focusing on the Player-Narrative Dissonance. How do we ourselves legitimize doing something in a video game world that we are morally opposed to in - [I learn through Paradise, or Disco Inferno?](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/i-learn-through-paradise-or-disco-inferno/) - Francis Butterworth-Parr is a third year English Literature PhD student at the University of Glasgow. He researches the deployment of video games as metaphor in contemporary literary culture. He co-organised the Ludic Literature and Digital Heroisms conferences, and edits for Press Start. He’d live in disco, if only there were room. If we believe game - [Sins of the Father](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/sins-of-the-father/) - Theo Yurevitch is a writer and educator. His fiction can be found in print and online in journals such as Saranac Review, Cosmonauts Avenue, Breakwater Review, and more. He has written about pop culture for numerous publications. When I was a kid, I had a Super Nintendo and two games to pick between: Jurassic Park - [Rediscovering Politics in RPGs](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/rediscovering-politics-in-rpgs/) - Kacper Szozda is a Master’s graduate in electrical engineering from the University of Western Australia, who now works at Horizon Power, one of WA’s state-owned electricity companies. In his spare time, he lurks on Civilization forums. He lives in Perth. Disco Elysium (ZA/UM, 2019) is a role-playing game recently released by the Estonian company ZA/UM. - [First Person Podcast Episode 45](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-45/) - FirstPersonPodcast · First Person Podcast Episode 45: Content Gaming Videos Welcome to the 45th episode of First-Person Podcast. This is the final part of our three-part series that we are doing to examine how games are introduced to us and played with on YouTube. For part three, we are going to be looking at the - [Designing Games for Affect](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/designing-games-for-affect/) - Kaelan Doyle Myerscough is a trans/nonbinary critical creator, game designer, and academic interested in the theory and praxis of worldbuilding. They make games and organize game jams about speculation, complex collaboration, and rethinking the relationship between play and locality. As of 2021, they are currently co-authoring a textbook on critical worldbuilding, teaching introductory game design - [There is No Escape](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/there-is-no-escape/) - Jacob Hamill is an amateur blogger and prospective graduate student with a background in history, archaeology, and cultural anthropology. He is interested in how these subjects intersect with art and entertainment and is currently trying to teach himself how to play mahjong. Hades (2020) is a Greek mythology-themed roguelike video game developed and published by - [First Person Podcast Episode 44](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-44/) - FirstPersonPodcast · First Person Podcast Episode 44 - YouTube Game Analysis Welcome to the 44th episode of First-Person Podcast. This is part two of our three-part series that we are doing to examine how games are introduced to us and played with on YouTube. For part two, we are going to be looking at the - [FPS Direct Spring 2021](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/fps-direct-spring-2021/) - It’s March, and that means spring is almost here! Though, for us in Ontario, it also means we’ll be experiencing “second winter” before summer mysteriously appears. And with a new season comes a new FPS update! We’re very excited to announce and highlight our newest and our upcoming projects geared towards expanding the Games Studies - [Persona 5’s Ann Takamaki is Derailed By The Gender Politics Of Pop Music](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/persona-5s-ann-takamaki-is-derailed-by-the-gender-politics-of-pop-music/) - Stacey Henley is an entertainment reporter who has written for The Washington Post, IGN, Polygon, and more. She's an editor for Into The Spine, and spends her free time discovering new worlds and exploring vast terrains, but only in video games. In real life, she mostly stays home. Persona 5 (Atlus, 2016) is a game - [First Person Podcast Episode 43](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-43/) - FirstPersonPodcast · First Person Podcast Episode 43: Parasocial Play On YouTube To commemorate our transition to YouTube, this is part one of a three-part series that we will be doing to examine how games are introduced to us and played with on YouTube. For part one, we are going to be looking at the Parasocial - [Cinders and Fantasies of Womanhood](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/cinders-and-fantasies-of-womanhood/) - Gabe is an LKAS PhD researcher at the University of Glasgow who studies the Fantastic in single-player video games with a focus on affect, parasocial interaction, and reader reception theory. They are a co-organiser of the Game Studies at Glasgow reading group, Vice Editor of Press Start Journal and a member of the Games and - [Review of Gaming Sexism: Gender and Identity in the Era of Casual Video Games by Amanda Cote](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/review-of-gaming-sexism-gender-and-identity-in-the-era-of-casual-video-games-by-amanda-cote/) - Christopher Paul is a Professor in the Communication and Media Department at Seattle University. He has written The Toxic Meritocracy of Video Games: Why Gaming Culture is the Worst (Minnesota, 2018), Real Games: What’s Legitimate and What’s Not in Contemporary Video Games (MIT, 2019) with Mia Consalvo, and Free-to-Play: Mobile Video Games, Bias, and Norms - [The Hole at the Center of Everything](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-hole-at-the-center-of-everything/) - Ian Faith is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Rhetoric at the University of Iowa. His research and teaching focuses on contemporary literature, new media, and digital cultures. Other works can be found in edited collections, the Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, and the Journal of Games Criticism. I was first drawn to Night in - [Call for Papers: Decolonising Queer Games and Play](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/call-for-papers-special-issue/) - 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 - [Avatar Crossing: Self Representation in Animal Crossing: New Horizons](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/avatar-crossing-self-representation-in-animal-crossing-new-horizons/) - Joe Todd is a PhD Student in Recreation and Leisure Studies at the University of Waterloo. He is interested in studying online socialization through video games, and how that impacts and affects one’s offline life. Joe is a Little Mac main in Smash, and has an Xbox logo tattooed on his body. You can read - [It’s Dangerous to Go Alone](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/its-dangerous-to-go-alone/) - Back in July betsy, Chris, and Rob said their farewells and hinted at some changes for the coming year. After some time at the character selection screen, Sabrina, Patrick, and Lia have been chosen to take up the mantle and continue the adventure that FPS started all those years ago. And what better way to - [A New Year, A New Us +](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/a-new-year-a-new-us/) - We’re back this week with a quick editorial update before we return to our regularly scheduled content this Wednesday. Along with the changing calendar, we’ve got some changing faces on our staff. As we enter into a new year, we’re all thinking about how incredibly thankful we are to each and every reader and contributor - [First Person Podcast Episode 42 - Best Games of 2020](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-42-best-games-of-2020/) - FirstPersonPodcast · First Person Podcast Episode 42: Best Games Of 2020 After the grueling year that has been 2020, we invite you to join us in reminiscing the games that we played over these past 12 months. Come find out what we were busy playing and join us in welcoming our newest cast member, Alex - [Making Good Trouble: A Review of Amanda Phillip’s Gamer Trouble: Feminist Confrontations in Digital Culture](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/making-good-trouble-a-review-of-amanda-phillips-gamer-trouble-feminist-confrontations-in-digital-culture/) - Stephanie Harkin is a PhD student at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. Her research examines designs of girlhood and coming-of-age themes across various videogames. She will play almost any game with a fishing mechanic (but not fishing games) and has necessarily dedicated much of 2020 to Animal Crossing: New Horizons.Vossen, E. (2018). On the - ['This is the Fate I Choose': How a Shakespeare-Hating Game Developer Made the Best Shakespeare Adaptation I’ve Seen All Year](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/this-is-the-fate-i-choose-how-a-shakespeare-hating-game-developer-made-the-best-shakespeare-adaptation-ive-seen-all-year/) - Rebecca Lipperini holds a PhD in English Literature from Rutgers University- New Brunswick. She is a recovering academic and aspiring cruciverbalist, as well as the editor of Wild Greens magazine. The tradition of hating Shakespeare is nearly as old as Shakespeare himself. Elizabethan playwright Robert Greene accused Shakespeare of being “an upstart crow”(Robertoes Tale section, - [Playing Politics During COVID-19: A Scenario for Matt Leacock’s Pandemic](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/playing-politics-during-covid-19-a-scenario-for-matt-leacocks-pandemic/) - Megan Condis is Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at Texas Tech University, where she teaches classes on popular culture, rhetorical criticism, and game studies. She is the author of Gaming Masculinity: Trolls, Fake Geeks, and the Gendered Battle for Online Culture (University of Iowa Press, 2018). She has also published her research in several academic - [Interview: Tanya Kan on Solace State](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-scholar-interviews-solace-state-and-vivid-foundry/) - A Ph.D. student at York University in Toronto, Patrick is also a Co-Managing editor of this publication, where he, along with management duties, edits essays and now does interviews. His research interests include post-retro games, affect, and aesthetics. You can see him talking (and playing) feelings and pixels on his weekly streams for First Person - [Felicity, Framing, Feedback Loops: Historicizing Videogame Performance in Darshana Jayemanne's Performativity in Art, Literature, and Videogames](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/felicity-framing-feedback-loops-historicizing-videogame-performance-in-darshana-jayemannes-performativity-in-art-literature-and-videogames/) - Stephanie C. Jennings is an assistant professor in the College of Education at Michigan State University, where she also serves as Director of the online Master of Arts in Education program. Her research has primarily centered on issues of methodology in the field of game studies, often weaving together considerations of intersectional feminism, epistemological theories, - [First Person Podcast Episode 40](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-40/) - FirstPersonPodcast · First Person Podcast Episode 40: Gaming Architecture Architecture has an unspoken influence over how we navigate and interpret the games we play. So, we are going to talk about it. Today we are going to be taking a look at how the world of our favourite games has been constructed and how gaming - [The Scholar Class in the Tabletop Role-play Party](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-scholar-class-in-the-tabletop-role-play-party/) - Matthew Horrigan is a scholar with an academic interest in video and tabletop games. He seldom plays. But he likes to read, hear and think about play, which reminds him of his original discipline, musicology. Bradley Young is a player and game master ('GM'). He participates in tabletop role-playing games as much as he can: - [Play During Quarantine](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/play-during-quarantine/) - Since the FPS crew are all working at home too right now, we have decided to collect some of our thoughts here on how play factors into our routines along different axes right now. Feel free to join in the discussion either in comments or on our social media channels, and stay safe. Chris: Betsy: Sarah: - [The Queer Games we Play](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-queer-games-we-play/) - betsy brey is a PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo, finishing her dissertation on queering game narratives. She’s been with FPS since 2014, and someone changed her job description on Slack from Editor-in-Chief to “Hollering about Dragon Age.” She plays too much Dungeons and Dragons, has fallen into a World of Warcraft hellhole again, - [Emergent Narratives in Survivor](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/emergent-narratives-in-survivor/) - Yifat Shaik is an Assistant Professor in Computational Arts at York University and an indie game developer whose focus is on creating personal autobiographical work and the use of systems, data, and game mechanics in social interaction and political activism. Her work explores the way “play” can become a powerful way to talk about and - [Skyrim as a Settler-Colonial Text](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/skyrim-as-a-settler-colonial-text/) - Thomas Lecaque is currently an Assistant Professor of History at Grand View University in Des Moines. He earned his PhD at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville in medieval history. His research focuses on medieval southern France and the early crusades, but he is increasingly teaching in both game studies and pre-Columbian American history. The Elder Scrolls - [Interview - Jesper Juul](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/interview-jesper-juul/) - Our first feature interview here on FPS. We begin this on-going series with games scholar and ludologist Jesper Juul. We sat down with Jesper Juul to discuss his latest book, The Art of Failure, as well as his previous publications. Below is a video featuring excerpts from the podcast, as well as the full audio interview (56:41) - [Interview - Brendan Keogh](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/interview-brendan-keogh/) - In the second installment in our feature interview series, we chat with game critic, author, and PhD student Brendan Keogh. We cover a wide range of topics, from Aniwey's Candy Box, to Spec Ops: The Line and the future of Game Studies. We reached Brendan via Skype last Thursday [May 9th, 2013]. Jason Hawreliak: Hey everyone, this is the second - [Queer Games Studies Special Issue](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/queer-games-studies-special-issue/) - Betsy Brey: Welcome to a special edition of the First Person podcast. This week, we’re introducing a queer games and queer making special issue, edited by Jess Marcotte. This special issue was funded by a SSHRC Connection Grant and we wanted to take this opportunity to showcase a conversation between some great queer games scholars. - [Kakwitene VR](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/kakwitene-vr/) - MoniGarr is an Onkwehonwe woman from the Akwesasne Indian Reservation and founder of a small tech company in Akwesasne called ‘MoniGarr.com’. MoniGarr and her team can be reached on social media. Dominant societies expect instant access to every bit and byte of data from the past, present, and future to be defined, categorized and stamped - [A Short Stay In Station Square](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/a-short-stay-in-station-square/) - Alex J. Tunney is interested in video game geography and the art of fighting game super moves. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School. His writing has been published in Lambda Literary Review, The Rumpus, The Billfold, The Inquisitive Eater, Pine Hills Review, and Complete Sentence. I was led to - [First Person Podcast Episode 39:](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-39/) - FirstPersonPodcast · First Person Podcast Episode 39: Monsters In Horror Games First Person Podcast is getting ready for Halloween. On this episode you are joined by, Giuseppe Femia, the FPS Podcast Producer, Sabrina Sgandurra, our new Editor-in-Chief/Book Reviews Editor, Lia Black, our new Co-Managing Editor/Commentaries Editor, and Patrick Dolan, our other new Co-Managing Editor/Essays Editor. - [Guiding the Immigrant God](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/guiding-the-immigrant-god/) - Toben Racicot is a PhD candidate in English at the University of Waterloo. Toben’s research focuses on role-playing games, adaptation theory, and comic book narratives. He is examining player-to-character interactions when characters are adapted from another storytelling medium in Spider-Man and Tomb Raider. Toben is the co-host and producer of The Games Institute Podcast, interviewing student - [Deficit](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/deficit/) - An ADHD goth Queerdo based in Toronto, Gav writes stories that explore neurodivergence, subcultures, and the ways we connect with one another. Game Link https://astralditz.itch.io/deficit Artist Statement To be lacking or deficient is to have a “deficit”. ADHD—Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder—is commonly misunderstood to mean that those who experience it simply have a lack of - [Roguelites, Neoliberalism, and Social Media](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/roguelites-neoliberalism-and-social-media/) - Steven Harvie is currently working on a PhD in English Literature at the University of Glasgow. Using the archive collections held at the National Library of Scotland, he investigates the writing practices and experiences in the publishing industry of renowned Scottish writer, Muriel Spark. Beyond literature, Steven has an abiding interest in games and Games - ["Press A to Shoot"](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/press-a-to-shoot/) - Alexandra Orlando is a PhD student at the University of Waterloo and Associate Commentaries editor at FPS. Her research interests include narrative theory and treating video games as literary texts. Betsy Brey is a doctoral student in English at University of Waterloo and associate essays editor for FPS. She researches game mechanics and narrative. Photo - [Heart Projector](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/heart-projector/) - Christopher B. Patterson is an Assistant Professor in the Social Justice Institute at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of the books Transitive Cultures: Anglophone Literature of the Transpacific (Rutgers University Press, 2018), and Open World Empire: Race, Erotics, and the Global Rise of Video Games (New York University Press, 2020). Heart - [First Person Podcast Episode 38](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-38/) - FirstPersonPodcast · First Person Podcast Episode 38: Companions In Gaming Welcome back to First Person Podcast after our August hiatus. On this episode you are joined by, Giuseppe Femia, the FPS Podcast Producer, Sabrina Sgandurra, our new Editor-in-Chief/Book Reviews Editor, Lia Black, our new Co-Managing Editor/Commentaries Editor, and Patrick Dolan, our other new Co-Managing Editor/Essays - [Building Bridges with Call of Duty: Warzone](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/building-bridges-with-call-of-duty-warzone/) - Porter Simmons is a writer and e-commerce director from Salt Lake City. I had never played online games before social distancing, a result of habit more than anything else. As a teenager living under my parents’ roof, the only thing in our house that was connected to the internet was the family computer, carefully positioned - [Queer Modding](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/queer-modding/) - Katelyn Campbell is a graduate of Ryerson University’s RTA School of Media. She is currently a freelance video editor based out of Montreal. Queer gaming communities have existed nearly as long as video games themselves, yet queer gamers who engage with video games are often forced to exist within digital spaces that do not account - [Board of Discussants](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/board-of-discussants/) - Overview As a weekly online publication, First Person Scholar has always embraced timeliness in respect to publishing articles. Now we can add timeliness in respect to feedback as well. With our newly established Board of Discussants, contributors can expect a response from a discussant versed in the subject matter of their article. The Board itself is comprised of - [Editorial Staff](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/critical-players/) - Staff Editor-in-Chief Emma Vossen Managing Editor Emma Vossen Essays Section Editor: Betsy Brey Associate Editor: Judy Ehrentraut Commentaries Section Editor: Alexandra Orlando Associate Editor: Phil Miletic Book Reviews Section Editor: Chris Lawrence Associate Editor: Elise Vist Podcasts Producer: Elise Vist Assistant Editors Rob Parker Copy Editors Alex Fleck Justin Carpenter Nicholas Hobin Travis - [About First Person Scholar](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/about/) - About FPS At First Person Scholar we seek to develop and expand the role of the game critic. Historically speaking, games have proceeded from industry-driven production to mainstream-media guided reception (i.e. industry-sponsored games magazines and websites). Within this dynamic the game critic—as an informed figure capable of bringing context to games–has been largely irrelevant. We - [Newsgames](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/newsgames-journalism-at-play/) - Michael Hancock is the Book Reviews editor on First Person Scholar. He is a PhD candidate in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo. Currently, his grey matter is engaged in writing a dissertation on the use of image-based and text-based rhetoric in videogames. In his 2007 book Persuasive Games, - [Morality After the Apocalypse](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/dayz-and-kenneth-burke/) - My name is Kent Aardse. I'm the Commentaries editor on First Person Scholar. Currently I'm a PhD student in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo. My research explores how narrative and rule-based games may be the two most fundamental types of activity that characterize the human mind, and I believe the - [The Binding of Procedure](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-binding-of-procedure/) - Michael Hancock is the Book Reviews editor on First Person Scholar. He is a PhD candidate in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo. Currently, his grey matter is engaged in writing a dissertation on the use of image-based and text-based rhetoric in videogames. “Did he who made the Lamb - [Persuasive Processes](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/procedural-rhetoric-deus-ex/) - My name is Steve Wilcox. I’m the Editor-in-Chief on First Person Scholar. I'm mid-stride in my Ph.D. in English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo. My research looks at the ontological nature of objects, games among them, as irreducible entities that escape mediation. Procedural rhetoric is the core concept behind Ian Bogost’s Persuasive Games. - [In Defense of Procedurality](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/procedural-rhetoric-civ3/) - My name is Jason Hawreliak. I'm the Essays editor on First Person Scholar. I'm in the midst of finishing up my Ph.D. in English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo. My research examines the cultural and psychological functions of gaming and gamer culture. I want to write a bit of a defense of Bogost’s “procedural rhetoric,” - [The Language of Gaming](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-language-of-gaming/) - Michael Hancock is the Book Reviews editor on First Person Scholar. He is a PhD candidate in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo. Currently, his grey matter is engaged in writing a dissertation on the use of image-based and text-based rhetoric in videogames. “The success of videogames relies heavily - [Über Other](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/uber-other/) - My name is Jason Hawreliak. I'm the Essays editor on First Person Scholar. I'm in the midst of finishing up my Ph.D. in English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo. My research examines the cultural and psychological functions of gaming and gamer culture. In her 2011 book Reality is Broken (2011), Jane McGonigal argues that videogames - [Horrific Controls](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/horrific-controls/) - My name is Kent Aardse. I'm the Commentaries editor on First Person Scholar. Currently I'm a PhD student in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo. My research explores how narrative and rule-based games may be the two most fundamental types of activity that characterize the human mind, and I believe the - [The Talking Dead](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-talking-dead/) - The opening message that begins each episode of Telltale Games’ adaptation of The Walking Dead comic book series reminds players: “This game series adapts to the choices you make. The story is tailored by how you play.” Right off the bat, players are given a certain expectation of agency and ownership over the game’s development, an expectation - [Reality Is Broken](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/reality-is-broken/) - My name is Jason Hawreliak. I'm the Essays editor on First Person Scholar. I'm in the midst of finishing up my Ph.D. in English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo. My research examines the cultural and psychological functions of gaming and gamer culture. “Where, in the real world, is that gamer sense of being fully - [Ludic Topology](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/ludic-topology/) - Recently my research has taken a turn towards Michel Serres and his complex, topological conceptions of space and time. In "Topologies: Michel Serres and the Shapes of Thought," Steven Connor lucidly describes Serres’ work across a range of subjects and texts. In a subsection entitled “Ethics and Topology” Connor offers the following summary: “The reason for - [Kill to Progress](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/kill-to-progress/) - Bret Easton Ellis’ 1991 novel American Psycho begins with a hundred pages of aggressively banal descriptions of 80s yuppie life. . Knowing the novel’s reputation before I picked it up, it was around page 50 that I wondered when Bateman would justify this tedious story and get down to murdering these irredeemable jerks. And he does. The - [Rise of the Videogame Zinesters](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/rise-of-the-videogame-zinesters/) - “What videogames need right now is to grow up. The videogame industry has spent millions upon millions of dollars to develop more visually impressive ways for a space marine to kill a monster. What they’ve invested almost nothing in is finding better ways to tell a story, and in exploring different stories to tell. That’s - [Sustainable Fiction](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/sustainable-fiction/) - Heavy Rain exists in the amorphous folds of generic labeling brought about by the blurred boundaries of digital media. What do I mean by this? Simply, that with increasing frequency artifacts are being created which do not fit neatly into already established categories. Heavy Rain (Quantic Dream, 2010) is one such artifact. In one sense, it’s clearly a - [Where Games Take Place](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/where-games-take-place/) - If you’re like me, a videogame’s music is a big part of the overall play experience. I remember games like Fallout 3 (Bethesda, 2008) and Bastion (Supergiant Games, 2011) for their soundtracks as much as for their gameplay. Sometimes I would stop “playing” these games just to enjoy the atmosphere created by the music, even - [Wordplay and Video Games](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/wordplay-and-video-games/) - ‘In the wake of ‘big rhetoric’, the tools of rhetorical analysis offer a perspective for scholars interested in studying how knowledge and situated truths are established in and surrounding games. Rhetoric can address the entire discursive environment of gaming as virtually everything can be described as rhetorical’ (Christopher A. Paul p. 6). At a rhetoric conference - [Procedural Diegesis](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/procedural-diegesis/) - Let’s talk about narration and videogames. In this case, narration refers to a game’s story, as told by the writers and the game engine. When there is discord between narrators, the story suffers, and when there is harmony, the narrative is more persuasive. Let’s call this element of storytelling ‘procedural diegesis,’ knowing that it involves treating - [The Heroic Medium](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-heroic-medium/) - A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man. - Joseph Campbell, The Hero With a Thousand Faces. - [The Other Difficulty Mode](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-other-difficulty-mode/) - Samantha Allen is a transgender woman, ex-Mormon and a PhD student in Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Emory University writing a dissertation on sexual fetishism. She writes regularly for The Border House and has contributed to Kotaku and Medium Difficulty. She is also an erstwhile singer-songwriter. You can find her on the web or - [Utopic Dreams](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/utopic-dreams/) - Michael Hancock is the Book Reviews editor on First Person Scholar. He is a PhD candidate in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo. Currently, his grey matter is engaged in writing a dissertation on the use of image-based and text-based rhetoric in videogames. “In this case, competitive players with - [Acting Social](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/acting-social/) - Recently, my research on new media performance has led me to investigate the interface between performativity and video games. Having played the one-act interactive drama game, Façade (2006), whereby the player is invited to salvage the failing marriage between Grace and Trip through a series of dialogical exchanges with them, I am interested in examining - [Allegorithmic Art](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/allegorithmic-art/) - Are videogames art? The question has sparked heated debate in recent years, perhaps most notoriously in 2010, when film critic Roger Ebert published a piece in the Chicago Sun-Times stating quite brashly that “Video games can never be art.” Although Ebert later issued an apology, it seems that the gaming community has been fighting to prove him wrong - [Mimesis as Make-believe](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/mimesis-as-make-believe/) - Michael Hancock is the Book Reviews editor on First Person Scholar. He is a PhD candidate in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo. Currently, his grey matter is engaged in writing a dissertation on the use of image-based and text-based rhetoric in videogames. “In order to understand paintings, plays, - [Voluntary Constraints](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/voluntary-constraints/) - In Cheating: Gaining Advantage in Video Games (2007) Mia Consalvo borrows “paratexts,” a term coined by French literary theorist Gerard Genette, to describe the array of walkthroughs, strategy guides, gaming magazines, marketing materials, and fan sites that contextualize and inform a player’s experience with a videogame. Closely associated with the production of these paratexts is - [Video Games for Health](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/video-games-for-health/) - While commentators in the health and technology sectors frequently tout the potential of video games to enhance patient involvement in their own healthcare and to provide avenues for interactive health education, this enthusiasm seems yet to be fully supported by developments in the health or gaming industries. Video games for health are a relatively new - [The Greatest Victory](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-greatest-victory/) - "We admire most the courage to face death; we give such valor our highest and most constant adoration; it moves us deeply in our hearts because we have doubts about how brave we ourselves would be. When we see a man bravely facing his own extinction we rehearse the greatest victory we can imagine." - - [Autis(i)m & Representation](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/autisim-and-representation/) - Simulating Autism Auti-Sim was developed during the 2013 Hacking Health Vancouver hackathon, an event designed to foster collaboration between health experts, programmers, and designers. The first-person simulation game, created in the unity engine and playable in browser, immerses the player in a children's playground and uses overpowering sound effects and visual distortion to raise awareness - [Dungeons, Dragons, & Digital Denizens](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/dungeons-dragons-and-digital-denizens/) - Michael Hancock is the Book Reviews editor on First Person Scholar. He is a PhD candidate in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo. Currently, his grey matter is engaged in writing a dissertation on the use of image-based and text-based rhetoric in videogames. “What has been learned from games - [Playing with Identity](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-witcher-2/) - One of the ironies of writing a Game Studies dissertation is that after a while, there isn’t really time to play any games. At some point I had to focus all my attention on writing and just get it over with. So once I finished writing, my "to-play" list had grown quite large. As a - [Pipe Trouble](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/pipetrouble/) - Michael Hancock is the Book Reviews editor on First Person Scholar. He is a PhD candidate in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo. Currently, his grey matter is engaged in writing a dissertation on the use of image-based and text-based rhetoric in videogames. One of the perennial questions of - [Where's the Sex?](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/wheres-the-sex/) - Comic Books and Soap Operas Just over a month ago, Robert Kirkman sat down for an interview on BBC America to discuss what makes his series The Walking Dead a transmedia success. Amid groans and jokes from other men on set, Kirkman spoke about his series for what it is: a soap opera. He explained - [Feed-Forward Scholarship](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/feed-forward-scholarship/) - We have an opportunity to influence the production and reception of games. But not as observers and commentators. In the next few pages I will outline two major forms of scholarship. One relies on feedback and the other on feed-forward. Let’s start with the former. Feedback scholarship shares a number of similarities with cybernetics. The - [Villainy in the 21st Century](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/villainy-in-the-21st-century/) - Overview Kurtz (Heart of Darkness), the surveillance state (1984), Mr. Hyde (Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde), and the monster (Dr. Frakenstein): all are nuanced antagonistic forces that propel their respective narratives in order to address social and ethical issues. Compare that with an ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor, a planet approaching ecological disaster, an - [The Legend of Zelda](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-legend-of-zelda/) - Emma Vossen is a second year PhD student at the University of Waterloo who specializes in depictions of gender, sexuality, and the body in comics, video games, and pornography. Her recent publications examine a variety of topics including the fetish art of Joe Shuster, the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon and The Walking Dead. You can read about - [Meaningful Play](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/meaningful-play/) - Judy Ehrentraut is a PhD student at the University of Waterloo who specializes in reading the transformations of the human body in the posthuman digital era. Her research interests include agency and identity in cyberspace, spatial theory, simulated reality, the digitized body, and cyborgism. You can read more of her work at here. Educational and/or serious - [Interview - Jesper Juul](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/interview-jesper-juul-transcript/) - Opening Bio: Jesper Juulis the author of three books on videogames, starting with Half-Real back in 2005, followed by A Casual Revolution in 2010, and most recently The Art of Failure in 2013. He is currently a visiting assistant professor at the New York University Game Centre. And he joins me now to talk about - [The Games Canon; or Canon Games](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-games-canon-or-canon-games/) - Michael Hancock is the Book Reviews editor on First Person Scholar. He is a PhD candidate in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo. Currently, his grey matter is engaged in writing a dissertation on the use of image-based and text-based rhetoric in videogames. My first thought when I sat - [Meta-Commentary](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/meta-commentary/) - [The following article contains spoilers regarding The Last of Us involving a conversation between the two main characters. It is unrelated to the main plot but may be considered a crucial moment of character building.] In a crucial moment in Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us, after Ellie has narrowly escaped being raped by another - [Hybrid Publishing](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-case-for-the-middle-state/) - In our interview with Brendan Keogh a while back, I asked him about the state of contemporary game studies. In particular, I asked him if he thought contemporary academic models were ill-suited to a medium which seems to change so rapidly, and I was a little surprised by his answer: "at first I was very - [Interpellation & Apocalypse](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/interpellation-and-the-apocalypse/) - Meghan Blythe Adams is a PhD candidate at the University of Western Ontario. Her main areas of interest in game studies are player death, difficulty settings, and the submissive elements of play. American game developer thatgamecompany is known for producing innovative games intended to provide players with moving, thought-provoking play experiences. In their most recent - [Modal Rhetoric](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/modal-rhetoric/) - Jason Hawreliak received his Ph.D. in English from the University of Waterloo. His research examines rhetorics of heroism and immortality in videogames. Other research interests include multimodal rhetoric and the psychological function of digital media. He is essays editor for First Person Scholar Before our August hiatus, I wrote that game critics and theorists need to - [DOOM](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/doom/) - Michael Hancock is a PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo, and book reviews editor at FPS. He is also sad no one has yet submitted a review of McKenzie Wark’s Gamer Theory. "This is a book about the most important first-person game ever made, about the blueprint that has defined one of the most - [From Monopoly to Metal Gear](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/from-monopoly-to-metal-gear/) - Steve Wilcox is editor-in-chief of First Person Scholar. He is also a PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo, where he studies the intersection between ludology and intersubjectivity. Let’s talk about satire and games for a moment. Where these two intersect successfully we find critical, thought-provoking works that challenge contemporary social, cultural, political, or ideological - [I Put on my Robe & Wizard Hat](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/i-put-on-my-robe-and-wizard-hat/) - Ashley Brown recently completed her PhD at the University of Manchester in sociology. Her thesis, entitled ‘Sex Between Frames: An exploration of online and tabletop erotic role play’, focused on how role players involve erotic content into their games and what this particular type of play means for conceptions of sexuality. [Disclaimer: some mentions of rape and sexual violence] - [Playing for Transcendence](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/playing-for-transcendence/) - Transhumanism [This commentary contains spoilers.] In Deus Ex: Human Revolution (2011), the player controls Adam Jensen, the chief of security at Sarif Industries. Human Revolution is a role-playing first-person shooter that takes place in 2027. The game commences with an attack on Sarif Industries, and with your discovery, upon reawakening from surgery, that the company - [Interview - Cameron Kunzelman](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/interview-cameron-kunzelman/) - In the third instalment of First Person Scholar’s interview series, essays editor Jason Hawreliak chats with Cameron Kunzelman about Grand Theft Auto V, satire, archiving, game design and games criticism. We reached Cameron via Skype. FPS: In the next instalment of our interview series here at FPS, I’m joined today by Cameron Kunzelman. Cameron is - [The Art of Papers, Please](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-art-of-papers-please/) - There’s a certain dehumanizing impulse that comes with mastering game systems. It is articulated through the dissonance between Nathan Drake as-he-appears-in-cutscenes and the Nathan Drake whose actions correspond to a controller’s thumbsticks. It is the reason why genetic algorithms have been used to plan the “perfect” build order in StarCraft 2. Processes are fertile ground for privileging - [Quests](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/quests/) - One of the benefits of reading older works on game design in newer contexts is that they provide a snapshot of the industry’s past. The concerns, strategies and aspirations of the past can act as a lens through which we can judge the state of things today. In an industry that regularly divides time up - [Interview - Chris Bateman](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/interview-chris-bateman/) - Chris Bateman is a philosopher, game designer, and author – and has a doctorate (pending corrections) in game aesthetics, to boot. He has written a series of books on game design and philosophy, the most recent of which are Imaginary Games and The Mythology of Evolution. In game design, he was lead game designer and - [Interview - Chris Bateman](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/interview-chris-bateman-partii/) - Chris Bateman is a philosopher, game designer, and author – and has a doctorate (pending corrections) in game aesthetics, to boot. He has written a series of books on game design and philosophy, the most recent of which are Imaginary Games and The Mythology of Evolution. In game design, he was lead game designer and writer for games - [Take Me To Your Breeder](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/take-me-to-your-breeder/) - Meghan Blythe Adams is a PhD candidate at the University of Western Ontario. Her main areas of interest in game studies are player death, difficulty settings, and the submissive elements of play. This commentary aims to raise questions about the mandatory performance and privileging of particular sexual identities in videogames, first through examining the explicitly - [A Game of Gazes](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/a-game-of-gazes/) - Miguel Penabella is a freelancer and comparative literature academic who worships at the temple of cinema but occasionally bears libations to videogames. His written offerings can be found on Pixels or Death and Medium Difficulty. Given that Goichi Suda so thoroughly and openly engages in reflexive gaming commentary within his many eclectic works, the generally negative reception with - [Interview - Jason Nelson](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/interview-jason-nelson/) - Jason Nelson creates interactive digital art and poetry and prose wonderments. He currently lives in Australia and is an academic at Griffith University in the Gold Coast, although he was born on the stormy farm filled plains of Oklahoma. You can play with his digital creatures here and here. Part One: Electronic Literature [You can read Jason's wonderful, interactive - [FPS - Year One](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/fps-year-one/) - First Person Scholar turns a year old today. Over the past year we have published: 47 articles 300 pages or 114,00 words 18 essays 14 commentaries 12 book reviews 3 editorials 5 interviews 4 podcasts We've also enjoyed: 29,277 visits 45,475 pageviews In the next few weeks we will also be announcing an exciting next - [Dark Souls Roundtable](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/dark-souls-roundtable/) - In this FPS podcast we’re talking about the game everyone hates to love, Dark Souls. FPS’ Jason Hawreliak, Michael Hancock and Rob Parker were joined by UWO professor Jonathan Boulter via Skype. They discuss difficulty, Heidegger, spatiality, narrative and aesthetics. SPOILERS AHEAD. Download. - [The Game Culture Reader](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-game-culture-reader/) - Michael Hancock is the Book Reviews editor on First Person Scholar. He is a PhD candidate in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo. Currently, his grey matter is engaged in writing a dissertation on the use of image-based and text-based rhetoric in videogames. “We propose in this collection that - [Real Soccer](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/real-soccer/) - Tim Sheinman is an Educational Psychology post graduate and teacher. He lives and works in London, England. He specialises in group psychology and team dynamics and is an avid, if occasionally frustrated gamer. September annually marks season's beginnings for Europe’s major soccer leagues and with it the release of a new FIFA from EA Sports. - [Spectacular Mortality](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/spectacular-mortality/) - Meghan Blythe Adams is a PhD candidate at the University of Western Ontario. Her main areas of interest in game studies are player death, difficulty settings, and the submissive elements of play. Death in the game is a rupture not merely of the narrative of the game or the experience of play, but the player’s - [Unified Games](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/unified-games/) - Paul Bills is an English student at Brigham Young University focusing on the connection between videogames and literature. In recent years, the open world philosophy of game design has moved from innovative exception to nearly the norm. The idea of completely fleshed-out spaces that are fully interactive and explorable has gripped the minds of players - [Shared Fantasy](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/shared-fantasy/) - Galen Fogarty is a PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo, writing a dissertation on the place of discrete technological objects in Canadian science fiction. He has been playing RPGs for less than a year, but thinks he knows what to do with a d20. Shared Fantasy: Role-Playing as Social Worlds by Gary Alan Fine - [Interview - Elaine Biddiss](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/interview-elaine-biddiss/) - Dr. Elaine Biddiss is a scientist with the Bloorview Research Institute at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital and an Assistant Professor with the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto. Her research is oriented around the creation of assistive devices, including videogames, that can benefit children and youth with disabilities. First Person - [What We're Playing](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/what-were-playing/) - Michael Hancock is a PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo, and book reviews editor at FPS. He is also sad no one has yet submitted a review of McKenzie Wark’s Gamer Theory. Epi(c)texts and Ni No Kuni by Michael Hancock At the moment, I’m playing Level-5 and Studio Ghibli’s Ni No Kuni: Wrath of - [Infinite Typewriters](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/infinite-typewriters/) - Felan Parker is a PhD candidate (ABD) in Communication & Culture at York University in Toronto, specializing in digital game studies and cinema and media studies. He holds an MA and BA (Hon.) in Film Studies from Carleton University. His dissertation examines the cultural legitimation of digital games as art, and other research interests include - [Circuits of Interactivity](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/circuits-of-interactivity/) - Timothy J. Welsh is an assistant professor of English at Loyola University New Orleans where he teaches in the Film + Digital Media concentration. His current book project—Mixed Realism: A Theory of Fiction for Wired Culture—is forthcoming on Minnesota Press. Advocating for videogames can be paradoxical. Often the very features praised for making videogames a - [The Gamer Identity Crisis](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-gamer-identity-crisis/) - Dr. Rachel Kowert is an associate researcher at the University of Münster where her research focuses on the social impact of online video game play. She also serves on the board of the Digital Games Research Association and the Game Studies SIG of the International Communication Association. [This post originally appeared on VG Researcher. - [Games & Embodied Cognition](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/games-and-embodied-cognition/) - Jonne Arjoranta is a PhD candidate at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, where he researches and teaches games. His main research interest is studying the structures of meaning found in games, and he is working on a dissertation on game hermeneutics. He has published on play, meaning in games, game definitions and the media perception - [Interview - Soha Kareem](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/soha-kareem/) - Soha Kareem is a Toronto-based games writer and maker specializing in race and sexuality. In this instalment of First Person Scholar's interview series, essays editor Jason Hawreliak speaks with Soha Kareem about Twine, her game Penalties, gaming culture and games criticism. FPS: Hey everyone, in today's interview we’ll be talking with MA student, game critic and game-maker, Soha - [Greenshifting Game Studies](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/greenshifting-game-studies/) - Dr. Hans-Joachim Backe is Lecturer at the Department of General and Comparative Literature at the Ruhr-University Bochum. His research topics include: game studies, general narrative theory, media theory, & popular culture (especially film, comics and computer games). Every time I talk or write about ecology as a tool or merely an inspiration for hermeneutic approaches to cultural - [Silent Hill](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/silent-hill/) - Kaitlin Tremblay is an editor, writer, and new Twine-r who focuses on using horror to discuss mental health issues and feminism. She has a MA in English Literature and Film, and tweets about Godzilla and her own clumsiness a lot. Why We’re Afraid of the Dark A Review of Bernard Perron's Silent Hill: The Terror Engine - [The Games People Replay](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-games-people-replay/) - Michael Lutz is a PhD student in English literature at Indiana University-Bloomington. His interests include Shakespeare and early modern drama, the intersections of posthumanist theory with Renaissance humanism, and relationships between media. In a 2009 paper, Clara Fernández-Vara highlighted the use of theater as a model for understanding how studies of videogames and performance - [What We're Playing Vol II](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/what-were-playing-vol2/) - Elise Vist is a second-year PhD student interested in autobiographical games as well as fan studies. In particular, she focuses on the negotiations of power between creators and their audiences. She is also a co-founder of the GI Janes, a group devoted to encouraging women in Kitchener/Waterloo to make, play, and talk about games. Character Constraints - [In the Shadow of Tomorrow](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/johan-huizinga-in-the-shadow-of-tomorrow/) - Jason Hawreliak received his Ph.D. in English from the University of Waterloo. His research examines rhetorics of heroism & immortality in videogames. Other research interests include multimodal rhetoric & the psychological function of digital media. He is essays editor for First Person Scholar. Johan Huizinga remains a looming figure in game studies. Almost every discussion about - [When Friday is a Vegetable](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/when-friday-is-a-vegetable/) - Joey DiZoglio is a student at Brown University studying English and intending on entering Alpert Medical School. In the meantime he hopes to complete a thesis on the remapping of American gothic space in the works of H.P. Lovecraft. His command of language better be as good as his command of pikmin. In the 2001 - [The Naked Dungeon](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-naked-dungeon/) - mrghosty (aka skot deeming) is an artist, curator, researcher and doctoral student in Concordia University's Individualized Program in the Humanities. skot is also a researcher at Concordia's Amplab, & TAGlab. He investigates the intersections between gamer cultures, hacker cultures and new media art practices. "The atmosphere of a few places gave us a few intimations of the future - [The Mobile Story](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-mobile-story/) - Lauren Burr is a PhD candidate and HASTAC Scholar in the English Department at the University of Waterloo, writing a dissertation on critical locative and pervasive media. She also dabbles in game studies and spends too much time on Twitter. The Mobile Story Narrative Practices with Locative Technologies Edited by Jason Farman “Throughout this book, - [Interview - Christine Love](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/interview-christine-love/) - Christine Love is a video game designer. Her work includes Digital: A Love Story, Analogue: A Hate Story and Hate Plus. In this installment of First Person Scholar’s Interview series, Essays Co-editor Meghan Blythe Adams speaks to Christine Love about vulnerability, sexuality, and whether love really does conquer all. [The following text has been edited - [Motorville & the Portal-Quest](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/motorville-the-portal-quest/) - Michael Hancock is a PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo, and book reviews editor at FPS. He is also sad no one has yet submitted a review of Michael P William's Chrono Trigger. The issue of whether a videogame should be studied as a game or a narrative has, to put it mildly, been - [Identification or Desire?](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/identification-or-desire/) - Gerald Voorhees (Ph.D., The University of Iowa, 2008) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Drama and Speech Communication at the University of Waterloo. His research focuses on games and new media as sites for the construction and contestation of identity and culture. Gerald is co-editor of Bloomsbury’s Approaches to Game Studies book series. - [Useful, Joyful, Willful](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/useful-joyful-willful/) - Jörgen Skågeby is an assistant professor at the Department of Media Studies at Stockholm University, Sweden. His research bridges areas such as online sharing, media archaeology and critical design studies. Currently, he studies the domestication of the home computer, imagined interaction and postsocial media. Introduction In this paper I outline three perspectives that emphasize different - [A Working Theory of Game Design](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/a-working-theory-of-game-design/) - Dr. Paul Ralph is a Lecturer in Information Systems at Lancaster University & director of the Lancaster University Design Practices Lab. His work focuses on the empirical study of designers. Dr. Kafui Monu focuses on analysing, & gathering information about, employees' decision-making processes. His new area of research looks at creating better purposeful games. When considering how - [Game Studies](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/game-studies/) - Dominic Arsenault is an assistant professor at the Department of art history and film studies at the Université de Montréal. Audrey Larochelle just graduated with an M.A. in film studies from this department. Dominic launched, and Audrey worked as research assistant for a research project on graphical technologies and innovation in the video game industry. The State - [Interview - Merritt Kopas](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/interview-merritt-kopas/) - Merritt Kopas is a multimedia artist and game-designer. Her work includes LIM, HUGPUNX and Consensual Torture Simulator. She also curates free, accessible games at her online project forest ambassador. FPS Essays co-editor Meghan Blythe Adams spoke to Merritt Kopas during a break at the 2014 Feminist Porn Conference, at which Kopas was a presenter. FPS: - [Pseudo Game Jam](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/pseudo-game-jam/) - We're hosting a game jam! Well, not quite--it's a pseudo game jam. It's not located anywhere and you don't have to program anything. We're looking for written descriptions of the processes and procedures that make up a game. We call them procedural poems (see the example below). Here's what you need to know: The prize (valued at up - [Interview - Merritt Kopas](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/interview-merritt-kopas-part-ii/) - Merritt Kopas is a multimedia artist and game-designer. Her work includes LIM, HUGPUNX and Consensual Torture Simulator. She also curates free, accessible games at her online project forest ambassador. FPS Essays co-editor Meghan Blythe Adams spoke to Merritt Kopas during a break at the 2014 Feminist Porn Conference, at which Kopas was a presenter. Here - [An Uneven Partnership](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/an-uneven-partnership/) - Lindsey is a PhD student at University of Texas at Dallas where she is studying agency in digital interactive narrative games and teaching New Media. She is also a contributor at Critical-Distance and spends too much time on twitter. It’s no secret that digital games have a problem with gender representations. Research shows that women are vastly - [Interview - Porpentine](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/interview-porpentine/) - Porpentine is indisputably one of the most important and challenging game designers and writers of recent memory. Her 2012 game, Howling Dogs, won the 2012 XYZZY awards for “best story” and “best writing” and her 2013 game their angelical understanding won a XYZZY award in 2013 for "best writing." (And this barely scratches the surface of her extensive - [One Year](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/one-year/) - Meghan Blythe Adams is a PhD candidate at the University of Western Ontario. Her main areas of interest in game studies are player death, difficulty settings, and the submissive elements of play. Previous editorials at First Person Scholar have correctly discussed the important position held by middle-state publishing. I’m inclined, however, to talk a bit more personally - [Videogames and Empathy](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/videogames-and-empathy/) - Steve Wilcox is editor-in-chief of First Person Scholar. He is a PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo, where he studies the intersection between ludology and intersubjectivity. Videogames and empathy—you could hardly be blamed for thinking that these two things have very little in common. Just last week Polygon published an opinion essay titled “No - [Pseudo Game Jam](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/pseudogamejamgroupa/) - The results are in! We received 31 procedural poems throughout the month of July. The poems were then anonymized, and distributed to three editors each, where they were scored for clarity, how well they fit the theme, and their ingenuity. Based on those scores we have narrowed it down to 6 finalists. But rather than posting all the poems and finalists - [Pseudo Game Jam](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/pseudogamejamgroupb/) - The results are in! We received 31 procedural poems throughout the month of July. The poems were then anonymized, and distributed to three editors each, where they were scored for clarity, how well they fit the theme, and their ingenuity. Based on those scores we have narrowed it down to 6 finalists. But rather than posting all the poems and finalists - [Pseudo Game Jam](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/pseudogamejamgroupc/) - The results are in! We received 31 procedural poems throughout the month of July. The poems were then anonymized, and distributed to three editors each, where they were scored for clarity, how well they fit the theme, and their ingenuity. Based on those scores we have narrowed it down to 6 finalists. But rather than posting all the poems and finalists - [Pseudo Game Jam Winners 2014](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/pseudo-game-jam-winners-2014/) - After receiving 33 submissions for the FPS editors managed to narrow a fantastic selection of procedural poems down to 6 finalists. From those 6 we then engaged in a lengthy debate as to which one should be declared the winner of the first (annual?) Pseudo Game Jam. And, at the end of that debate, we decided that...declaring just one - [Mourning Sex](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/mourning-sex/) - Gerald Voorhees (Ph.D., The University of Iowa, 2008) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Drama and Speech Communication at the University of Waterloo. His research focuses on games and new media as sites for the construction and contestation of identity and culture. Gerald is co-editor of Bloomsbury’s Approaches to Game Studies book series. - [On 'Gamers' And Identity](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/on-gamers-and-identity/) - Liz Ryerson is an independent game designer, composer, writer, and digital artist. Her work aims to re-evaluate the ways we experience and understand digital spaces - and examine the strange, forgotten threads of game history that might lead us into new territory. Her game 'Problem Attic' explores the troubled psychological landscapes of its protagonist through - [Living the Dream](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/living-the-dream/) - Miguel Penabella is a freelancer and comparative literature academic who worships at the temple of cinema but occasionally bears libations to videogames. His written offerings can be found on Thumbsticks, Pixels or Death, and Medium Difficulty, and he blogs on Invalid Memory. What happens when videogames frustrate narrative lucidity and the expected norms of play? Every Day the - ["Smoky-Room Communist Meetings"](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/smoky-room-communist-meetings/) - Emma Vossen is a third year PhD student at the University of Waterloo and the Commentaries editor at FPS. She specializes in depictions of gender, sexuality, and the body in comics, video games, and pornography. What the Heck is Happening in Games Right Now? August was a terrible month to be a games critic. It was a terrible - [Blasto Sacer](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/blasto-sacer/) - Luke Arnott is a PhD candidate in the Media Studies program at the University of Western Ontario. Luke's research interests are focused on genre theory and the epic, specifically its manifestation in new narrative contexts in media such as video games and comic books. Expanding state power has clashed repeatedly with the rights of citizens - [Intimate Publics](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/intimate-publics/) - Emma Vossen is a third year PhD student at the University of Waterloo and the Commentaries editor at FPS. She specializes in depictions of gender, sexuality, and the body in comics, videogames, and pornography. You may have caught a piece we ran last week that discussed GamerGate broadly as a movement. This commentary is Part 2 of that - [Let's Roleplay](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/lets-roleplay/) - Rob Gallagher is a postdoctoral researcher working at Concordia University’s Technoculture, Art and Games lab. His research considers videogame aesthetics in relation to questions of temporality, embodiment and gendered identity. While game studies has had plenty to say about roleplaying games (RPGs), and particularly about Massively Multiplayer RPGs, less attention has been paid to roleplay - [A Game Design Vocabulary](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/a-game-design-vocabulary/) - Sebastian Atay is just happy to be here. He likes games, ephemera, overthinking things, and trying not to be a terrible human being. “This is a book about game design – videogame design, specifically. In 2014. Why? We’ve been making digital games for more than 50 years, if you take Tennis For Two (1958) as - ['We Will Force Gaming to Be Free'](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/we-will-force-gaming-to-be-free/) - Katherine Cross is a feminist sociologist, working on her PhD at the CUNY Graduate Centre. Her writing has also appeared in Women's Studies Quarterly, Bitch Magazine, Questioning Transphobia, and Kotaku. She is a co-editor of the Border House. “The end justifies the means. But what if there never is an end? All we have is - [Rapture Through Russell](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/rapture-through-russell/) - Ciarán Ó Muirthile is an Irish video game essayist who owes it all to Deus Ex. You can follow him on Twitter or on Real Life, he's great conversation on both. Many commentators and reporters have ascribed the downfall of BioShock's Rapture – the Adam addicts, the horrifying cruelty and the shocking race towards self destruction - [Heterotopia & Play](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/heterotopia-play/) - Tobias Unterhuber is a PhD candidate and lecturer at the Institute for German Literature at LMU Munich. He is also an editor and author for the e-journal Paidia. His research interests include game studies, gender studies, pop literature, economization of culture, literary and media theory. Editor's Note: First Person Scholar has paired up with Paidia, one - [The Tyranny of Realism](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-tyranny-of-realism/) - Adrienne Shaw is an assistant professor in the Department of Media Studies and Production at Temple University and a Media and Communications PhD program faculty member. Her primary areas of interest are video games, gaming culture, the politics of representation, and qualitative audience research. I confess to having a love-hate relationship with Assassin’s Creed. Every game in the series - [Interview - Liz England](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/interview-liz-england/) - Liz England is a game designer at Insomniac Games. She has degrees in English Literature and Interactive Media. Over the past six years she has worked on titles such as Saints Row 2, Scribblenauts, and the recently-released Sunset Overdrive. She has also created a number of games for jams such as Ludum Dare & Asylum Jam. Background FPS: On your - [Casual Surveillance](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/casual-surveillance/) - Stephanie Vie is an Associate Professor of Writing and Rhetoric at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. Her research focuses on online social networking and computer games, particularly how these technologies affect literate practices and the composition classroom. She is a Reviews Co-Editor for Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy. Her work - [Nordic LARP](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/nordic-larp/) - Oscar Strik is a writer from the Netherlands who is on the brink of finishing his PhD thesis in historical linguistics. He writes about games for The Ontological Geek and about music on Evening of Light. Live Action Role-Play(ing), or LARP, is a type of playful activity incorporating elements from (tabletop) role-playing games, improvisational theatre, - [Procedural Realism](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/procedural-realism/) - Steve Wilcox is editor-in-chief of First Person Scholar. He is a PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo, where he studies the intersection between ludology and intersubjectivity. In this post I develop the concept of procedural realism in videogames. By procedural realism I mean those game processes that strive to represent real-world systems in a - [Video Game Spaces](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/video-game-spaces/) - Michael Hancock is a PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo, and book reviews editor at FPS. He is also sad no one has yet submitted a review of any gamebooks from the Fighting Fantasy series. “In games that rely entirely on a first-person perspective we might read a shift of the player-character, often from - [FPS - Year Two](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/fps-year-two/) - Today First Person Scholar turns two years old! We'd like to take this opportunity to look back on the year that was and to look forward to the years ahead. And so what follows are various ways of looking at FPS circa 2014—there's a word cloud generated from all of the articles published this past year, stats on - [Safeguarding Research](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/safeguarding-research/) - As 2014 draws to a close, #GamerGate continues. A number of articles have been written in both popular and academic publications attempting to describe, critique, and comprehend GamerGate. What has yet to be discussed is the challenge of undertaking research into this amorphous, self-styled online “movement” — what sociologist Jennifer Allaway has designated a “hate - [Among the Sleep](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/among-the-sleep/) - Tara Ogaick is a designer and writer. She currently works on independent design projects, independent games, draws comics and loves animals. She has two cats, two rats, and a manatee. She has presented at conferences on digital design, horror video games, and design literacy. She has an MA in English and an MDes in Industrial - [Procedural Ethics](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/procedural-ethics/) - Alex is an Assistant Professor of Technical Communication at Metropolitan State University in Minnesota. She has published on feminist issues in game studies as well as co-hosted a blog and podcast for four years on the academic and feminist study of games, Not Your Mama’s Gamer. In this article I put forward the idea of - [Hybrid Player-Characters](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/hybrid-player-characters/) - Alexandra is a first year PhD student in the English department at the University of Waterloo and a copy-editor at First Person Scholar. Her research interests include narrative theory and game studies. More specifically, she hopes to treat video games as literary text to examine the change from literary to digital narrative. This article is - [Ethnography and Virtual Worlds](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/ethnography-and-virtual-worlds/) - Elise Vist is a third-year PhD student interested in autobiographical games as well as fan studies. In particular, she focuses on the negotiations of power between creators and their audiences. She is also a co-founder of the GI Janes, a group devoted to encouraging women in Kitchener/Waterloo to make, play, and talk about games. “We conduct - [The Malkavians' World](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-malkavians-world/) - An experimental digital artist, film and game critic, Ansh consumes as much pop culture as he is critical of it. He is currently a MFA candidate at NYU Game Center. Games, we know, do not have the best reputation in terms of representation. Through the decades, games have gained notoriety for excluding people who aren’t - ['Parody is a Game'](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/parody-is-a-game/) - Sam Zucchi is a dilettante games critic from Canada. You can find more of his occasional writing at Games are not Art. “Satire is a lesson, parody is a game.” – Vladimir Nabokov Since its release in 2012, the critical consensus surrounding Far Cry 3 has been one of mixed praise: on the one hand, - [Interview - Jeff Watson](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/interview-jeff-watson/) - Jeff Watson is an artist, designer, researcher, and Assistant Professor of Interactive Media and Games at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. His work investigates how game design, pervasive computing, and social media can enable new forms of storytelling, participation, and learning. Kent Aardse: Hello, Jeff. Many thanks for taking the time to answer some questions for - [Queering Human-Game Relations](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/queering-human-game-relations/) - Originally presented as a keynote address at the 2014 Queerness & Games Conference. What follows is an abridged transcript. On Queerness (Naomi) In this talk, Merritt and I will be using the word "queer" in a very particular way. It might be easiest to think of that usage as the "verb" use of queer, and - [Videogames, Queerness, & Beyond](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/videogames-queerness-beyond/) - Bonnie Ruberg is a PhD candidate, graduate instructor, and retired tech journalist working in UC Berkeley's Comparative Literature, New Media, and Gender & Women's Studies Departments. Introduction by Bonnie Ruberg, special feature guest editor. Why talk about queerness when we talk about videogames? Queerness is a form of sexuality, but it is also a mode of thinking, of - [Building Queer Community](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/building-queer-community/) - (Report on the Queerness and Games Undergraduate Design Workshop at UC Berkeley, Fall 2014 [1]) Despite its relative novelty, it is easier to explain the Queerness and Games Design Workshop than, for example, to tell family back home what film studies is and why being a film studies major doesn’t necessarily mean learning to make movies. - [All Balled Up Inside](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/all-balled-up-inside/) - What does pinball have to offer in the context of consent and queerness? The short answer is about 2,000 words of a "social justice warrior" yelling at you about gaming. The longer answer is about 1,975 words of a "social justice warrior" yelling at you about resisting compulsory sexual standards and the end of sex - [Designing for the Other](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/designing-for-the-other/) - What does it mean to Design for the Other? It has been foretold that Games will define the nature of media in the 21st century[1]. As with any expanding media form, games have splintered into smaller and smaller sub-genres. Serious Games is one of these sub-genres, and my field of practice at my studio Antidote - [On Beauty](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/on-beauty/) - Games are beautiful, because in the case of games, someone or something gave rise to the creation, and someone or something must play. If it appears I am inadequately utilizing the language typically reserved for passion, desire, love, and flowers, it may be because gaming--it's interaction and play--is being underestimated. For those working in the - [Cards Against Humanity Is _________](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/cards-against-humanity-is/) - I want to frame this essay with the current furor going on in video game cultures and video game communities, particularly the backlash against women gamers, feminist critiques of games, and any charges of racism, homophobia, ableism, and such in games and gaming communities. Think Anita Sarkeesian, Briana Wu, #GamerGate, Nintendo’s Tomodachi Life scandal, and - [Persuasive Games](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/persuasive-games/) - Philip Miletic is a second year English PhD student at the University of Waterloo. His research interests include David Foster Wallace, Gertrude Stein, radio, and online reading groups. Before I begin this review of Ian Bogost’s Persuasive Games (PG), I have to make two points that address the nature of this review. One, I am relatively new - [Sulking About Shulk](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/sulking-about-shulk/) - Five members of the Games Institute take a hard look at the Amiibo trend from a variety of angles including: historical materialism, fan exploitation, nostalgia, consumerism, fan cultures, and competing corporate strategies. A good mix of pontificating about Nintendo as a company and a culture and general nerding out. Music by Steve Trothen. You can find - [Cognitive Dissonance](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/safeguarding-research-part-2/) - What approaches need to be taken to assess the scope, actions, and meaning of GamerGate? A number of questions arise when considering GamerGate in light of its persistence and complexity. Is GamerGate, as Ryan Broderick argues, the last gasp of the “manosphere” and its “angry nerds using mobs of sockpuppets to help them fight their - [The Game Design Holy Grail](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-game-design-holy-grail/) - Gino Grieco is an aspiring game designer and freelance writer. His central focus is how games communicate meaning through mechanics. He's also an aspiring gaming literature teacher (assuming that will be a real job some day). Two of my favorite pastimes are playing videogames and Magic: The Gathering (MTG). I’ve been playing videogames since I was eight - [Link Dons the Mask of Truth](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/link-dons-the-mask-of-truth/) - Chris is a second-year Ph.D. student studying games at the University of Waterloo, and a copy editor for FPS. He’s interested in games digitization, DRM, the history of console design, and has a particular affinity for snarky and self-aware video games. Termina Salvation It’s lonely at the top of the mountain. The Legend of Zelda: - [Narration of Things](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/narration-of-things/) - Franziska Ascher is a PhD candidate at the Institute for Medieval German Literature at LMU Munich. She is also an editor and author for the e-journal Paidia. Her current research interests include performativity, environmental storytelling and structural analogies between medieval epic poetry and computer role-playing games. Editor's Note: The following article comes from our partnership - [What is Your Quest?](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/what-is-your-quest/) - Michael Hancock is Book Reviews Editor for First Person Scholar and a PhD Candidate in English at the University of Waterloo. His interests include text in games, horror games, and some day completing his Fighting Fantasy gamebook set (54 and counting). “It is too tempting when considering the intervention of new technical platforms into literary - [Eight Speculative Theses](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/eight-speculative-theses/) - tobias c. van Veen is SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Communications at the Université de Montréal. Writing in both popular and academic publications, tobias’ work explores questions of race, becoming, and technology in culture, music, and philosophy. “Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He - [Author has Re-entered the Game](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/author-has-re-entered-the-game/) - [C Warren] Dale is a sailor, a computer programmer, a film buff, and an avant-garde gamer. He's interested in story-driven, non-competitive, unloseable gameplay and the philosophy of art. “Interactive fiction is not about the death of the author. It's about choice as another communicative tool.” -Emily Short 0 When talking of a videogame, we might - [Actually, It’s About Aca-Fandom](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/actually-its-about-aca-fandom/) - Elise Vist is a PhD Candidate at the University of Waterloo writing about the intimate publics of fandom and how fans immerse themselves in fandom’s various spaces. In her free time (when she’s not playing Dragon Age), she rants about Supernatural on Tumblr and reblogs anything with Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes in it. I - [Early Modernity and Video Games](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/early-modernity-and-video-games/) - David Hussey is a Masters of History candidate with a deep fear of redeads from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. He has written for Play the Past and his own blog, the Gaming Historian. He is currently researching the history the videogame industry in Canada. “The Historical Sciences… have more or less neglected - [Haunted Spaces, Lived-In Places](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/haunted-spaces-lived-in-places/) - Lauren Burr is a PhD candidate in the English Department at the University of Waterloo, studying and creating critical locative and pervasive media. She conducts her research with both the Critical Media Lab and the Games Institute at UWaterloo. In August of 2013, independent game studio The Fullbright Company released its debut game, Gone Home, - [Warning Forever](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/warning-forever/) - Mark R Johnson is a roguelike developer, a retired professional gamer, a danmaku world champion, and soon to be a postdoctoral fellow in game studies at the UK's University of York. Reactions The audience for danmaku games is generally consigned to two groups of individuals: those players (predominantly Japanese) who seriously compete for world records, - [Playing the Photographer](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/playing-the-photographer-in-the-last-of-us-remastered/) - Jason Lajoie is a PhD student at the University of Waterloo. When he's not scribbling essays he's contemplating digitally mediated existence. He often partakes in technological abstinence and spends too much money on Criterion Collection blueray box sets, which he watches in excess. “[G]ames are dramatic modes of our psychological lives providing release of particular - [Mapping Gotham](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/mapping-gotham/) - Kalervo A. Sinervo is a PhD student in the Interdisciplinary Humanities Program at Concordia University, where he researches forms of authorship and intellectual property in transmedia cultural production, as well as comics, games, and the general debris of pop culture. His work is supported by IMMERSe, TAG, FRQSC, the Ampersand Lab, and the Canadian Society - [#BloodbornePoems](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/may-the-good-blood-guide-your-way/) - Natalie Zina Walschots is working towards a Ph.D in Interdisciplinary Studies, focusing on feminism and video games, at Concordia University. She is the author of two collections of poetry, DOOM: Love Poems For Supervillains and Thumbscrews, and her non-fiction appears in National Post, Quill & Quire, The Globe & Mail, Rue Morgue and Exclaim! She has frequently been in the newspaper for - [Looking Back & Looking Ahead](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/looking-back-and-looking-ahead/) - Jason Hawreliak is an assistant professor of game studies at Brock University's Centre for Digital Humanities. His research examines multimodality, semiotics and rhetoric in videogames. He has served as essays editor for First Person Scholar since December of 2012. I write this with a tinge of sadness, as it’s likely my last editorial for FPS. I’m - [Why Write About a Book?](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/why-write-about-a-book/) - Bio: Michael Hancock was Book Reviews Editor for First Person Scholar since 2012 and is yet a PhD Candidate in English at the University of Waterloo. His academic interests include text and visual represetation in games, horror games. Preamble Writing this editorial is, for me, a bittersweet occasion. Like the rest of the First Person - [New Directions, New Destinations](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/new-directions-new-destinations/) - Steve Wilcox is the outgoing editor-in-chief of First Person Scholar. He is a PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo, researching empathy and videogames. As you’ve seen over the past couple weeks we are going through a changing of the guard here at First Person Scholar. At this point many of the founding editors have - [FPS 2.0](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/fps-2-0/) - Emma Vossen is a PhD candidate currently writing a dissertation about the accessibility of games and gamer culture for girls and women. Her research is examining how comfortable women feel playing, talking and writing about games in both physical and virtual spaces and how this determines who enters and becomes a part of gamer culture. - [Different Games](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/different-games/) - The Different Games Conference is a yearly, volunteer-led conference focused on promoting inclusivity and diversity in games. The fourth annual conference will take place on April 8-9, 2016 at NYU's Polytechnic School of Engineering in Brooklyn, NY. Our CFP, inviting talks, workshops, and playable games from presenters of all professional backgrounds and levels of expertise, opens October 9th, 2015. - [The Lost Levels](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-lost-levels-of-new-games-journalism/) - Katherine Cross is a sociologist and Ph.D student at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York, and a gaming/culture critic. She's written for several publications, including The Guardian, Bitch Magazine, Polygon, and numerous others. She has a weekly column at Feministing and Gamasutra. It seems fitting to begin by ruminating on my place in the - [Subversive humor & games](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/subversive-humor-games/) - Yifat Shaik is an Israeli born game designer and artist, currently residing in Canada. A Master of Design graduate from OCAD University in Toronto, her work and research focus on online game socialization, political activism in gaming and the creation of unique and evocative game worlds.When not teaching game design, Yifat creates Unity-based interactive art - [Critical game creation](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/critical-game-creation/) - Margarida Romero is a professor of educational technology at Université Laval (Québec, Canada) engaged towards the inclusive, humanistic and creative uses of technologies for the development of the so-called 21st century skills: cooperation and communication, problem solving, creativity and computational thinking. She promotes intergenerational digital creation (coding games, educational robotics) for social participation and for - [Can Computers Be Feminists?](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/can-computers-be-feminists/) - Gillian Smith is an assistant professor at Northeastern University in the art+design and computer science departments. Tanya Short is Creative Director at Kitfox Games and co-coordinates Pixelles Montreal. Amanda Phillips is the IMMERSe Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Davis. Michael Cook is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Falmouth. Procedural content generation - [Simulating Life](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/simulating-life/) - Pierre is a political scientist and programmer. After studying at the Institut d'Études Politiques in France, he pursued an MFA in Game Design at NYU before starting to write code for money and fun. His work stretch from purely formal experiences to a close analysis of how programming defines both users and developers. It is - [Following the Green Light](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/following-the-green-light/) - Andrea Morales Coto is a design strategist with a special interest in how games' systematic impact is shaped by distribution chains. She is pursuing an MFA degree in Transdisciplinary Design at Parsons, is an Intel IGDA Scholar, and loves thinking about design innovation in the services that surround games. The advent of digital distribution The - [THE IMPORTANCE OF ABSTRACTION](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-importance-of-abstraction/) - Natasha Chuk is a New York City-based scholar of media objects, technology, and philosophy, as well as an independent curator. She teaches at the School of Visual Arts and The New School. INTRODUCTION Definitions of what constitutes a game have recently surfaced in discussions among many video game designers and critics in response to a - [THE ILLUMINATOR](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-illuminator/) - Grayson is an artist and adjunct professor based in Brooklyn, New York. He currently teaches creative coding and electronics to grads and undergrads at Hunter College, and is a core member of The Illuminator, a guerrilla-projection collective. His favorite New York art space is Babycastles Gallery. Over the past few years, I've been experimenting with - [Flexible Times](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/flexible-times-need-flexible-game-design/) - Ben Norskov and Mohini Dutta are the co-founders of Antidote Games. We started Antidote to make games that would help us understand real-life systems around us. We are passionate about finding playful ways to make sense of complex topics and discovering all that games have to offer. Mindful Play as an alternative game design methodology for making inclusive game - [Battle of Bannockburn](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/battle-of-bannockburn-visitor-centre-battle-game/) - Carly A. Kocurek is Assistant Professor of Digital Humanities and Media Studies at Illinois Tech. Her book, Coin-Operated Americans: Rebooting Boyhood at the Video Game Arcade (University of Minnesota Press, 2015), is a cultural history of golden age arcade culture. She co-edits the Influential Game Designers book series for Bloomsbury with Jennifer deWinter. On the grounds of - [Going Maverick](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/going-maverick/) - Chris is a third-year Ph.D. student studying games at the University of Waterloo, and serves as Book Reviews Editor for FPS. He is presently researching innovative new ways to procrastinate working on his dissertation, which involves exploring applications of gamification to the emotional wellness of graduate students. Sticks, Stones, and Software It’s an election year - [We'll Fight For Our Future](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/well-fight-for-our-future/) - Brian Crimmins is a freelance video game critic. Much of his work is critical readings of video games, and he focuses most of his efforts on older Japanese titles. Before Sega retooled the series for MMORPG audiences, Phantasy Star was one of the most prominent JRPG franchises of its time. It had always remained ahead - [Rethinking ∆Flow](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/∆flow/) - Shawn DeSouza-Coelho is a writer, theatre theorist/practitioner, and professional magician based in Toronto, Ontario. He recently completed his MA (English, Experimental Digital Media) at the University of Waterloo, exploring the intersections between narrative and the act of play in videogames. He also steams a good ham. In 1975, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi published his landmark study into - [Shovel Knight](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/shovel-knight-and-self-reflexivity/) - David Boffa is a Visiting Assistant Professor of art history at Beloit College in Wisconsin. His interests include artistic status and identity in the Italian Renaissance, critical approaches to video games, and the Open Access movement in academia. When not teaching or reading he also co-hosts a podcast on Olympic Weightlifting. Yacht Club Games’ Shovel - [Her Story Podcast](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/her-story-podcast/) - In June, Sam Barlow (Aisle, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories) released Her Story a game where players search through a database of archival footage from a police interrogation. In his interview with Austin Walker at Giant Bomb, Barlow spent a lot of time talking about how literature and film inspired much of the game’s design – - [Shovel Knight Redug](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/shovel-knight-redug/) - Dominic Arsenault is a professor in the Department of Art History and Film Studies at the Université de Montréal. Specializing in narration and game writing, he is also interested in theories of literary, film and video game genres; graphics and visual representation in video games and animation films; economic aspects and innovation in the video - [On well-formed fiction](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/on-well-formed-fiction/) - Sam DiBella is a freelance editor and designer living in Brooklyn, NY. He grew up in Rhode Island and studied philosophy of language. He spends his spare time designing chat bots and convincing anyone who will listen (see: the beginning of this sentence) that they really should be worried about Incompleteness. The presence of meaningful - [A Super Better Gameful Life](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/a-super-better-gameful-life/) - Gustavo Tondello is a Gamification Consultant and Ph.D. Student in Computer Science at the University of Waterloo, Canada. His main interests include gamification and games for health and learning. His research focuses on the design of gameful applications. Gustavo is also a researcher of Logosophy, affiliated to the Logosophical Foundation. Jane McGonigal is a pioneer - [Silent Performers of Myth:](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/silent-performers-of-myth/) - Sam Tjahjono is a native of Denton, Texas, where he lives with his fiancée and their newborn daughter. He studies rhetoric at the University of North Texas, and he is eminently fascinated by the unique power of games to move bodies to action. Changing the Mask Released in 2013, The Stanley Parable is a piece - [Bae > Bay](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/bae-bay/) - In this month's podcast five past and present editors of First Person Scholar discuss the episodic drama Life is Strange. We discuss how the game deals with choice and agency and how it depicts the self and character in a game that has multiple realities and the difficulty of depicting high school in a nuanced - [Bioshock to the System:](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/bioshock-to-the-system/) - Matthew Wells is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Information, University of Toronto. His research interests lie in the realm of digital games, and in particular how games function as expressive media in both social and cultural contexts. He focuses largely on the early history of digital games, revealing how games are linked inextricably - [The Aesthetic of Play](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/3487-2/) - Xi Rao is a research assistant and PhD student in Technology and Humanities at Illinois Tech. She is interested in social media analysis, information design, as well as fan study. She studies and curates Twitter discussions on games such as #1ReasonWhy and #1ReasonToBe. Introduction “The aesthetic of play is merely a set of provisional constraints that - [Monkey See, Monkey Do:](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/monkey-see-monkey-do/) - Victoria Smith is a 3D Artist living in Auckland, New Zealand. She recently completed her Bachelor of Creative Technologies (Game Art) at Media Design School, but she won't let that stop her from looking at games through an academic lens. When she's not writing or creating, she loves helping out with volunteer initiatives in her - [How to Talk about Videogames](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/how-to-talk-about-videogames/) - Niv M. Sultan is a freelance writer currently working with an education nonprofit in Washington, D.C. He lets his video games and books mingle on the shelf, loves discussing the socioeconomics of pop culture, and plans on making the most of his new record player. Video games can resemble movies and mountains, novels and the - [One True Games](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/one-true-games/) - This January we sat down to discuss the history and significance (or lack thereof) of the award “Game of the Year” (GOTY). We then discuss some of the games that were put forward for the title this year, and our own personal favourite games of 2015. You can listen to the Podcast on Soundcloud here! - [Immersed in a fantasy world:](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/immersed-in-a-fantasy-world-gishwhes/) - Elise Vist is a PhD Candidate at the University of Waterloo where she studies how we immerse ourselves in stories that we love. What does it mean to be immersed in something? This is a question I’ve been asking myself for the last year or so. As a member of the Games Institute, which is - [Why Pro Evolution Soccer 6 is](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/why-pro-evolution-soccer-6-is/) - William Kemp is the co-founder of the Toronto-based micropress words(on)pages, loves dogs of all shapes and sizes, and will fight anyone that talks mess about the Harvest Moon series. It was a hazy, mid-May afternoon in when PES United faced off against Merseyside Red in one of the greatest games in the English League’s history. - [Drawing the Line](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/drawing-the/) - Ethan Ham is an Associate Professor and the Interactive Media Department Chairperson at Bradley University. Prior to entering academia, Ethan worked in the video game industry as a game designer, programmer, and producer. He is the author of Tabletop Game Design for Video Game Designers. I have had three careers in my life: game developer, - [Interview with Christopher Park](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/interview-with-christopher-park/) - Alternatively, click here to listen to the interview on Soundcloud. Background I’m here with Christopher Park, Founder, CEO, and lead designer of Arcen games. They’re known for making a wide range of games, but probably most known for the 4x real time strategy game AI War and probably the diplomatic space manipulation strategy game The - [Miguel Sicart's "Beyond Choices"](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/a-review-of-miguel-sicarts-beyond-choices/) - Jesse Porch is a software developer who enjoys dabbling in videogame scholarship whenever possible. He's currently pursuing it a bit more in-depth as part of the interdisciplinary Trinity Fellows Academy, where his research focuses on the cultural role of play in ethics, empathy, and relationships. Introduction It’s no stretch to say that many videogames are - [Thedap](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/thedap-the-dragon-age-podcast/) - This month we are having a very general discussion of Dragon Age as a series with two of our FPS editors Betsy Brey and Elise Vist. We discuss a whole variety of stuff in this hour including what it is about Dragon Age that makes people obsessively play these games over and over, the differences - [Conceptualizing Mountain](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/conceptualizing-mountain/) - Braydon Beaulieu is a doctoral candidate studying creative writing, poetics, science fiction, and digital games at the University of Calgary. His critical work appears on Medium Difficulty and in FreeFall Magazine. He volunteers as a community manager for the safe(r)-space gaming community Feminist War Cult. On July 01, 2014, Irish artist and filmmaker David OReilly - [ALL WORK AND NO PLAY](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/all-work-and-no-play/) - Dr. Sonia Fizek is a game scholar, an aspiring game designer and a digital wanderer, currently living and working in Berlin. In May, she is joining Abertay University as a lecturer and researcher in game theory and design. She is also an associate editor of the Journal of Gaming and Virtual Worlds. Freed from the - [Unraveling Anthologies](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/unraveling-anthologies/) - Betsy Brey is a PhD student studying game narrative, mechanics, and gamification at the University of Waterloo. She is the essay section editor at First Person Scholar, a pretty cool games studies site. She spends too much time playing RPGs and obsessing over horror games, Dragon Age, rogue-likes, and TwitchPlaysPokemon. Over the past few years - ["Bullet Feels"](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/bullet-feels/) - Contributors: Emma Vossen, Betsy Brey, Shawn Dorey, Alex Fleck, Phil Miletic Episode 6 of the First Person Podcast will discuss the critical darling Undertale. We cover the attempts at gender neutrality, the ups and downs of pacifism, the anxiety produced when mixing bullet hell and RPG elements and the barriers to entry when playing such - [The Ethics of Commodification:](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-ethics-of-commodification/) - Judy Ehrentraut is a Ph.D candidate at the University of Waterloo, specializing in posthumanism, wearable computing, and utopian/dystopian theories of technology. Her dissertation examines how personal computing devices such as mobile smartphones and heads-up wearables are changing how we view and redefine our digitized bodies within physical, augmented, and virtual spaces. With the emergence of - [Publish or Perish?](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/publish-or-perish/) - Emma Vossen is a PhD Candidate at The University of Waterloo currently writing a dissertation examining the accessibility of games and games culture to girls and women. She is the Editor-in-Chief of First Person Scholar and has published articles on games and games culture, The Walking Dead, Fifty Shades of Grey, and the fetish art - [Design and the Broken Game:](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/design-and-the-broken-game/) - Matthew Schwager is a media designer and essayist. He holds an M.A. in Experimental Digital Media from the University of Waterloo, where he researched religious hermeneutic as applied to user experience. This fall he will be an M.F.A. candidate in graphic design at the Yale School of Art. Shelter is a game about figuring out - [Playing with the Past](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/playing-with-the-past/) - Dr. Michael Hancock is a recently graduated FPS alumni, who did his dissertation work on text representation in videogames. He is currently spending too much time researching gamebooks. A sizable subset of game studies focuses on history, whether in the form of the history of videogames (Carly A. Kocurek's Coin-Operated Americans) or the preservation of - [Difficult Writing](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/difficult-writing/) - Bart Simon is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Concordia University. He is co-founder and former director of the Technoculture, Art and Games research centre and co-founder and current director of the new Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture and Technology. His game studies and design research crosses a variety of - [Nintendon’t](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/nintendont/) - Instead of examining a specific game on Episode 7 of the First Person Podcast we turn an eye, an upraised eyebrow, and a single tear towards Nintendo and its recent decisions. Four disappointed Nintendo fans look at the many controversies and rumours currently surrounding both Nintendo as a company as well as their current - [Play as Bulwark of Uselessness](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/play-as-bulwark-of-uselessness/) - Luca Morini is a Researcher within the Disruptive Media Learning Lab of Coventry University. With a Ph.D. in Education and Communication and a background in psychology, he actually tries to spend most of his time playing, making games or helping people make their own, believing creative playfulness to be the keystone of true, liberating education. - [America is Sick](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/america-is-sick/) - Douglas Fry recently graduated with a Masters from the Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. He is currently a doctoral candidate with the Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security at Charles Sturt University. His writing has been published by Zam, Vice, and Fairfax Media. According to The Division, America - [Free to Be Useless](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/free-to-be-useless/) - Jesse Porch is a software developer who enjoys dabbling in videogame scholarship whenever possible. He’s currently pursuing it a bit more in-depth as part of the interdisciplinary Trinity Fellows Academy, where his research focuses on the cultural role of play in ethics, empathy, and relationships. It was a huge encouragement to read Luca Morini’s wonderful - [Offworld Trading Company](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/3820-2/) - Rob is about to graduate from the University of Waterloo with a Masters in Experimental Digital Media. He somehow managed to write this piece while grappling with a debilitating Stellaris addiction. He studies interactive fiction and roguelikes and is hard at work on DernRL, a traditional roguelike based on the career of Laura Dern. Do - [I Can’t Take This:](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/i-cant-take-this/) - Matthew Kelly is a graduate student in the English department at the University of Pittsburgh. His research focuses on the role of pedagogy in gaming communities, how video games highlight emergent forms of digital literacies, and the ways in which writing instructors might integrate games into the composition classroom. Something Old, Something New Released in - [First Person Podcast Episode 8](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/how-do-you-know-when-youre-satisfied/) - In Episode 8 of the First Person Podcast we discuss Campo Santo’s debut game Firewatch. In this short episode Rob, Shawn, and Emma cover a ton of topics including: genres of horror, the cost vs time investment debate, what realistic depictions of romance in games look like, the game’s multiple endings, what games made - [The Game Jam](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-game-jam/) - Jonathan Rodriguez is both an experienced professional programmer and a Ph.D. Candidate in Computer Science at the University of Waterloo. Despite trying to complete a thesis in programming languages, he maintains avid interests in game design and development, artificial intelligence, and applied philosophy. Creativity and Community Game jams are not without controversy. Ostensibly a community-based - [Quantified Soldiery](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/quantified-soldiery/) - Alex is an MA candidate in English at the University of Waterloo, podcast editor (in training) at FPS, game designer at the Games Institute, and avid consumer and critic of games-related media. His research seems to be in areas related to serious games, gamification, and simulative ethics. He also dabbles in comics scholarship. You can - [Make a Better Me of Me](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/make-a-better-me-of-me/) - Brian Crimmins is a freelance video game critic. Much of his work is critical readings of video games, and he focuses most of his efforts on older Japanese titles. As cliché as it may sound, the first moments of a video game tend to be among the most important. They’re when the game foreshadows the - [A review of The Video Game Debate:](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/a-review-of-the-video-game-debate/) - Philip Miletic is a writer, editor, and a PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo. His research interests include auto/biography, affect, 20th-century American literature, and media studies. He writes on video games, too, but does so through some poetry: mother2earth and world 1-1co-written with Craig Dodman. When I told a friend that I was reviewing - [The Power of Imagined Worlds:](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-power-of-imagined-worlds/) - Austin Walker is an erstwhile media and games scholar, host of Friends at the Table, and Editor-in-Chief of Vice Gaming. Felan Parker is a SSHRC postdoc in Technoculture, Art and Games at Concordia University. He studies indie gaming, but his real love is tabletop RPGs. Austin Walker is everywhere these days. As a game scholar, - [Self-organisation in Video Games:](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/self-organisation-in-video-games/) - Marijam Didzgalvyte is currently completing her Master’s Degree in Art & Politics at Goldsmiths College, University of London. Her main focus is dissecting politics in art and entertainment and establishing who benefits from it. She is interested in applying the ideas of fully-automated luxury communism in gaming and beyond. In the below comment on hackaday.com, commenter - [Strategic Ambiguity](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/strategic-ambiguity-in-papers-please/) - Kristian recently got his BA degree in Film and Media Studies from the University of Copenhagen. He will continue on the IT-University of Copenhagen, where he is enrolled at the Msc programme for Game Analysis & Theory. His academic interests are ludonarratives, ludorealism and audiovisual analysis of digital games. A principle of game design theory - [First Person Podcast Episode 9](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-9/) - This month on the First Person Podcast four editors fan out in our ALL ZELDA ALL THE TIME episode. We play Zelda trivia, we wax nostalgic about our favorite Zelda games, we hard-core rag on our least favorite Zelda games, we talk timelines and aesthetics, and speculate on what’s to come. We discuss almost every - [The Spectres of P.T.](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-scholar-video-essay/) - Braydon Beaulieu is a doctoral candidate at the University of Calgary, where he studies creative writing, poetics, science fiction, and digital games. His most recent chapbook, ERASURE: A Short Story, is available from above/ground press. - [First Person Podcast Episode 10](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/3975-2/) - In this Podcast (which is Elise and Emma’s last podcast!) we have a conversation about sex and sexuality in gaming that discusses a lot of topics that don’t really get covered in game studies very often! These topics Include: the difference between in game sexuality and sexualizing characters, the differences between depictions of sexuality in - [FPS 3.0](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/fps-3-0/) - Alexandra Orlando is a PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo studying gender and eSports. She was the commentaries editor of FPS for 2015-2016. Her current obsessions are playing Overwatch and otome games and watching Korean Dramas and will try to work them into future FPS podcasts at all costs. Hello readers! My name is - [Gamification as Responsible Experience Design](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/gamification-as-responsible-experience-design/) - Sylvester is a Reader in Game Science at Coventry University with more than 10 years research experience in simulation, serious games and gamification combined. His research interests include gameful, playful, persuasive and pervasive designs that transform ordinary tasks into extraordinary experiences. Introduction Within the domain of educational technology, new pedagogical approaches and technologies have been - [Playing Autobiographically with Depression](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/playing-autobiographically-with-depression/) - Adan is a PhD student in English and cultural studies at McMaster University. Her work explores the intersection of Mad studies, gaming, and auto/biography. When not working on her comps, she’s reading the comic book series Saga or replaying Dragon Age 2. I’m standing in a telephone booth, talking to myself from the past. “What’s - [Environment as Narratives](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/environment-as-narratives/) - Jude Baril-Bédard is an Communications undergraduate student at Concordia University. Her research focuses on symbolic and ideological analysis of media; the technological sublime; Canada’s cultural industry policies; and critical futurism. She is a coordinator of an undergraduate interdisciplinary research-creation collective called the Milieux Undergraduate Group (MUG). Firewatch is a narrative first-person game released in 2016 - [Book Review](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/8th-international/) - Antranig Sarian is a Masters student at Monash University who is researching the nature of choice. He has submitted essays to a variety of gaming websites, such as Will Kenny Remember That? Deconstructing the Telltale Formula. He received Honours for his thesis The Narratology versus Ludology debate in videogame studies. The word “Interactive” is a - [First Person Podcast Episode 11](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/procedurally-generated-feels/) - In this first episode of the term, we discuss the highly controversial game No Man's Sky. We go in depth with the early and more recent marketing of the game and how Hello Game's relationship with Sony helped and hindered the development process of the game. We also talk about our personal experiences with the - [Walter Ong's World of Warcraft](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/walter-ongs-world-of-warcraft/) - Carol Poster has combined a career as an academic scholar in history of rhetoric with numerous essays in journals and edited collections and a freelance writer with three nonfiction books and over a thousand articles in print and web venues. Unfortunately, Walter Ong, S.J., an important rhetorical scholar, died on 12 August 2003, slightly more - [Empathy is a Dish Best Served Digital](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/empathy-is-a-dish-best-served-digital/) - Matt Sayer is an analyst programmer from Melbourne, Australia with a passion for psychology and the cognitive biases that subconsciously influence our daily life. Wizards need food badly - and so do a lot of video game characters these days. Survival games like Don't Starve and Rust make hunger a core gameplay mechanic, elevating food from - [Pursuing the Other](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/pursuing-the-other/) - Sam Tjahjono resides in Denton, Texas, with his fiancée and their newborn daughter. He studied rhetoric at the University of North Texas and is excited by games that communicate powerful stories in subtle, unique ways. Developed by CD Projekt Red (CDPR), The Witcher 3 (2015) takes place in a world called the Northern Kingdoms. Within - [First Person Podcast Episode 12](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-12/) - This month on the First Person Podcast Betsy, Rob and I are joined by our first-ever special guest Michael Lutz to discuss some of the latest trends in horror games including indie horror, glitch horror, interactive fiction and VR. What is the role of jump scares in the modern horror game? What kind of fears - [Designer Lenses](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/designer-lenses/) - Chris is a Ph.D Candidate at the University of Waterloo researching gamification until he figures out how to make money doing just middle-state publication. He’s also beaten the original Super Mario Bros. Twice. “Beware of Heroes.” Frank Herbert offers these words as an overarching thesis for his novel Dune, which chronicles the exploits of - [Interview with Brianna Wu](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/interview-with-brianna-wu/) - On November 1st and 2nd Brianna Wu visited University of Waterloo as part of the HeforShe campaign to talk with students and professors about women in tech initiatives, Gamergate and feminism in the games industry. I was able to steal her away from her busy itinerary to discuss the role of academic institutions and publishing - [Mobile Games, SimCity BuildIt, and Neoliberalism](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/mobile-games-simcity-buildit-and-neoliberalism/) - Bradley J. Fest teaches at Carnegie Mellon University. His essays on contemporary literature and culture have appeared in boundary 2, The b2 Review,Critique, David Foster Wallace and “The Long Thing”, The Silence of Fallout, and Wide Screen. He also blogs at The Hyperarchival Parallax. EA Mobile’s SimCity BuildIt, released for iOS and Android in 2014, - [Play the Game, Know the Game, Shape the Game](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/play-the-game-know-the-game-shape-the-game/) - A STS scholar by trade, doing online ethnography of forums, focusing on the mutual shapings of scientific modeling and software, Alexandre Hocquet sees Football Manager as a reincarnation of his research topics in the world of soccer. Football Manager (FM) is a videogame belonging to the sports management genre. When games media talks about football - [Fallout 4 and the End of History](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/fallout-4-and-the-end-of-history/) - David Bowman is a physicist based at Royal Holloway in England, interested in exotic magnetism and narrative design. Fallout 4 wants to do a bit of everything, dabbling in crafting, town planning and perhaps most interestingly, political commentary. This can be found in the emails on long dormant business servers that exist to give motive to - [High-stakes gamblers, game design, and the meaning of cheating](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/high-stakes-gamblers-game-design-and-the-meaning-of-cheating/) - Dr. Mark R Johnson is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of York, focusing on competitive and professional gaming and gamers, as well as the rise of esports, streaming, and internet gambling. He is also an independent game developer, freelance games writer, games blogger and podcaster, a retired professional poker player, and holds the world - [First Person Podcast Episode 13](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-13/) - This month we talk the latest trends in First Person Shooters with Rob, Chris, Shawn and Pierson with a focus on the games Titanfall 2, Doom, Battlefield One and Overwatch and I swear I only mention D.Va once! We focus on the narratives by first talking about how we as academics dedicate our time to - [Controlling Fathers and Devoted Daughters](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/controlling-fathers-and-devoted-daughters/) - Sarah Stang is a first-year PhD student in the Communication & Culture joint program at York and Ryerson Universities in Toronto, Ontario. She recently completed her Master’s degree in Cinema and Media Studies at York University. Her work focuses on race and gender representation in digital games and other media. As game critics and scholars - [Working at Play](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/working-at-play/) - David Leblanc is a Masters student in Film Studies at Concordia University. His current research project, a Marxist intervention in contemporary film and video games, applies critical theory in understanding the subversive potentials of labor representations in cinema and the ‘simulator’ game in post-industrial society. There is, perhaps, no more of an innocuous fantasy video - [A Line in a Cyclone](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/a-line-in-a-cyclone/) - Daniel Joseph is a PhD Candidate in Ryerson and York’s University’s Joint Program for Communication and Culture. He is currently finishing his dissertation, an investigation of the qualitative collapse between work and play, and the politics of distribution platforms like Steam. “If ‘to dust’ is 'to kill’, 'dust to dust’ is to render into nothingness.” - [First Person Podcast Episode 14](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-14/) - At First Person Scholar, we do Game of the Year differently. The rampant chaos of end of term and the general lack of time and funds that graduate students have means that getting through many of the latest releases is nearly impossible. Instead, we focus on the games we spent the most time with - [An Announcement from the Editor-in-Chief](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/an-announcement-from-the-editor-in-chief/) - 2016 marked another year of milestones, new directions, and growth for First Person Scholar. We published our 200th piece, celebrated our 4 year anniversary and our former EiC Emma Vossen made waves on the Canadian research front with her award winning work on FPS-- not to mention all the wonderful authors we got to work - [Virtual Bodies in Virtual Worlds](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/virtual-bodies-in-virtual-worlds/) - Benjamin Gattet is an interdisciplinary Researcher/Designer/Hacker. His work revolves around atypical experiences, alternative narrations (wordless, environmental, purely diegetic or systemic), procedural authorship and the phenomenology of play. He is currently doing a PhD in Game Design and Game Study at Concordia’s Technology Art and Game center. Introduction: Merleau-Ponty’s project Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s project in Phenomenology of - [A Union for Videogame Developers?](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/a-union-for-videogame-developers/) - This essay was written by Marie-Josée Legault, Full Professor in labor relations, Téluq-Université du Québec Johanna Weststar, Associate Professor, Department of Management and Organizational Studies, University of Western Ontario Laurence Tô, Master student in sociology, UQAM Together Marie-Josée and Johanna research working conditions, citizenship at work, and diversity in the game industry. They administer the - [Sonic Meditation](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/sonic-meditation/) - Andrea Luc is a second-year MA student in the joint Communications and Culture program at York and Ryerson Universities. Her current research focuses on analyzing gendered inequalities in accessing videogame technology. Other research interests include examining play experiences from a cultural, linguistic, and affective perspective. When I was younger, and I found myself feeling dizzy from - [More Than Affordances](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/more-than-affordances/) - Nick LaLone is a 4th Year (ABD) in Information Sciences and Technology and Penn State. His work centers on expanding the study of play to more than games. There is a tragically behind collection of his work at www.nicklalone.com and he can also be found posting pictures of his cats @Nick_LaLone. Throughout my time - [First Person Podcast Episode 15](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-15/) - This month's podcast is all about card games. We discuss everything from collectible card games (CCGs) like Magic the Gathering, to living card games (LCGs) like Android: Netrunner, to deckbuilding games like Ascension, and digital card games like Hearthstone. Why has this genre of game endured? What are the differences between the different business models? - [Spatial Experientiality in Journey](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/4419-2/) - Taif was born in Iraq and immigrated to Canada in 2014. She is currently three months away from graduating with an English MA Degree from McMaster University and hopes to use the summer after to catch up on her gaming, amongst other things. In constructing an immersive experience for its players, Journey gives its in-game - [First Person Podcast Episode 16](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-16/) - This month, for a special Valentine's day episode of the First Person Podcast, we discuss the hit mobile dating sim, Mystic Messenger! We discuss some of our experiences playing the game and have some general discussion about dating sims. How do you choose routes in dating sims? Who does the genre appeal to and - [Engineering Evolution](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/engineering-evolution/) - Pierson Browne is a PhD student based out of the University of Waterloo’s Department of Sociology and Legal Studies. His research focuses on metagaming, community formation, information diffusion, game theory, and social network analysis. He is hopelessly addicted to card games, in case the following article wasn’t a dead giveaway. In the world of collectable - [A Different Kind of Game Feel](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/a-different-kind-of-game-feel/) - Jacob Euteneuer is a PhD candidate at Oklahoma State University. His research focuses on new media, game studies, visual rhetoric, and multimodal composition. When he's not reading, writing or teaching, he’s usually playing Mario with his wife and two sons. Introduction We often talk about emotions in terms of a spectrum. Certain films, games, and - ["You are not alone"](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/you-are-not-alone/) - Philip Miletic is a writer, editor, and a PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo. His research interests include auto/biography, affect, 20th-century American literature, and media studies. He writes on video games too, but mostly through poetry: mother2earth and world 1-1 co-written with Craig Dodman. During my MA, I grew attached to the music of the - [Immersion into LARP](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/immersion-into-larp/) - Sarah Lynne Bowman (Ph.D.) is a role-playing games scholar, designer, and organizer. She teaches as adjunct faculty in English, Communication, and Humanities for several institutions including Austin Community College. McFarland Press published her dissertation in 2010 as The Functions of Role-playing Games: How Participants Create Community, Solve Problems, and Explore Identity. Bowman has served as - [Adult Supervision Encouraged](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/adult-supervision-encouraged/) - Jason Lajoie is a PhD candidate in English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo. His work explores how gay males construct and embody identities in the domains of online gaming, online dating and social networking. Over the past few years, games have begun to feature sexual content that is increasingly nuanced, and which moves - [Sex Workers and Video Games](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/sex-workers-and-video-games/) - Kaeleigh Evans is a Communication undergraduate at Simon Fraser University. Emma Tarver is a Psychology undergraduate at the University of British Columbia. Emma and Kaeleigh are passionate about gender and media, as well as sex worker’s rights. They love playing zombie videogames and playing with their dogs, Rey and Fajita. Despite being described as the - [Abstract Games with Raph Koster](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/abstract-games-with-raph-koster/) - Zoyander Street is a critical historical material semiotician of technology and art. He is Senior Curator of Critical Distance, Editor-in-Chief of Memory Insufficient, and a PhD student at Lancaster University, UK. "Games are the art of math", argues Raph Koster. "They are teaching us the system of themselves." Looking through his collection of ancient, abstract - [First Person Podcast Episode 17](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-17/) - This month on the First Person Podcast, special guest Cameron Kunzelman joins Chris, Rob, and I to talk isometric RPGs. How and why has the genre persisted after all these years? What function does long form textual narrative have in today's attention-economy? We also talk about Cameron's ongoing let's play/podcast of the Baldur's Gate series, Mages - [Interview with Tanya DePass](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/interview-with-tanya-depass/) - Tanya DePass is the founder and Director of I Need Diverse Games, a lifelong Chicagoan, founder and Editor In Chief of the Fresh Out of Tokens podcast and she’s also the Diversity Liaison for GaymerX. Alexandra Orlando: I’m here with Tanya DePass and we are going to be chatting a bit and I have some - [The Trouble with Bodies](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-trouble-with-bodies/) - Cayla Coats is a transfeminine gamer living and working in the Bay Area. They are primarily concerned with the intersection of the construction of queer spaces and narratives within digital cultures. Last year, my friend convinced me to play Nier for the first time. Upon initially booting up the title, it seemed like a typical grimdark - [Getting Good: An Introduction to the Becoming Machine Series](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/getting-good-an-introduction-to-the-becoming-machine-series/) - Nick Taylor is an Assistant Professor in NC State’s Department of Communication, where he conducts critical and qualitative research on issues of inclusivity in competitive gaming, game spectatorship, and collegiate e-sports. He is also co-editor (with Gerald Voorhees) of a volume on gaming and masculinity, to be published in late 2017. As a researcher who - [Destructive Tumbleweeds and WereBeavers](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/destructive-tumbleweeds-and-werebeavers/) - Brandon Rogers is finishing his MA in Literature, Medicine, and Culture at UNC Chapel Hill. His current research perverts the history of medicine by engaging with games as spaces of health epistemology, experimentation, and power negotiations. He will join NCSU’s Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media PhD program in the fall. A WereBeaver gnaws through tree - [Becoming Sensate](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/becoming-sensate/) - Krystin Gollihue is a PhD student in the Communication, Rhetoric and Digital Media program at NC State University. Her research explores feminist approaches to critical making that account for the deeply historical and multimodal ways women have created communities of work, literacy, and communication. Introduction: The Apparatus of Play Games move us (Apperley & Jayemayne, - [Dr. Livingston in No Man’s Sky](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/dr-livingston-in-no-mans-sky/) - Mark, who was classically trained to play Pitfall on a Commodore 64, is completing his PhD in Communications Rhetoric and Digital Media at North Carolina State University. His work primarily focuses on exploring ‘unconventional’ uses of game design as an art form, and the potential effects, emotional and otherwise, associated with the act of designing - [First Person Podcast Episode 18](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-18/) - This month on the First Person Podcast I am joined by Betsy, Rob and Shawn to discuss Final Fantasy 15. We go in depth with our history of the series and what made us so excited for the latest installment. We also cover the representation of male friendship, the role of female characters in the - [Dimensions of Identity in Games](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/dimensions-of-identity-in-games/) - Lindsay Meaning is a Master's student in the Experimental Digital Media Program at the University of Waterloo. Her research interests include video game rhetoric, fan writing and fan communities, and nineteenth-century women's writing. In the fall, she will enter into the PhD program in the English department at Waterloo. I have never identified as a - [Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged?](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/judge-not-lest-ye-be-judged/) - John Ehrett is a J.D. candidate at Yale Law School, where he is a Knight Law and Media Scholar and an editor of the Yale Law Journal. His scholarship explores how institutions of civil society, both online and off, work to preserve norms and values under changing conditions. Anyone who’s spent much time playing online - [Janet Murray on why some players and critics still cannot tolerate narrative in games](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/janet-murray-on-why-some-players-and-critics-still-cannot-tolerate-narrative-in-games/) - Janet Murray designed serious games and digital humanities projects at MIT in the 1980s and 1990s where she also taught the world’s first course in interactive narrative design. Since 1999 she has been a Professor in the Graduate Program in Digital Media at Georgia Tech, where she currently also serves as Associate Dean for Research - [Play By Post Roleplay](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/play-by-post-roleplay/) - Hana’a is an MA from UW. Hana'a also works as a social media manager for First Person Scholar. They spend their days stealing your soul as a videographer and photographer, and nights playing too many JRPGs, writing too much fan fiction, and occasionally posting thinkpieces about games and culture. Recently, I have gotten back into the - [Remodeling the Labyrinth](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/remodeling-the-labyrinth/) - Jeremy Antley holds a PhD in Russian History from the University of Kansas and resides in Portland, OR. Beyond his interest in Russian Old Believers in Oregon, Jeremy also writes about wargames. His latest essay on Twilight Struggle can be found in Zones of Control: Perspectives on Wargaming (MIT Press, 2016). In October and November - [Choices Don't Matter](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/choices-dont-matter/) - Brook Jensen is a writer and programmer trying to take everything from the games he loves and make his own with a lot less bullshit. His work ranges from interactive fiction to visual novels and he is currently working on a breakup simulation game called "... It's You: A Breakup Story." Let me sell you - [Magic: the Gathering and Gay Representation Through Play](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/magic-the-gathering-and-gay-representation-through-play/) - AC Atienza is an undergraduate at the University of Waterloo, studying in Rhetoric and Professional Writing as well as Digital Arts Communication. Their primary focuses are on playing games, writing about games and designing games. Storm is their favourite MtG deck to pilot, to the dismay of everyone (including themselves). Magic: the Gathering [MtG] - [East of the Key Sword (and West of the Triforce)](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/east-of-the-key-sword-and-west-of-the-triforce/) - Alexander Ross is currently a 1st-year Master's student in the Communication and Culture program at York and Ryerson Universities in Toronto. His research interests include game studies, ephemeral culture, and political economy. It seems impossible to discuss the history of videogames without considering Japan. Specific events, like Namco’s development of Pac-Man — the most successful arcade game of - [“Thank Goodness you’ve Returned”](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/thank-goodness-youve-returned/) - Betsy Brey studies game narrative at the University of Waterloo. She is the essay section head editor, incoming editor-in-chief, and a frequent podcast contributor at First Person Scholar, a pretty cool game studies publication. She spends too much time playing RPGs and obsessing over horror games, Dragon Age, rogue-likes, and TwitchPlaysPokemon. Working with games, I am - [You’ve Got Wang](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/you/) - David Cole is a poet and writer from Wayne County, Kentucky who has spent his entire life playing games. His work focuses on the strange and powerful connections we feel to media and celebrities, including his breakout collection I’ve Been A Prisoner All My Life (And I Can Say To You). Modern video games owe - [First Person Podcast Episode 19](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-19/) - This month on the first person podcast I talk Breath of the Wild with Chris and previous editor-in-chief Emma. We discuss our favourite quests and playstyles, the upcoming DLC as well as more in depth discussions about themes of sacrifice and Zelda's role in the narrative. We also rank Breath of the Wild against our - [What We Do in the Darkness](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/what-we-do-in-the-darkness/) - Katherine Cross is a Ph.D student in Sociology at the City University of New York who studies online harassment. She is also a widely published social critic. Her work has appeared in The Baffler, Rolling Stone, Bitch Magazine, The Daily Beast, Time, and many others. She writes a weekly-ish column at Gamasutra. Content/Trigger Warning: Discussion - [The Paratext of Video Games](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-paratext-of-video-games/) - Steven Harvie is currently studying a Masters degree in Fantasy Literature, a new programme at the University of Glasgow which traces the history and development of the nebulous fantasy genre. He enjoys playing and thinking about video games in his spare time (just don’t ask about the backlog). A compelling but often overlooked part of - [Nancy Drew and the Case of the Neoliberal College](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/4916-2/) - Andrea Braithwaite is a Senior Lecturer in Communication and Digital Media Studies at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. Her research focuses on gendered and affective discourses of crime, deviance, and justice in media, particularly games, gaming communities, and Canadian pop culture. A disillusioned professor desperate for tangible research results. An ambitious new Ph.D. - [Joysticks & Killing Joy](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/4933-2/) - Adan is an PhD student at McMaster University working in Mad studies and digital media. Her killjoy survival kit includes Heroes of Might and Magic 2, Manic Panic hair dye, sometimes skipping social events, and someone to talk to when everything feels terrible. Content Notification: gendered violence, sexism, racism I imagine an academy filled with feminist killjoys, showing - [From the Outgoing Editor-in-Chief](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/from-the-outgoing-editor-in-chief/) - Alexandra Orlando is the outgoing editor-in-chief of First Person Scholar studying Esports, live-streaming and knowledge mobilization. She is a Twitch streamer, Warframe fashionista and lover of anime tiddies. It’s that time of year at First Person Scholar where we give ourselves a little break for the month of August and come back (hopefully) refreshed and - [First Person Podcast Episode 20](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-19-2/) - https://soundcloud.com/firstpersonpodcast/love-that-binds-ladykiller-in-a-bind-episode For the last podcast of the school year and also my final appearance on the First Person Podcast, I talk with Rob Parker and our web editor Rina Wehbe about Christine Love's Ladykiller in a Bind. Bringing together many of the discussions we've been having on the podcast this year, we discuss the representation - [Our State in Middle-state](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/our-state-in-middle-state/) - Betsy Brey is a PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo studying game narrative and gameplay. She’s been with FPS since 2014, and someone entered her job description in Slack as “hollering about Dragon Age.” It sounds about right. She spends too much time playing Dungeons and Dragons, obsessing over Magic the Gathering, and questioning - [Should You Pull?](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/should-you-pull/) - Christina M. Spiker is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Art History at St. Catherine University where she teaches courses on global art history and visual culture. While her research primarily focuses on issues of race and visual representation in modern Japan, she enjoys playing a JRPG or two when she isn’t in the classroom. Most - [“Hold on to the center”](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/hold-on-to-the-center/) - Justin Carpenter is a PhD candidate in English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo, focusing on aesthetics, philosophy of technology, critical game studies, and new media art. He is the Section Head of Book Reviews and Interviews for First Person Scholar. I The supreme good is like water, which nourishes all things without - [A Call to Arms](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/a-call-to-arms/) - John Sanders is a PhD student in English at Syracuse University with a focus in Film and Screen studies. His research interests include theories of adaptation, new media narratives, and examinations of player agency in digital and analog games. Despite its growing cultural legitimation, for some, gaming still begins and ends with a man-child screaming - [Two Months With the Other Switch Launch Title](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/two-months-with-the-other-switch-launch-title/) - Patrick Love is a PhD Student in Rhetoric and Composition at Purdue University. In addition to researching Augmented Reality, Information Virality, and Online Education, he teaches Technical and Business writing, mentors and supports composition instructors with technology concerns, and does technical writing for the NSF Science of Information Center based out of Purdue. He’s tired - [First Person Podcast Episode 21](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/love-live-the-queen/) - Jason Lajoie is a PhD candidate in English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo. His work explores how gay identities are constructed and negotiated through media and technology, particularly in domains like online gaming and social media. He is the Section Head of Podcasts for First Person Scholar. Confession: the subject for this - [The Blame Game](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-blame-game/) - Victoria O’Meara is a PhD Candidate in Media Studies at Western University. She is interested in issues of labour and gender in the video game industry and beyond. Her dissertation is grappling with the increasingly tenuous border between work and leisure in the digital media economy. Chandell Gosse is a Media Studies PhD Candidate in - [Dear Boss](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/5074-2/) - Kelly Hornung is a recent graduate from the University of Waterloo, where she completed her thesis on audience acceptance of environmental disasters in fiction. She is interested in continuing to explore the impact of storytelling in society, as well as narrative transportation theory in practice. Following the release of their 2016 title, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, - [Art in Play](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/art-in-play/) - John Sharp is a game designer, graphic designer, art historian and educator. He is Associate Professor of Games and Learning in the School of Art, Media and Technology at Parsons The New School for Design. Along with Colleen Macklin, John co-directs PETLab (Prototyping, Education and Technology Lab), a research group focused on games and their - [FPS Special Issue Call for Papers](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/cfp-madcrip-play/) - Mad studies follows in the tradition of Mad pride anti-psychiatry movements that reclaim the term “Mad” as a rejection of the medical model of mental illness. Disability studies and disability pride movements are similarly reclaiming that difficult word “crip.” Eli Clare reminds us that “The ugly words - faggot, queer, nigger, retard, cripple, freak - - [Friendship, Intimacy, and Play-by-Post Roleplaying](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/friendship-intimacy-and-play-by-post-roleplaying/) - Sarah Stang is a PhD student in the Communication and Culture program at York University in Toronto, Ontario. Her research focuses on race and gender representation in video games and other media, with particular interest in nonhuman characters, monstrosity, androgyny, and hybridity. Earlier this year, Shawn Dorey (2017) wrote a piece for First Person Scholar - [First Person Podcast Episode 22](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/do-not-adjust-your-scare-goggles/) - Jason Lajoie is a PhD candidate in English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo. His work explores how gay identities are constructed and negotiated through media and technology, particularly in domains like online gaming and social media. He is the Section Head of Podcasts for First Person Scholar. “Is 2016 The Year of - [It Gets Worse...](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/it-gets-worse/) - Milena Droumeva is an Assistant Professor of Communication and Glenfraser professor in Sound Studies at Simon Fraser University specializing in mobile technologies, sound studies and multimodal ethnography. She has worked extensively in educational research on game-based learning and computational literacy, formerly as a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute for Research on Digital Learning at York - [Everything Is Dying and It's All Our Fault](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/everything-is-dying-and-its-all-our-fault/) - Cat’s research interests are youth identity and cross-cultural interactions in videogames, particularly in Russian-speaking communities. She has recently moved into the youth-serving non-profit sector, keeping in touch with game studies through her role as Vice-President of the Canadian Game Studies Association. She’s an unrepentant Junkrat main. With 2017 smouldering around us, let’s talk about the - [Re-Imagining The Borderlands](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/re-imagining/) - E. Deshane's creative and nonfiction work has appeared in Plenitude Magazine, Briarpatch Magazine, Strange Horizons, Lackington's, and Bitch Magazine, among other publications. E. received an MA from Trent University and is currently completing a PhD at the University of Waterloo. E's most recent project #Trans is an edited collection about transgender and nonbinary identity online. - [We Gotta Get Out of This Place (If it's the Last Thing We Ever Do)](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/we-gotta-get-out-of-this-place-if-its-the-last-thing-we-ever-do/) - Will is a PhD candidate in the University of Waterloo’s English Language and Literature department, where he studies videogame representations of Victorian women. He was the real-life inspiration for Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in The Great Gatsby (2013), and in his spare time he runs a multinational restaurant empire under the pseudonym “Jamie Oliver,” a character he - [Documentation, Periodization, Regionalization, and Marginalization](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/documentation-periodization-regionalization-and-marginalization/) - Dominic Arsenault is an associate professor at the Université de Montréal. His research and teaching covers video game writing, industry, genres, history, graphics and music. His 2017 book Super Power, Spoony Bards, and Silverware : The Super Nintendo Entertainment System was published in the MIT Press’ Platform Studies series. As I understand it, and as - [First Person Podcast Episode 23](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-23/) - Jason Lajoie is a PhD candidate in English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo. He graduated Magna Cum Laude with an Honours BA in English Literature and Theatre, and an MA in English Literature from the University of Ottawa. He has been the recipient of a Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Master's Scholarship, and two - [Happy Fifth Birthday, First Person Scholar!](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-scholar-is-five-years-old/) - Rob Parker is the Managing Editor for First Person Scholar. He is a sometimes host and contributor for Roguelike Radio. When he's not destroying his sleep with Subterfuge, he can be found working as an instructional designer. Sometimes he writes interactive fiction. Hi! You don't often hear from me, but I'm the Managing Editor for First - ["The World Could Always Use More Heroes"](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-world-could-always-use-more-heroes/) - Benjamin J. Villarreal is a doctoral candidate in English Education at Teachers College, Columbia University and an Assistant Professor of English at New Mexico Highlands University who studies the use of games as texts in College English. His dissertation is a multimodal autoethnography of the topic, the findings of which he is writing as a - [Embodying the Story](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/embodying-the-story/) - Bradley Markle is a graduate student pursuing his PhD in English Literature and Criticism at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. His research includes African American literature, Caribbean literature, performativity and digital humanities studies. Currently he is exploring how technology can be better implemented in the classroom to improve pedagogical systems. Famed German board-game designer Wolfgang - [Let’s Play with Research Methodologies](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/lets-play-with-research-methodologies/) - Sonja Sapach is a PhD Candidate in Sociology and Humanities Computing at the University of Alberta. Introduction What is the most effective way to formally incorporate my game play experiences into my highly personalized research plan? How can I study not only the games that I am playing, but my own reactions to those games? - [First Person Podcast Episode 24](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-24/) - Jason Lajoie is a PhD candidate in English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo. His work explores how gay identities are constructed and negotiated through media and technology, particularly in domains like online gaming and social media. He is the Section Head of Podcasts for First Person Scholar. The topic of this month's - [Ritual of the Moon](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/ritual-of-the-moon/) - Kara Stone is an artist and scholar interested in the affective and gendered experiences of mental illness as it relates to videogames Her artwork has been featured in The Atlantic, Wired, and Vice. She is currently a PhD student in Film and Digital Media with a designated emphasis in Feminist Studies at University of California - [Gotta Scan 'Em All](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/gotta-scan-em-all/) - Matthew Wysocki is an Associate Professor of Media Studies and area Co-Chair for Game Studies with the Popular Culture Association. His research focuses on cultural uses of technology, including professional wrestling, and pornography. His research in the area of video games studies looks at issues of control and agency in games. He is also one - [An Interview with Shannon Sun-Higginson](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/an-interview-with-shannon-sun-higginson/) - Shannon Sun-Higginson is a Philadelphia-based producer, director, and editor. Her first feature documentary GTFO, about women in the video game industry, was funded on Kickstarter, premiered at SXSW 2015, and has been featured in The New York Times among other major publications. Transcript Shannon: Thanks for having me Betsy and Justin, and for recording us, - [Gorilla Warfare](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/gorilla-warfare/) - Niv M. Sultan is a writer based in New York. I. We shrink down from three dimensions to two and a half, assuming our more primal forms: I an ape, she a smaller ape. Together we jump over chasms and swing from tree to tree on vines, gathering bananas, coins, puzzle pieces, and balloons. Occasionally, - [Interview with Katja Rogers](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/interview-with-katja-rogers/) - Katja Rogers is a Computer Science PhD student from the Institute of Media Informatics at Ulm University, Germany. As a visiting researcher at the University of Waterloo, her project focused on the effects of audio on player experience in a VR horror game. Her previous projects involved topics such as NPC design, evolutionary algorithms, persuasive - [First Person Podcast Episode 25: Game(s) of the Year(s)](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-25-games-of-the-years/) - Technical production and editing by Jason LaJoie in collaboration with the First Person Scholar team. In our January 2018 podcast, Betsy, Chris, Will and Justin discuss their picks for games of the year, with a twist: categories ranged from the social ("Fine, stop yelling I'll play it award") to the academic ("game that made me rethink - [Savage Beasts](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/savage-beasts/) - Alex Duncan is a software developer and digital media artist based in Brooklyn. His work engages with representations of nature and non-humans in digital media. It is hard to talk about playing the fantasy role-playing game (RPG) The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim without talking about its digital environment. Its vastness. The freedom with which players - [Review: Boluk and LeMieux’s Metagaming:](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/review-of-boluk-and-lemieuxs-metagaming/) - Pierson Browne is a PhD student based out of the University of Waterloo’s Department of Sociology and Legal Studies. His research focuses on metagaming, community formation, information diffusion, game theory, and social network analysis. “The greatest trick the videogame industry ever pulled was convincing the world that videogames were games in the first place.” – - [OMG! It’s a GRILL!](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/omg-its-a-grill/) - Lena received her PhD in Communication from the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication in 2017. Her dissertation examined the effects of viewing different types of female streamers on the perception of female gamers as well as motivations to view Twitch. Other research projects investigated hero choices in team-based online games, trust and - [First Person Podcast Episode 26](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-26/) - Jason Lajoie is a PhD candidate in English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo. His work explores how gay identities are constructed and negotiated through media and technology, particularly in domains like online gaming and social media. He is the Section Head of Podcasts for First Person Scholar. Content Warnings: Discussions of homophobia - [Weight of the World](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/weight-of-the-world/) - Jeremy Signor is a freelance writer from Pennsylvania whose byline can be found at USgamer, PCGamer, GamesBeat, PCGamesN, GamesRadar, Unwinnable, and elsewhere. Content Notification: reference to suicide NieR: Automata tells the story of the androids and robots who are fighting over the last remains of humanity. Both the androids and the robots display behaviors learned - [Mad/Crip Games and Play](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/map-crip-intro/) - Adan Jerreat-Poole is a PhD student at McMaster University working in Mad studies and digital media. The last game they played was Dream Daddy. The last book she read was The Stars Are Legion. The last time they slept through the night was around the time b4-4 was popular. Sexy The first time I saw - [Madness as True Sight in The Cat Lady and Fran Bow](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/madness-as-true-sight-in-the-cat-lady-and-fran-bow/) - Sarah Stang is a PhD student in the Communication and Culture program at York University in Toronto, Ontario. Her research focuses on race and gender representation in video games and other media, with particular interest in monstrosity, hybridity, abjection, and otherness. Video games, particularly role-playing games, have addressed madness in various ways since their inception, - [A Better World](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/a-better-world/) - Amanda L. L. Cullen is a PhD student at the University of California-Irvine in the Department of Informatics. Her research occurs at the intersection between game studies and fan studies, with a focus on how marginalized players labor to achieve visibility in game culture. Currently she is working on a project examining these efforts in - [“Share Melancholy Thoughts”](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/share-melancholy-thoughts/) - Ingrid Doell is a Winnipeg-based writer and photographer trying to navigate post-MA life with anxiety. She has been trying to avoid visits from the Grim Reaper due to cooking fires since the release of The Sims Deluxe Edition in 2002. Instagram: I wake up sad, but I ignore the mood and continue with my day, - [First Person Podcast Episode 27](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/dude-wheres-my-colony/) - Jason Lajoie is a PhD candidate in English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo. His work explores how gay identities are constructed and negotiated through media and technology, particularly in domains like online gaming and social media. He is Podcast Producer for First Person Scholar. In this month's podcast, Betsy Brey, Pierson Browne - [VR: An Altered Reality for Disabled Players](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/vr-altered-reality/) - Rebeccah Redden is a Kitchener-based filmmaker, writer, and science fiction nerd. She spends most of her day living with mental illness and helping kids do 3D printing and virtual reality. She enjoys having an opinion on everything and reminiscing about getting free PC games from cereal boxes. Wait...The library has VR? My job is spent - [Playing/Healing](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/playinghealing/) - Conrad Leibel is a graduate of UVic's MA in English Literature program with a concentration in medieval and early modern studies. He also holds a BA in English and Film Studies from the University of Alberta. Conrad has presented at several conferences, including FSAC (Film Studies Association of Canada), CGSA (Canadian Game Studies Association) and - [The Fun is in the Dying](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-fun-is-in-the-dying/) - Josh Call is Professor and Chair of the English Department at Grand View University where he also directs the Writing Program. He co-edits the Approaches to Digital Game Studies series (with Gerald Voorhees). His current research explores critical pedagogy and play as a framework for teaching rhetoric and literacy. He’s having a hard time getting - [Interview with Chris Klimas](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/interview-with-chris-klimas/) - Chris Klimas created Twine, the extremely popular and accessible interactive fiction development platform. He's also involved with the Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation, as well as Unmapped Path, a company that builds narrative experiences for mobile and desktop. His work within the Interactive Fiction and game design spaces has had an incredible impact on the IF community as well as - [How Zelda keeps us young](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/how-zelda-keeps-us-young/) - Tom van Nuenen is Assistant Professor in Online Culture at the Department of Culture Studies, Tilburg University, the Netherlands. He has held visiting positions at Berkeley, Western Sydney University, Copenhagen University and Shanghai International Studies University. Tom’s research focuses on touristic experiences in algorithmic culture; he investigates platforms such as blogs, review platforms, and video - [Stirring the Pot](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/stirring-the-pot/) - David is a writer, student and game-maker currently based in Toronto. “What if everything you see is more than what you see—the person next to you is a warrior and the space that appears empty is a secret door to another world? What if something appears that shouldn't? You either dismiss it, or you accept - [First Person Podcast Episode 28](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-28/) - Jason Lajoie is a PhD candidate in English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo. His work explores how gay identities are constructed and negotiated through media and technology, particularly in domains like online gaming and social media. He is the Section Head of Podcasts for First Person Scholar. In this month's podcast, Pierson, - [Technology Worship, Media Archaeology, and Zombie Media in Horizon Zero Dawn](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/technology-worship-media-archaeology-and-zombie-media-in-horizon-zero-dawn/) - Ian Faith is a PhD student in English at the University of Iowa. His research focuses on the ways in which video game thematics, aesthetics, and mechanics have influenced 21st century media forms, especially fiction, poetry, and performance. Little more than a year has passed since Horizon Zero Dawn’s (2017) release, and if its reception - [Dungeons and Queers](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/dungeons-and-queers/) - Elise Vist is a PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo, completing a dissertation on Hockey Real-Person Fandom and the queerness that exists in hockey (even if it doesn’t always seem that way). Find her on Twitter RT-ing things about hockey, bisexuality, feminism, and whatever odd thing has her attention on any given day. I - [She’s Not There](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/shes-not-there/) - Brandi Billotte is a graduate student at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. In the fall, she will begin to pursue her PhD in English Literature and Criticism. She lives in DuBois with her two dogs, two cats, two children, and one husband. While a great deal of scholarship is devoted to the problematic aspects of - [Top of the Class](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/top-of-the-class/) - Joe Sutton is a New Jersey-based copywriter and poet. His work has appeared in the Huffington Post, the GROUND Magazine, Storychord, Silica Magazine and elsewhere. You can find more about him on his website. Some days, it felt like I’d awoken from a dream: vague memories of urbane art show openings, downtown hobnobbing with community - [Deodorizing the Geek Gamer](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/deodorizing-the-geek-gamer/) - Aaron Trammell is an Assistant Professor of Informatics at UC Irvine. Aaron’s research is focused on revealing historical connections between games, play, and the United States military-industrial complex. He is interested in how political and social ideology is integrated in the practice of game design and how these perspectives are negotiated within the imaginations of players. - [Like Clockwork](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/like-clockwork/) - Chris is a recent graduate of Cornell University, where he researched and wrote an undergraduate thesis on the intersections between video games, apocalypse narratives, and literary trauma theory. At the start of each of Shovel Knight’s nine main levels, the game’s eponymous hero springs in from off-screen and lands on his feet, shovel held aloft, as if - [Sonic Spaces in Dark Souls](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/sonic-spaces-in-dark-souls/) - Dylan Armitage is a graduate student in the Cultural Studies program at the University of Winnipeg. Dylan’s research focuses on digital media industries and cultures; he investigates digital media such as video games, social media, and online intermediaries. Dark Souls (2011-2016) is a challenging experience but also one that is solitary and quiet. The only - [An Interview with Tina Chan](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/an-interview-with-tina-chan/) - Tina Chan is currently a Masters of Science candidate at the University of Waterloo’s (UW) School of Public Health and Health Systems. Her areas of interest include computer based mental health solutions as well as peer to peer support and use of gamification techniques. During her undergraduate career also at the UW’s Applied Health Sciences - [Hauntological Remediation](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/hauntological-remediation/) - Andrew Bailey is a scholar, artist, and curator who lives and works in Toronto, Ontario. Currently he is in the process of completing a PhD in Art History and Visual Culture at York University with research centred around how history and nostalgia relate to both game art and game studies. In the decade following the - [First Person Podcast Episode 29](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-29/) - Jason Lajoie is a PhD candidate in English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo. His work explores how gay identities are constructed and negotiated through media and technology, particularly in domains like online gaming and social media. He is Podcast Producer for First Person Scholar. In this month's podcast, the FPS crew reflect - [The Strength of Heart Required to Face Oneself](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-strength-of-heart-required-to-face-oneself/) - Jenny Saucerman is an instructional designer who creates educational games and simulations. She was awarded one of Xbox’s Women in Gaming awards at the 2015 Game Developers Conference. She holds a master’s degree in educational psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Content warning for illness, anxiety, and surgery. It's hard to know what exactly you - [From Passion to Power](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/from-passion-to-power/) - Oscar Moralde is a doctoral candidate in Cinema and Media Studies at UCLA who studies embodied aesthetics and ideology in games and other media. His writing can be found in Well Played Journal, Media Fields Journal, and the Criterion Collection. A seat at the table The standing-room-only roundtable on unionization at the 2018 Game Developers - [Room to Reflect](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/room-to-reflect/) - Christopher A. Paul is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Communication Department at Seattle University. He is the author of The Toxic Meritocracy of Video Games: Why Gaming Culture Is the Worst and Wordplay and the Discourse of Video Games: Analyzing Words, Design, and Play. Content Notification: online harassment/abuse When I wrote my new - [Book Review: The Toxic Meritocracy of Video Games](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/book-review-toxic-meritocracy/) - David G. Schwartz, the Director of the Center for Gaming Research and instructor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, studies gambling and casinos, Las Vegas, tourism, and games. He is also a Forbes contributor and a noted speaker. Schwartz has written several books, including Grandissimo: The First Emperor of Las Vegas, Roll the Bones: The - [Confessions of a Brutal Gamer](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/confessions-of-a-brutal-gamer/) - Tyler is a master’s student working in the Critical Geographies Research Lab at the University of Victoria in Canada, British Columbia. His MA thesis is examining digital games as expressive of different geographical imaginations and as performative world making devices. Brutal Games and Ludic War How should I grapple with being both a fan and - [What the Final Girl Sees](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/what-the-final-girl-sees/) - Brian Crimmins is a freelance video game critic. Much of his work is critical readings of video games, and he focuses most of his efforts on older Japanese titles. Content warning for discussions of sexualized violence. Outside a small handful of reviews with each new release, little attention has been paid to the Deception (Tecmo, - [The Problem with Transactional Sex in Open-World Games](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-problem-with-transactional-sex-in-open-world-games/) - Salvatore Pane is the author of the novel Last Call in the City of Bridges in addition to Mega Man 3 from Boss Fight Books. His work has appeared in Indiana Review, American Short Fiction, Paste, and many other venues. He is an Assistant Professor at the University of St. Thomas, and his second novel - [Against Timelines](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/against-timelines/) - Matthew Morris is a writer, tour guide, and all-around storyteller living New Orleans. His work often confronts the complexities of memory, sexuality, and the nature of storytelling. In addition to his own prose, he is currently collaborating on two projects: a one-man play and a long form comic. The chronology of The Legend of Zelda - [Safiya Umoja Noble’s Algorithms of Oppression](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/safiya-umoja-nobles-algorithms-of-oppression/) - Mark Filipowich is a PhD candidate in communications at Concordia university. His research interest is in how narratives in popular fiction treat racist history as an aberration to Enlightenment logic of self-creation as a form of eluding white guilt. His other projects include curating and coordinating games criticism for Critical Distance and maintaining his own - [The Therapy and Anxiety I Recognized in Celeste](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-therapy-and-anxiety-i-recognized-in-celeste/) - Alyse Stanley is a Virginia-based freelance games journalist and assistant editor at Unwinnable. At any given moment, she’s probably drowning in her indie games backlog. It’s early morning, and I’m trapped by an unlocked door, the front entrance to my home, during a year I’d rather forget. Through the window, a breeze rustles trees heavy - [FPS Special Issue: Call for Papers](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/fps-special-issue-queer-design/) - Queer making and design practices have always existed, but it is only recently that Queer Game Studies has emerged as a rapidly expanding field through the efforts of queer scholars. In The Queer Art of Failure, Halberstam suggests, "Under certain circumstances failing, losing, forgetting, unmaking, undoing, unbecoming, not knowing may in fact offer more creative, - [An Interview with David Brevik – Part 1](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/an-interview-with-david-brevik-part-1/) - David Brevik (b. 1968) is a video game writer, designer, producer and programmer, co-founder of Condor, creator of the Diablo series, former President of Blizzard North, co-founder of Flagship Studios, former CEO of Gazillion Entertainment, and founder of Graybeard Games. Jeffery Klaehn holds a PhD in Communication from the University of Amsterdam and a - [World of Warcraft and Getting out into the World](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/world-of-warcraft-and-getting-out-into-the-world/) - Freelance writer from Argentina. Learned English thanks to video games. Always judging soundtracks. During the summer break of 2010, back when I was a 13-year-old student about to start his first year in high school, I decided to start playing World of Warcraft. I had no prior experience with a Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game - [An Interview with David Brevik – Part 2](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/david-brevik-interview-part-2/) - David Brevik (b. 1968) is a video game writer, designer, producer and programmer, co-founder of Condor, creator of the Diablo series, former President of Blizzard North, co-founder of Flagship Studios, former CEO of Gazillion Entertainment, and founder of Graybeard Games. Jeffery Klaehn holds a PhD in Communication from the University of Amsterdam and a - [How Fantasy Games Deal with Race](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/how-fantasy-games-deal-with-race/) - Dennis Jansen is pursuing a Research Master’s degree in Media Studies at Utrecht University. His research focuses on power dynamics in online fan-made archives of the Elder Scrolls franchise. He has also collaboratively published papers on the epiphany in digital games, and on alternative narrative structures for interactive digital storytelling. Video games have politics. With - [Darkmoon Tomb](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/darkmoon-tomb/) - Robin is an educator, poet and freelancer who is desperately trying to find new ways to write about all the things she loves at the same damn time. For me, being trans is a lifelong experience. My childhood and adolescent memories are coated in a thick layer of sadness. Something that was invisible and omnipresent. - [Gaming’s Hidden Toxicity](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/gamings-hidden-toxicity/) - Fabio Gironi is a journalist, philosopher, and translator. He is interested in internet and videogame culture, and their implicit (and explicit) politics and epistemology. He is currently a Humboldt postdoctoral fellow at the University of Potsdam, Germany. At the 2018 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, Todd Howard, executive producer at Bethesda Game Studios, revealed - [An interview with Andrew Reinhard](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/5935-2/) - Andrew Reinhard is as old as Pong. He is currently a third-year “mature” PhD student at the Department of Archaeology at the University of York (UK) where he is completing his thesis on archaeological tools and methods for investigating digital cultural heritage. Past video game archaeology projects include the excavation of the Atari Burial Ground, - [Remembering Katamari Damacy](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/remembering-katamari-damacy/) - Daniel Arauz is a Masters of Anthropology student at York University with an interest in male body image, gender, and food. When he isn’t researching and practicing his limited culinary skills, you can probably play against his mediocre King in Tekken 7. The last time a work of art made me cry was at a - [The Musical Narrative of JRPGs](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-musical-narrative-of-jrpgs/) - Sean Atkinson is an Assistant Professor of Music Theory at the Texas Christian University School of Music. Sean earned a Bachelor’s degree in Music Theory and Trombone Performance from Furman University, and a Masters and PhD in Music Theory from Florida State University. At TCU, Sean teaches a variety of classes in the music theory - [A Shack, a House, a Prison](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/a-shack-a-house-a-prison/) - Joshua Jackson is a third-year PhD student in Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media at the University of North Carolina. His dissertation is examining cruel optimism and neoliberalism in videogame production. I want to be very careful about how I approach this subject. I do not claim to speak for videogame production writ large, nor do - [Memories Shaping Identities](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/memories-shaping-identities/) - Gabin Jirodet is a cheerful narrative designer with a game design master’s degree who likes to talk about what he likes mostly on Twitter and why. (Can be summoned with a cup of tea). While French studio Dontnod is still releasing new episodes of Life is Strange 2 and is teasing a new project, Twin - [First Person Podcast Episode 30](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-30/) - Welcome back to First Person Podcasts. It’s been some time and we are grateful to those of you who are coming back to us after a little hiatus. We’re back and raring to go with a totally original, out of nowhere, never before heard episode on...our Games of the Year. Don’t worry, we go all - [“Miniaturized, A Bit Abstract, But Strangely Compelling”](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/miniaturized-a-bit-abstract-but-strangely-compelling/) - Alex Chalk is a PhD student in York and Ryerson Universities’ joint program in Communication and Culture in Toronto, Canada. His dissertation research focuses on the impact of streaming and “actual play” media on the tabletop roleplaying scene. He also identifies as a Professional Sissy, but hasn’t decided what he means by that. Lately he’s - [Destined for Silence](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/destined-for-silence/) - Lillian is a Master’s student at the University of Waterloo. Her main areas of interest revolve around the cognitive and semiotic aspects of rhetoric present in the communication habits that arise in multidisciplinary and cross-disciplinary environments and teams. Her research focuses on the rhetorical figures and moves present in the strategies of communication pedagogy with - [Redesigning the Tabletop](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/redesigning-the-tabletop/) - Lee Hibbard is a Rhetoric and Composition PhD student at Purdue University, where his research is focused on game studies and design, archival practices, queer theory, and digital rhetorics. He uses his identity as a queer transgender man to inform his research and scholarship as well as his D&D game, which runs twice a month - [Intersexionality and the Undie Game](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/intersexionality-and-the-undie-game/) - Sabine Harrer is a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies, University of Tampere (FI). Their research focuses on cultural videogames criticism, HCI and intersectionality, and creation-based knowledge making. Author of the book Games and Bereavement (transcript, 2018), Sabine has taught widely on game production and design, cultural media studies and - [Possibilities for Queer Community-Building Through LARP](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/queer-larp-community/) - Sharang Biswas is an award-winning game designer, artist and writer based in NYC. His writing has appeared in publications such as Kill Screen, ZAM, and Sub Q. Sharang holds a bachelor’s in Biotechnology from Dartmouth College and a master’s in Interactive Design from NYU-Tisch. Games are relationship-engines. While most definitions of games focus on - [Nonbinary](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/nonbinary-twine-game/) - Adan is a white settler living on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee nations. They are a PhD candidate in English and cultural studies at McMaster University working in Mad/crip studies and digital media. Follow the thread / of twine / to find / your way home / if home ever existed - [Nonbinary Transcript](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/nonbinary-text/) - Adan is a white settler living on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee nations. They are a PhD candidate in English and cultural studies at McMaster University working in Mad/crip studies and digital media. Follow the thread / of twine / to find / your way home / if home ever existed - [Folk-Music, Radical Politics, and Bliss](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/folk-music-radical-politics-and-bliss-far-cry-5s-music-as-western-hymnody/) - Eli Badra holds a master's degree in Music Education from the Boston Conservatory. He currently teaches piano in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and at Berklee College of Music in Boston. He has a long-held interest in how music-making reflects its culture, and his work focuses on the intersection of musicology and video games. Music has the unique - [Dark as a Dungeon](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/dark-as-a-dungeon/) - Dr. Jess Morrissette is a professor of political science at Marshall University, where he studies the politics of popular culture. I was ten hours into playing Fallout 76 when it finally happened—a moment I had warily anticipated since I first learned the latest installment in the franchise would be set in West Virginia. My character, - [(Re)Coding Survivance](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/recoding-survivance/) - “We are trying to get people back to the right timescale, so that they can understand how they are connected to what is to come . . . Standing on our mountain of connections, our foundation of history and stories and love, we can see both where the path behind us has come from and - [Creating and Queering Space with Player Housing](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/creating-and-queering-space-with-player-housing/) - Matthew E. Perks is a PhD student at the University of Waterloo in the Department of Sociology & Legal Studies. His research focuses on the socio-economics of the video game industry and how these inform and alter the design decisions and identities of video game developers. With the shutdown of massively multiplayer online roleplaying game - [“Fix my post-apocalypse”](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/fix-my-post-apocalypse/) - Jason Wallin is an Associate Professor of Media and Youth Culture Studies in the Department of Secondary Education at the University of Alberta. He was raised by wolves in the hinterlands of British Columbia. For Doug M. Since its release in November of 2018, Bethesda’s Fallout 76 has garnered an abysmal PC metacritic rating of - [Not a Mimic](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/not-a-mimic/) - Samantha Webb holds a Master’s degree in Game Design from Brunel University, London. She is a freelance games writer and narrative designer, working with both AAA and indie studios to develop games. She has an interest in second-level storytelling and semiotics and how games weave narrative beyond their dialogue. Developed by Arkane Studios and published - [Memory Trading](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/memory-trading/) - Catherine Brinegar is a trans woman who makes games and films in between writing about the former. She’s working on ‘until biglight,’ a mousepunk visual novel. Melted wax oozing from my left arm, I make another feeble swing at Suago-mo. I miss, my waxflab appendage severed from my body by their counter-attack. “Well, that solves - [VA-11 HALL-A](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/va-11-hall-a/) - Blake is a fiction writer and freelancer crawling the internet at the witching hour. His work focuses on obscure internet subcultures, queer identity, and literature. I first played VA-11 HALL-A (pronounced Valhalla, like the Norse hall of gods) the day it released while I was living in an indoor patio used to house dog kennels. - [Life After an El Presidente](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/life-after-an-el-presidente/) - Ponch Castor is an aspiring games writer from the Philippines. He aspires to discuss games on a deeper level for a living, and maybe someday, if fate be willing, attain a Masters in Game Design somewhere. Content Notification: references to torture, sexual violence “Satire does not work in the Philippines because this country is the - [Playing Dead](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/playing-dead/) - Tommy is a game designer and artist based in Toronto. He recently graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in Digital Futures from OCAD University and is currently working on finishing a surreal horror game called The Rawlings. 1. As early as I can remember, there is a Buddhist shrine carved out of redwood (metasequoia) - ["You Turned Left"](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/you-turned-left/) - Ellis Powell is a graduate of the University of Chicago with a master's degree in social sciences. She wrote her thesis on the use of video games for presenting ethnographic research, and in her spare time, she continues to pursue the potential that games as a medium have for representing social forces and systems. Indie - [Unforgotten Fantasies](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/unforgotten-fantasies/) - Andrew Bailey is a PhD candidate within the Art History and Visual Culture program at York University. His research focuses on new media art that is in dialogue with video game culture with an emphasis on works that interrogate how video games are affected both materially and conceptually by the processes of time. Andrew also - [de Blob and the Fun in the Fight](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/de-blob-and-the-fun-in-the-fight/) - Lindsay Eanet is a Chicago-based writer, editor and performer. Her writing has appeared in McSweeney’s, Paste, Howler, Chicago Magazine and others. She is the host & producer of I’ll Be There for You, a biweekly podcast about pop culture and coping. But enough about her, let’s talk about you. I’ve played through the first level - [“We Must Be Better”](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/we-must-be-better/) - Jason Cash is an Assistant Professor of English in the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences at SUNY Delhi, where he teaches literature, film, and composition. He earned a Ph. D. in English from Lehigh University in 2015, and he splits his research focus between Irish literature and popular culture. His work has appeared in - [Spiritual Heritage](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/spiritual-heritage/) - Peter Graham is a writer and stand-up comedian based in Seattle, Washington, who has also worked as a game developer at Riot Games, Camouflaj, and Bungie. When he’s not consuming and creating content, you’ll find Peter checking out live Jazz and House music and escaping into the mountains. Content Notification: References to sexual violence After - [Agniq Suaŋŋaktuq and Kisima Inŋitchuŋa (Never Alone)](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/agniq-suannaktuq-and-kisima-innitchuna-never-alone/) - Kateryna Barnes is a graduate student in the Digital Humanities program at the University of Alberta. Her dual settler-Haudenosaunee identity means she can sew moccasins, grow medicines, and make borsch. Sila is the weather. It is also the atmosphere. Sila has a soul in the same way we do as people in the same way - [“You Ever Have That Feeling Where You’re Not Sure If You’re Awake or Still Dreaming?”](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/you-ever-have-that-feeling-where-youre-not-sure-if-youre-awake-or-still-dreaming/) - Samuel Poirier-Poulin is a master’s student at the Department of Anthropology at the University of Toronto. He is an editorial board member of the game studies student journal Press Start, and the director and creator of Pika-Pi!, a reading circle that works toward decentering game studies. He is a big fan of the first Resident - [For All the Broken Vessels](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/for-all-the-broken-vessels/) - Markus Russin is doing an interdisciplinary PhD at the University of British Columbia and has a passion for videogames. He also writes short fiction and poetry on the internet. Figure 1: The tiny Vessel at the memorial to the Hollow Knight At times it can seem as if the world of videogames, just like the - [Thinking Globally at the Microbial Level](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/thinking-globally-at-the-microbial-level/) - Matthew Kelly is an Assistant Professor of English in the Department of Literature and Languages at the University of Texas at Tyler. His research focuses on the role of digital literacies and collective pedagogical practices in video game communities as well as the impact of integrating digital media technologies into the writing classroom. Introduction Originally - [Lunch or Lose](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/lunch-or-lose/) - Alisha Karabinus is a PhD candidate in English at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN and a co-host of the long-running Not Your Mama's Gamer podcast. Her research centers on experience in games and gaming culture, as well as student experiences in writing and rhetoric. With Rachel Atherton, she received the 2018 SIGDOC Best Paper - [Outer Wilds Helped Me Understand the Relationship Between Progress and Purpose](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/outer-wilds-progress-and-purpose/) - Bryn Gelbart is a freelance writer and journalist based in Brooklyn. He has written about film, games, and music for Indiewire, Deorbital, BrooklynVegan and other publications. He tells himself that one day he will play all the video games. He will most certainly not. Ever since I can remember, I’ve been afraid of death. As - [The Politics of Passionate Patti](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-politics-of-passionate-patti/) - Dr. Jess Morrissette is a professor of political science at Marshall University, where he studies the politics of popular culture. Popular narratives about the history of female video game protagonists tend to follow a standard series of milestones, highlighting similar sets of influential characters and games along the way. The story typically begins with Ms. - [Mind of Mario](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/mind-of-mario/) - Writing in the dirty South, Wilds is one who wakes up late. He wrestles with commas and broken controllers, while fighting off nightmares of Silent Hill and Battletoads, as well as thinking about old cartoons that only got one season. A large serene edifice can be seen from far and wide across the kingdom. Its - [Dementia in diegesis](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/dementia-and-diegesis/) - Ruud Jacobs is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Science at the University of Twente (the Netherlands). He researches the persuasive effects of serious games from a mediapsychological perspective. Lieke Segerink is a Lecturer in Psychology at the Saxion University of Applied Science (the Netherlands). Her background is in cognitive neuropsychology, and she - [Out of Context](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/out-of-context/) - E.L. is a PhD student in the History of the Exact Sciences in Antiquity at Brown University. Her research focuses on the translation of science across time and genre, languages and cultures. When hiding out from grad school, she works in museums, writes about games, and studies the circus arts. Games are designed and intended - [Subcultural Style and Splatoon](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/subcultural-style-and-splatoon/) - Don Everhart is a sociologist who researches technoscientific communities and actions. He thinks games are good to think with and wishes more pushed against conventions of style and embodiment. You can see more of his thoughts and hear about his other writing and video projects from his twitter feed(s). The Splatocalypse has come and gone, - [Gendered Spaces and Cultures in Video Games](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/gendered-spaces-and-cultures-in-video-games/) - Ronny Ford is a PhD student in the English Department at Michigan State University. He also completed his English masters and Bachelor’s at MSU. His research area includes Medieval Literature, specifically gender and sexuality in a time before there was a concept of sexuality, and how transgressions of gender were portrayed and viewed. In his free - [Let us live in hope](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/let-us-live-in-hope/) - Josh Zimmerman is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Public and Applied Humanities at the University of Arizona, as well as an instructional design and community engagement consultant for TTG, LLC in Minneapolis, MN. His research interests include developer-fan discourses in the computer game industry, online community building, and the complex relationship between play - [Planting the Seeds for Positive Queer Representation](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/planting-the-seeds-for-positive-queer-representation/) - Jeremy is a second-year graduate student in the English program at Marshall University with interests in poststructuralist, feminist, and queer scholarship. In his spare time (as if that exists), he writes songs, goes for long hikes, and spends countless hours in bookstores. The day I blew out my fourth candle is the same day that - [“Is that your only ambition for me? To follow?”](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/is-that-your-only-ambition-for-me-to-follow/) - Ciaran Devlin is a PhD student in the department of Sociology, Trinity College Dublin. His research interests involve exploring videogames through the lenses of gender, sexuality, and masculinities. When Asobo Studio developed and released A Plague Tale: Innocence (2019; hereafter APT:I), it was positively received among gamers and reviewers alike (Chan, 2019; Parkin, 2019). The - [We're Gonna Crash!](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/were-gonna-crash/) - Matthew Koester is a writer, artist and journalist based in Illinois. “Choose Your Car” Since its creation, the racing genre has always aspired to an idealized driving experience. Sega’s classic Outrun used idyllic coastal imagery, a ferrari and a blonde woman to create a yuppie power fantasy. Kart racers abstract racing into something silly and - [Mountains of Trash](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/mountains-of-trash/) - Dennis Jansen is a second-year RMA student of Media Studies at Utrecht University. His current research interests include the materiality of videogames and digital culture, critical theory in game studies, and fan-made archives for The Elder Scrolls. Dennis is managing editor at Junctions, a graduate journal for the Humanities. “Maybe this is what digital culture - [“A glimpse of the possibilities”](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/a-glimpse-of-the-possibilities/) - Maria Alberto is a third-year PhD student in English at the University of Utah, where she is pursuing research interests in fan studies, genre, adaption, and popular culture. She is also the Digital Matters graduate fellow at the J. Willard Marriott Library for Fall 2019, and some of her recent projects have focused on platforms - [Sailing the Queer Seas](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/sailing-the-queer-seas/) - Ari is a leftist queerdo, philosophy grad student, and creative writer. Their research interests include migration, liberalism, democracy, secularism and human rights. In their limited free time, they enjoy Magic: the Gathering and collecting bird related objects. CW: Mentions of abuse, self-harm, suicide, sexual assault. Part of the reason I began creative writing, way back - [Book Review: Video Games as Culture](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/book-review-video-games-as-culture/) - I graduated in Sociology at the University of Barcelona (2005). Later, I got both a Master’s Degree and a PhD Degree in History of Science at the Centre for the History of Science (CEHIC-UAB), also in Barcelona. As a PhD student, I learnt and studied the social and cultural processes related to the beginning and - [Moral-Making Through Gameplay](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/6544-2/) - Amanda Caldwell is a recent graduate from the University of Glasgow, receiving her MLitt in Fantasy Literature. Studying English Literature, Sociology and Women & Gender Studies in her undergrad, she is most interested in where text intersects with society. After completing her dissertation on the function of narrative in modern video games with an emphasis - [A Chain of Memories](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/a-chain-of-memories/) - Hana’a Dorey is a mostly graduated Master of Arts in Experimental Digital Media from the University of Waterloo’s English Department. They are a sometimes poet, sometimes designer, always thinker. Currently saving money and playing too much FFXIV in Halifax, Nova Scotia, they continue to explore games and media affect their own way at their own - [First Person Podcast Episode 31: 2019 Game of the Year](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-31-2020-game-of-the-year/) - This month on the First Person Podcast, we sit down with Chris Lawrence, Lia Black, and Patrick Dolan to discuss their all time favourite games of 2019. How have these games impacted the genre? What function do their narratives play through social commentary? We also talk about prospective games on our list for 2020. Lia - [Interview: Melos Han Tani](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/interview-melos-han-tani/) - Melos Han Tani (formerly Sean Han Tani) is a game designer from Chicago of Taiwanese, Japanese and Irish descent, currently living in Tokyo. He created the game All Our Asias (2018), and is one of the two members of his game studio Analgesic Productions, which made Anodyne (2013), Even the Ocean (2016) and Anodyne 2: - [Where Are the Disabled Sims?](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/where-are-the-disabled-sims/) - Danielle Marascalchi is a senior at Emerson College in Boston, studying visual media arts. Her long-term goal is to contribute to the diversification of mainstream media through the inclusion of strongly written characters of minority groups. Her short-term goal is to complete the entire Mass Effect series by the time she graduates. When I say - [Educational Board Gaming and Counter Politics](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/educational-board-gaming-and-counter-politics/) - Anton is a first year PhD student in the department of Film and Moving Image Studies at Concordia University. Introduction The Eurogame, or the German-style board game, is best understood as a genre that emphasizes the simulation of peaceful trade, barter, and exchange. Unlike American war-game titles like Risk (1957) Eurogames like The Settlers of - [To Bloom New Possibilities](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/to-bloom-new-possibilities/) - Anne Ladyem McDivitt is the Digital Humanities Librarian for the University of Alabama Libraries. Her research is on the history of the video game industry in the 1970s and 1980s, with a particular interest in gender. She received her PhD in History with a minor in Digital History from George Mason University and her MA - [First Person Podcast Episode 32](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-32/) - This month on the First Person Podcast, we sit down with Lia Black, and Sarah Stang for Valentine’s Day to discuss their hot takes on romance in gaming. What are their video game crushes? What makes for a good romance narrative? What should we be seeing more of in our romance titles? All these questions - [Modern Masculinity In Red Dead Redemption 2’s Old West](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/modern-masculinity-in-red-dead-redemption-2s-old-west/) - Stacey Henley can often be found wandering new lands, exploring vast terrains and journeying to the edge of the Earth, but only in video games. In real life, she normally stays home. By virtue of its thematic setting, Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games, 2018; hereafter RDR2) is inherently anachronistic, in that video games are - [Interview: Olivia Wood](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/interview-olivia-wood/) - Jeffery Klaehn holds a Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Amsterdam and a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Strathclyde. His fields of expertise are media and communication, comics and graphic novels, social theory, the political economy of media, propaganda, digital storytelling and game design, and interactive media. He has published interviews with - [The Gendered Mechanics of Pokémon Sword and Shield](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-gendered-mechanics-of-pokemon-sword-and-shield/) - Autumn Wright is a complete genderfuck. They study rhetoric and history in Orlando, FL and write about games, sex, and other things you love on the internet. Find her latest writing (and like their selfies) at @TheAutumnWright. Nine hours. That’s how long it took to win my first badge in Pokemon Sword. It’s longer than - [Writing New Bodies in Digital Fiction](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/writing-new-bodies-in-digital-fiction/) - “Writing New Bodies: Critical Co-design for 21st Century Digital-born Bibliotherapy” is a research project funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Insight Grant (2018-2020). Using methods of feminist participatory action research and critical community co-design to develop an interactive digital story app (i.e., digital fiction), this project creates a tool for media-enhanced bibliotherapy - [Space, Navigation, and Queerness in Gone Home; or Toward a Queer Spatiality](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/space-navigation-and-queerness-in-gone-home-or-toward-a-queer-spatiality/) - Brigid Kennedy is a writer and researcher based in Chicago. She recently completed her master’s in cinema and media studies and is interested in representations of memory and queerness in popular media. Gone Home (2013) is an explicitly queer videogame with an explicitly queer narrative. The player plays as Katie, returned home after a long - [First Person Podcast Episode 33: Role Play](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-33-role-play/) - This month on the First Person Podcast, you join Lia Black, Giuseppe Femia, Chris Lawrence, and Sabrina Sgandurra to look at the roles they have filled. What experience are they looking for in the characters they portray? How do they shape their own experiences? And what the heck is a QAF Character Generator? Listen in - [Burn the Glitch?](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/burn-the-glitch/) - Florence is a heritage consultant and archaeogamer living in London. They are particularly interested in queer archaeologies of gaming and dark tourism. Introduction Glitches can be characterised as digital pests. Like their analogue equivalents, they can range from mildly inconvenient to unavoidable. Examples include loading errors, clipping through walls, and game-breaking glitches which result in - [First Person Scholar: Call for Collaborators](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-scholar-call-for-collaborators/) - First Person Scholar is a University of Waterloo Games Institute-affiliated, middle-state, open-access web publication committed to diverse, intersectional, and social-justice-minded games scholarship. We are looking for a Guest Editor to head up the last of our 2019-2020 series of special issues highlighting under-represented and/or marginalized identities and communities in games. This time around, we - [What Fate Brings](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/what-fate-brings/) - Paige is a writer and journalist who has written for sites such as Women Write About Comics, The Mary Sue, and others. She has a great love for all things Star Wars, games, and pop culture. Spoilers for both Final Fantasy XV and the DLC titled “Episode Ardyn”. Any alternate endings from Episode Ignis and - [Plague Tale and the Pied Piper Myth Turned on Its Head](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/plague-tale-and-the-pied-piper-myth-turned-on-its-head/) - Aimee is the deputy editor of Gayming Magazine and a freelance writer. She spends most of her time trying to tell people that Sonic the Hedgehog deserves human teeth, actually. When I was a child, I read about the tale of the Pied Piper with both fear and excitement in my heart. There was something - [First Person Podcast: Episode 34](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-34/) - This month on the First Person Podcast, you join Lia Black, Betsy Brey, Sarah Stang, Nicholas Hobin, and Sabrina Sgandurra to discuss their favourite pets in gaming history. We are going to be looking at the autonomy that has been allowed to animals in gaming ranging from the Final Fantasy Series to Pokémon. Through these - [Remonetizing Nostalgia](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/remonetizing-nostalgia/) - Chris Hugelmann is a 3rd year PhD student in the Communication & Culture program at Ryerson University. He has a Master’s degree in user experience / interface design, and his research looks at how norms and restrictions around ideas like identity and community are created and reinforced within the in-game interfaces of online games. Introduction - [A Multimodal Approach to Video Games and the Player](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/a-multimodal-approach-to-video-games-and-the-player/) - Agata Waszkiewicz is a Ph.D. candidate at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Poland. Their research focuses on experimental and metafictional videogames, as well as the representation of marginalized identities in video games. They published in several journals, including Game Studies and Journal of Games Criticism (in print). They enjoy experimental and narrative-driven games with original visual - [Game art, art game, indie game](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/game-art-art-game-indie-game/) - Hélène is a video game researcher and writer. Her PhD thesis is about the relationships between literature and video games, studying the diverse forms of frictions and hybridizations between the two media cultures. In parallel, she is a freelance Narrative Designer and mainly worked on the otome game Moonlight Lovers (Beemoov Studios, 2019). She also - [Interview: Mike Ren Yi](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/interview-mike-ren-yi/) - Christopher B. Patterson is an Assistant Professor in the Social Justice Institute at the University of British Columbia. He is author of the books Transitive Cultures: Anglophone Literature of the Transpacific (Rutgers University Press, 2018), and Open World Empire: Race, Erotics, and the Global Rise of Video Games (New York University Press, 2020). Mike Ren Yi has developed a - [Dreaming of Zion](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/dreaming-of-zion/) - David G. Schwartz is the Associate Vice Provost of Faculty Affairs, Professor and Gaming Historian in the University Libraries, and an Affiliate Professor in the Department of History at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas who writes mostly about gambling, gaming, and games. As a Western set in a post-apocalyptic Mohave, Fallout: New Vegas demonstrates - [First Person Podcast Episode 35: Disco Elysium](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-34-disco-elysium/) - FirstPersonPodcast · First Person Podcast Episode 35: Disco Elysium This month on the First Person Podcast, we delve into Disco Elysium with Lindsay Meaning, Rob Parker, Sabrina Sgandurra, and Axel Hassen Taiari to discuss their experiences with the game. We are going to look at the different directions that they took in their gameplay and - [A Letter to the Editor](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/a-letter-to-the-editor/) - Gerald Voorhees is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Waterloo. His research is on games and new media as sites for the construction and contestation of identity and culture, and he has edited books on masculinities in games, feminism in play, role-playing games, and first-person shooter games. Gerald - [A Failed and Unintelligible Analogy](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/6867-2/) - Braden Timss is an essay and fiction writer who recently graduated with a Bachelors in English Literature and Creative Writing from Western Washington University in Washington state. They spend many hours of the day thinking about the space inside Disneyland, the scary parts of games that aren’t scary, and whether it might be possible to - [First Person Podcast Episode 36](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/first-person-podcast-episode-36/) - FirstPersonPodcast · First Person Podcast Episode 36: Pride Month Throwback Happy Pride month from First Person Podcast! On this episode we go back to a conversation that happened years ago to exhibit some queer games. Join Elise Vist, Rob Parker, Chris Persaud, and Matthew Perks as they delve into the discourse of queer game design. - [Life Will Change](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/life-will-change/) - Mj is a Daiwa scholar based in the field of Japanese Studies. Her research focuses on Japanese videogames and their value as cultural artefacts, and her native fruits are oranges. First released in Japan in 2016, Persona 5 (hereafter P5) follows a group of teenage misfits who gain the power to control Personas, powerful spirit-like - [(Re)coding Survivance and the Regenerative Narrative](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/recoding-survivance-and-the-regenerative-narrative/) - S. Rose O’Leary (Washazhe, Tsalagi, Quapaw, Mi’kmaq, Irish, English, French, etc.) studies and works in the intersections of Game Studies, Science and Technology Studies (STS), Indigenous pedagogies, Media Theory, climate change and environment, activism, story, Informatics, and Education. Her commitments are always in service of the future generations. The theme of this special issue is - [(Re)Coding Survivance: Sovereign Video Games Special Issue](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/survivance-special-issue/) - FirstPersonPodcast · Indigenous Games The following is a transcription of the podcast above. Enjoy! betsy: Welcome to a special edition of First Person Podcast. This month for Episode 37 we're introducing a special issue on Indigenous and Sovereign Games, called “(Re)coding Survivance,” edited by Michelle Lee Brown. First Person Scholar wants to take this opportunity - [The Burden on Our Back](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-burden-on-our-back/) - Josh Wood currently serves as Assistant Teaching Professor in Syracuse University’s Department of Writing Studies, Rhetoric, and Composition. He earned his PhD from Clemson’s transdiciplinary program in Rhetorics, Communication, and Information Design. His research focuses on the intersection of cultural rhetorics and new media, with a particular emphasis on games. He also occasionally designs indie - [Don't Leave/I'm Ready](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/dont-leaveim-ready/) - As you may or may not know, the editorial team at FPS is run by grad students. That means our team changes from year to year. This year, three longtime editors are stepping down from the publication: betsy brey, Chris Lawerence, and Rob Parker. What will FPS look like next year? Well, we already know, ## Pages - [People](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/people/) - First Person Scholar is currently on hiatus and has no staff. Please contact Dr. Neil Randall with any questions. First Person Scholar Alumni Editors-in-Chief Steve Wilcox Emma Vossen Alexandra Orlando Betsy Brey Chris Lawrence Sabrina Sgandurra Patrick Dolan Editorial Team Elise Vist Michael Hancock Jason Hawreliak Meghan Blythe-Adams Kent Aardse Phil Miletic Alex Fleck - [About FPS](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/about/) - First Person Scholar is currently on hiatus and has no staff. Please contact Dr. Neil Randall with any questions. We at FPS are advocating for a new dynamic, one in which we demonstrates our relevancy through timely, rigorous, and accessible criticism that challenges all players to engage in what Mary Flanagan calls critical play. The - [Contribute](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/contribute/) - First Person Scholar is currently on hiatus and has no staff. Please Contact Dr. Neil Randall with any questions. To submit to FPS please follow the guidelines below and send your article to the appropriate section through email. 1. General Article Guidelines First Person Scholar is seeking submissions from game critics and game scholars on ## FAQs - [How do I send my pitch to First Person Scholar?](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/faq/how-do-i-publish-with-first-person-scholar/) - Follow the guidelines above for how a piece is structured and send an email to the appropriate section head. If you are still unsure about the piece but have an idea, send a pitch to eic@firstpersonscholar.com! Here’s what we are looking for in a pitch: Tell us in a paragraph or so what you want - [I have other questions!](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/faq/i-have-other-questions/) - Please direct general inquiries to eic@firstpersonscholar.com “Is this an essay or a commentary?” The eternal question. The alpha and omega. There isn’t really a strong difference. In fact, there’s a lot of overlap. Broadly speaking, however, if your idea more strongly emphasizes a theoretical bent with a lot of citation, it’s probably best suited to essays. - [What can I expect when I send something to First Person Scholar?](https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/faq/what-can-i-expect-when-i-send-something-to-first-person-scholar/) - We know we don’t work like a traditional journal. We’re very proud of that. But since it’s a different process, we wanted to explain how it usually goes. Our editorial pipeline usually works on shorter timescales than, say, an academic journal, but we are also grad students. 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