News/Research

Alum Bonnie Ruberg at Gaming Representation Symposium at Smith College

31 Oct, 2017

Alum Bonnie Ruberg at Gaming Representation Symposium at Smith College

Bonnie Ruberg gave a presentation at Smith College for its one-day event, "Gaming Representation: A Symposium on Video Games and Identity," on Oct. 27. The symposium was free and sponsored by the Smith College Lecture Fund, the Program in Film and Media Studies, and the Connections Fund.

At the symposium, Ruberg discussed a book to which she contributed — Gaming Representation: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Video Games. She and fellow book contributors, TreaAndrea Russworm (co-editor with Jennifer Malkowski) and Soraya Murray, also participated in a moderated panel about the state of modern identity and video games.

Gaming Representation: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Video Games studies the depictions of race, gender, and seuxality across a variety of video game genres, from the mainstream to indie. As contributors, they examined how identity and representation function in these games, and if they relate to the very software and hardware of the game itself. Bonnie's article "Playing to Lose: The Queer Art of Failing at Videogames" challenges the assumption that failing at videogames is always undesirable and might be a "masochistic mode of resistance that disassembles normative expectations in and out of the game world." She is joined by fellow alum, Irene Chien, who in "Journey into the Techno-Primitive Desert" encourages us not to take Journey's departure from the way other games have depicted the Middle East as confirmation that the work is either progressive or resistant.

If this type of gaming scholarship interests you, purchase a copy of the book here!