Special Issue: Queerness & Video Games Co-Edited by Alum Bonnie Ruberg
With a new book coming out this March, Bonnie Ruberg continues their work and research in queer theory and games studies.
They co-edited a special issue of Queerness and Video Games titled Not Gay as in Happy: Queer Resistance and Video Games with Amanda Philips. While Ruberb is at the University of California, Irvine as the assistant professor of Digital Games and Interactive Media in the Department of Informatics and the Program in Visual Studies, Philips is the assistant professor of English and Film and Media Studies at Georgetown University.
The issue also includes BCNM alum Chris Goetz. They reference Goetz's publication on capitalism and gaming, “Coin of Another Realm: Gaming’s Queer Economy". Philips and Ruberg address how new both queer theory and game studies are - both under 2 years - and how they intersect. They present a strong and passionate argument about representation and resistance in this special issue.
There are many ways to tell the story of queerness and games. Recent years have seen the prominence of a particular cultural narrative about games (especially video games) and diversity: Once exclusionary and discriminatory, so the story goes, games are now becoming more inclusive, with LGBTQ characters represented in mainstream video games and diverse gaming communities beginning to flourish. This narrative is not untrue, yet it is only one version of the story.