The (Kingdom) Heart(s) of the Matter

The Finale: “End? No, the journey doesn’t end here.”

Week 11: “All things being equal, and even when they are not, if the computer — or life — assigns you the “Straight White Male” difficulty setting, then brother, you’ve caught a break.”

Week 10: “Boys will be boys, I guess. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯”

Not in the Kitchen Anymore reminded me why I never play with my microphone on when I play MMOs and why I go to great lengths to hide my true identity (i.e. I hide the fact that I am a woman) when I play those types of games. I am completely…

Week 9: How did we get here?

I played Depression Quest, and I honestly cannot wrap my head around why this game is the center of controversy. If you can get over the fact that it’s a text-based game and actually take in the story’s narrative, then you’ll see that the game actually deserves the awards and…

Week 8: “Even a game with queer characters, queer plotlines, and queer approaches to game design can be recast by players resistant to diversity.”

Before this class, I never really questioned representation and diversity in video…

In “Dressing Commander Shepard in Pink: Queer Playing in a Heteronormative Game Culture,” the

Week 7: “In video games, heteronormativity manifests on two levels — within their content (including fiction and system rules), and in the performance of gameplay.”

Burrill’s “Watch Your Ass: The Structure of Masculinity in Video Games” (2004) genuinely baffled

Week 6: “Is this to say that all games function as contracts sustaining the repressed homoeroticism that ‘undergirds patriarchy and male homosocial relations,’ even…

Week 5: “Acts of altruism are repeatedly presented in heavily gendered ways that are bound up in harmful myths about women as perpetual victims and men as paternalistic saviors.”

Week 4: “[V]ideo games glorify violence towards and objectif[y] women and perpetuat[e] a crass view of sexuality.”

I know that it is only the fourth week of playing, but Kingdom Hearts has left me feeling hopeless and defeated after every gaming…