Right now, a reckoning is shaking the games industry and culture. Predators are being called out, and I can only think of Flemeth when she pours out her pain to Morrigan and the Inquisitor. She was betrayed as I was betrayed as the world was betrayed! Sometimes it takes a character in a game to... Continue Reading →
The Standard You Walk Past
The standard you walk past is the standard you accept. - Lieutenant General David Morrison The title of this post was something said by Lt General David Morrison in a speech to the Australian army, after allegations of sexual misconduct among the Australian troops. It is oddly fitting for what I'm about to talk about... Continue Reading →
A Prisoner of the Abject
Sarah Kerrigan's Transformations throughout StarCraft. I want to preface this blog post with two things. 1. I'm only looking at Kerrigan through the games, not any of the surrounding media. 2. I'm probably wrong about all of this, so don't get too upset about anything I say. I've borrowed the title of this post from... Continue Reading →
Do games touch us deeper…
...because we live them? Lately I've been reading quite a bit about horror in cinema and other media to sort out some thoughts that have been bothering me lately. I think most of us are aware of the immersion we gain by playing games. If we like the games we can sit for hours and... Continue Reading →
Insidious Sexism
When I told colleagues that I was going to do some writing about problematic enemies in games, one of the enemies that came up was the Desire Demon in Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age II. While I don't disagree - the Desire Demon is a pretty blatant example of 1. the expectation that all... Continue Reading →
Dev needs Production
I think you're a good producer. Because you actively tried to understand the issues. Like basically listened to people in the team. A good producer tries to genuinely understand what different parties want and what are the main obstacles in the way. The problem is that skill is mostly about listening. And producers are usually... Continue Reading →