Post by leunas on Jan 30, 2007 15:52:17 GMT -5
We’re discussing Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within tomorrow in my posthuman anime class tomorrow, and I’m dreading it. For some reason, the thought of talking about Final Fantasy in the classroom makes me cringe.
Which is weird because I love thinking about video games academically whether it’s looking at the cyborg implications of the physical act of gaming, or doing “literary” style criticism of game narratives.
I think something irks me about the passion, the way any one individuals reading of the game is right. Yeah, I think students should study what they’re passionate about, but what kind of subjectivity to we take when we discuss something so crucial to our identities as the games that carried us through teenage angst? I’m the last one to try to be objective or even believe such a thing is possible, but I think gamers (myself included) could try to look a little harder at how our passion interprets our reading of video games.
I used to really feel a kinship with other solitary gamers, other folks whose eyes would lite up if I hummed One Winged Angel or called someone a spoony bard, but it seems kind of corny now. These days, I’m warry of people I meet who are foremost gamers, especially if they are men, who have treated me like my enthusiasm in discussing our shared hobby gives them access to my time and my body.
Tonight, I was out with a group of friends and a group of guys with slicked hair and matching long white coats (one of whom several of us knew for being a creepy) sat down near us. “Mind if we sit near you ladies?” they asked. We all looked at each other. I blurted to the guys, “What, are you cosplaying the Turks?” I was kind of glad nobody got it–lately I’m just not feeling much of a connection with people because they played the same RPGs as me. What’s meaningful to me is spending my actual play time with people I care about–and the group of friends I was out with tonight (only one of whom, Meghann who posts here, identifies as a gamer) are spending the night next weekend, and we’re all pumped to play DDR and Wii.
www.lake-desire.com/newgameplus/index.php/archives/202
Which is weird because I love thinking about video games academically whether it’s looking at the cyborg implications of the physical act of gaming, or doing “literary” style criticism of game narratives.
I think something irks me about the passion, the way any one individuals reading of the game is right. Yeah, I think students should study what they’re passionate about, but what kind of subjectivity to we take when we discuss something so crucial to our identities as the games that carried us through teenage angst? I’m the last one to try to be objective or even believe such a thing is possible, but I think gamers (myself included) could try to look a little harder at how our passion interprets our reading of video games.
I used to really feel a kinship with other solitary gamers, other folks whose eyes would lite up if I hummed One Winged Angel or called someone a spoony bard, but it seems kind of corny now. These days, I’m warry of people I meet who are foremost gamers, especially if they are men, who have treated me like my enthusiasm in discussing our shared hobby gives them access to my time and my body.
Tonight, I was out with a group of friends and a group of guys with slicked hair and matching long white coats (one of whom several of us knew for being a creepy) sat down near us. “Mind if we sit near you ladies?” they asked. We all looked at each other. I blurted to the guys, “What, are you cosplaying the Turks?” I was kind of glad nobody got it–lately I’m just not feeling much of a connection with people because they played the same RPGs as me. What’s meaningful to me is spending my actual play time with people I care about–and the group of friends I was out with tonight (only one of whom, Meghann who posts here, identifies as a gamer) are spending the night next weekend, and we’re all pumped to play DDR and Wii.
www.lake-desire.com/newgameplus/index.php/archives/202