It’s always fun to think about how things change over the course of a year, both yourself and the things that surround you. What was games for Mattie in 2013?
Category Archives: Criticism
The Meritocracy of Video Games
Game design is political. Not just the field (that’s another minefield to go through), but the designs that makes up each game.
Not a Monolith
I’m aware that people mainly approach my work because it’s a game done by a queer woman, and that is the context it’s allowed to exist in the main conversation.
Music Design in Sequence
A clear example is Sequence, an interesting RPG ‘rhythm’ game by Iridium Studios. I have scarequotes around rhythm because I don’t think it’s the proper term; games that heavily feature music tend to be ghettoized into a music games category, and I don’t think we really have good words for them.
Thinking on Local Game Making Communities
Have you ever thought about what your local play and games culture is like? It might not be an intuitive question or process to find the answer, but through speaking in different cities and countries, I’ve found that locales have their own particular attitude towards games.
End the Video Supremacy of Games
What does it mean when critics and creators can’t afford to keep up with the tech race?
And Queerness for All
Two weeks ago, I helped run the Queerness and Games Conference at UC Berkeley, a free, public, interdisciplinary, and inclusive space for people who wanted to talk and learn about the intersection of games and queerness.
Death of the Player
Players are overrated.
Iz Gamez Criticizm Art???
To start off, I am always going to answer ‘Is X Y?’ with ‘sure.’ Mostly, I see something like art as a lens or perspective; you can see something as art, and bring in what you understand of that to extract meaning.
The Dadification of Video Games is Real
I recently watched a Lets Play of The Last of Us, because god forbid I play a shooter ever again in my life. But I do like to keep up with what’s going on and what people are buzzing on about.
Triptychs
We tend to see them as objects. When we talk about games, we’re referencing a thing, either with physical boundaries or digital limitations. Games are objects with qualities, to be dissected, parsed, and valued. A game is something with a challenge. A game is something with a goal. Besides the usual questions of who is deciding what a game has, it is, first and foremost, a thing.
B-Side #1 – Depression Quest
The most powerful mechanic is actually the lack of choices open to the player. At least, all of the seemingly obvious ones most people assume are available are blocked off from those depressed.
Take Me Personally, Babe
I’m going to write about my personal experience writing about personal experience.
Decolonize Me
“Why do you act so white?”
Would You Kindly
I thought his eyes were blue. But he reminded me they were the color of shit.