Responses to the Trump administration’s meeting to discuss links between videogames and violence feature prominently This Week in Videogame Blogging – but this roundup starts with some art history.

Bad art

Two Unwinnable articles this week argue for aesthetic reclamations of bad art.

“If camp in part is about the reclaiming of pleasure — a vigorous celebration not just of “bad” art but of the “bad” in art — it is also not infrequently about reclaiming art from the artist.”

History

Three articles look at the points where history and games meet – histories of games, and games portraying history.

“It’s vital we think of alternatives that challenge the myth of perpetual growth, instead of uncritically repeating it, not simply to create variety in strategy design, but also because that same myth is partly responsible for the destruction of our own world.”

Marked off

Social issues portrayed in games are critiqued in three articles this week, looking at adoption, disability, and postcolonial utopia.

“Feminism isn’t smooth, singular, linear, gentle, ordered; it can’t be mapped out, pinned down, marked off with chalk or yellow tape or a magic circle.”

Soundtrack

One article this week provided a deep dive into the music created for an iconic game.

Rhetoric

In the aftermath of the White House meeting with game developers, three critics look at the relationship between games and violence.

“Who, exactly, is supposed to be swayed by visual rhetoric to the effect of “Oh, Mr. Trump, you missed a sunset?” None of these visuals actually refute the point about videogames often being incredibly violent.”


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