In this week’s roundup, there are some fascinating questions about how and why to look at games critically, as well as writing on accessibility, narrative, and interactive systems!

Mindsets

This week brought us three pieces that highlight the importance and variety of critical perspectives on games.

“Game dev students often need to have their mindsets forcibly shifted from being players to being developers.”

Humility, limitations, and compromise

Three critics examine the expressive power of interactive systems.

“I don’t fully agree with Austin that Smithon is hell, because there is something deeply redemptive about the experience. It’s a painful lesson in humility, limitations, and compromise that will serve you well for the rest of the BattleTech campaign.”

Changing the tone

In two pieces, interactive systems that specifically alter the way we experience dialog text are brought to light.

Complexities

Two critics look at how accessibility is affected and represented by games.

“I want a scenario where the explicit goal is to build a frozen utopia of automated physical labor and palliative care. I want story events where civilians reject prosthetic limbs, where they break and malfunction, where their experiences with illness and disability are as disparate as our own. I want complexities.”

Architecture

A lovely little piece on videogame architecture also stood out this week.


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