How might games help us to be more ourselves? In the game, and outside it?
Videogames have become a massively popular medium and pass-time, and particularly in the last two decades. They represent a chance to explore environments, stories, spaces, and experiences that might be inaccessible otherwise. This has been especially evident during the pandemic, which saw unprecedented and creative engagement with videogames as a way to inhabit social and personal spaces curtailed by lockdowns and social distancing. Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2020), a game ostensibly about building a village on an island with animal companions, for example, became a site for online social gatherings, talk-shows and even political campaigns.
Trans people continue to be thoroughly under-represented in videogame space, narratives and characters. In scholarly terms, LGBTQ games are often analyzed in terms of their quality (or lack thereof) in terms of authenticity in representation and their potential to provide an empathetic experience for non-LGBTQ players. Bo Ruberg (2019, 2020) and Chang (2019) amongst others have suggested that games might provide other opportunities for LGBTQ players that go beyond even what the games themselves might have been initially designed for. As noted, games provide a chance to explore stories, selves and spaces that might be inaccessible otherwise. This can be invaluable to communities who might find it difficult or dangerous to be out and visible in other contexts.
In this seminar, I explore the opportunities that games might provide for trans people to explore, experiment and embody ourselves in a way that might be difficult or impossible in other spaces. I will present the videogames that might allow for this, the theoretical context within which I analyze them, and ultimately my plans to try to intentionally design a game for such a purpose.
Bio:
Josephine Baird is a game designer and lecturer at the University of Uppsala Department of Game Design. Her current research as a PhD candidate at the University of Vienna, explores the ways in which games might provide an opportunity for trans people to explore, experiment and embody their subjectivities within games. She is a published writer, both scholarly and creative, as well as a performer and visual artist. More information on her work can be found at josephinebaird.com
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