I was fortunate to have my thoughts on Playdead’s Inside published in the academic editorial, First Person Scholar. I was particularly interested in exploring the game’s soundscape — its music, sound effects, and ambient noises — in relation to the player’s emotional experience. I’ve posted a snippet below, but if you’d like to read the full article you can check it out here.
“I played Playdead’s minimalist game Inside and found nothing but ambient noises amidst silence. In this environment, being mindful of the sound around me not only created an intense affective experience, but also one predicated on careful, calm, and meditative movement. ”
After participating in a weekend-long Feminist War Game jam, hosted by faculty from OCAD and Acadia University, I was asked to write a chapter on anything I feel related to exactly that — feminist war games. This excerpt will be featured in an upcoming Routledge collection on how we define Feminist War Games.
“I think of feminist wars as the everyday onslaught of living in a culture that seeks to undermine and violate cis-women, trans, and non-binary identities...
My only respite comes when I pick up my controller and enter a beautifully rendered space that offers mental triage — a time to assess, reflect, and react. ”
I completed my Master’s from York and Ryerson Universities in 2017. I ran a games club for kids in an elementary school in North York because I wanted to provide an inclusive space for kids to simply play in. I wrote about gender performances within play, specifically with video gaming, and advocated for offering more inclusive programming in education.
“For young girls who self-identify as ‘gamers,’ the representation of women and marginalized people in mainstream games discourse can provide them with the same drive, motivation, and tenacity that is so familiar to their cis-male peers.”
