Greer, S. (2013) Playing queer: affordances for sexuality in fable and dragon age. Journal of Gaming and Virtual Worlds, 5(1), pp. 3-21. (doi: 10.1386/jgvw.5.1.3_1)
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Publisher's URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1386/jgvw.5.1.3_1
Abstract
This article adopts the lens of queer theory to examine the terms of inclusion of non-heterosexual identities within recent mass market role-playing games. Focusing on Lionhead Studios’ Fable and BioWare’s Dragon Age series, I suggest how the intersection of queer theory’s resistance of presumptive categories for sexuality and theories of game design – notably the concept of affordances – may provide for a critique of the performative constraints through which gamers are able to ‘play queer’. While even-handed dynamics of relationship game play may espouse a liberal rhetoric of inclusion, I propose that a predominant logic of sameness – grounded in an even-handed ‘blindness’ to sexual difference – may also restrict the possibilities for queer identification.
| Item Type: | Articles |
|---|---|
| Status: | Published |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | Greer, Dr Stephen |
| Authors: | Greer, S. |
| College/School: | College of Arts & Humanities > School of Culture and Creative Arts > Theatre Film and TV Studies |
| Journal Name: | Journal of Gaming and Virtual Worlds |
| Publisher: | Intellect |
| ISSN: | 1757-191X |
| ISSN (Online): | 1757-1928 |
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