Writing has been weird for me this past year. My decision to move to New York was a last attempt to find a place for myself in the field of games. I admit, I don’t really feel like I belong, or if there is a place for me. But I’ve put in so much effort, […]
Tag Archives: Criticism
Letters with John Sharp: Inter-generational conflict in games
Trying something new! I decided to start up some letter series with other thinkers in games, or just generally interesting people I’m connected with to get different perspectives on topics I like to talk about, or important issues games may be facing. The first person I started chatting with was John Sharp, a professor at […]
Needing Closure: Another Look at Interactivity
I’ve found putting interaction on a pedestal as a defining trait of games more of a grab for legitimacy and exceptionalism rather than actually finding something interesting to say about a medium.
Static and Noise About Bodies and Play
I find that we don’t often pay attention to how we are affected by play, just that games affect and we are affectable.
Our House
Get to know us as people, as comrades, and I think we can change things, together, with our powers combined.
2014 in Alternate Ending
A lot has changed for me in 2014. 2013 and 2015 Mattie will be rather different people.
On Interpretation
One of the hurdles typically unaddressed when discussing meaning in games is how to interpret them.
Triad
What can games teach about design?
Countdown: Thinking of Time in Text Games
What hasn’t really been discussed often is how to critique these sorts of games, or, what is their particular contribution to play.
commune ity
are we a community?
How We Say
What is the discourse around games criticism saying to us? Or, in particular, what is considered part of the ‘conversation’?
The DIY of Games Criticism?
I’ll be the first to admit that the first dozen or so articles I wrote about games bore a strong resemblance to undergrad critical theory essays.
Iz Gamez Criticizm Art???
To start off, I am always going to answer ‘Is X Y?’ with ‘sure.’ Mostly, I see something like art as a lens or perspective; you can see something as art, and bring in what you understand of that to extract meaning.
Triptychs
We tend to see them as objects. When we talk about games, we’re referencing a thing, either with physical boundaries or digital limitations. Games are objects with qualities, to be dissected, parsed, and valued. A game is something with a challenge. A game is something with a goal. Besides the usual questions of who is deciding what a game has, it is, first and foremost, a thing.
Take Me Personally, Babe
I’m going to write about my personal experience writing about personal experience.