First, I will briefly introduce Overwatch 2 while also presenting a complementing perspective of ... more First, I will briefly introduce Overwatch 2 while also presenting a complementing perspective of embodies knowledge and hybrid body drawn from Brendan Keogh’s (2018) phenomenological work an Chistopher Patterson’s (2020) perspective of a playful race. The former draws attention to the bodily sensation of playing a game, latter moving beyond visual game semiotics, understanding them as necessarily procedural. By tying these two perspectives together, I will make an attempt to tie particular avatar’s procedural-semiosis and a particular hybrid body. I will also present the business model surrounding Overwatch 2 and outline some ideologically-critical perspectives that can be useful in understanding how the avatar-interface-complex is utilized in the political economy of this particular game. I will also use this perspective to inquire into five different modalities as per Klevjer (2023) to see how they are being enacted in Overwatch 2.
Videogames are becoming an important means of expression for marginalized communities. Despite th... more Videogames are becoming an important means of expression for marginalized communities. Despite the growing body of research in queer game studies, transgender identity remains under-researched and lacking in empirical data. By using an experimental approach coupled with grounded theory and informed by current game and queer theory, this study aims to illuminate how transgender-identifying persons approach autobiographical videogame depiction of transgender experience. Ten participants were asked to play influential independent videogame Dys4ia, which depicts the author's hormonal replacement therapy, and semi-structured interviews were conducted. Their responses were coded, and a preliminary model of how Dys4ia works in the context of transgender media ecology was constructed. The term Procedural-autobiographic multimodality is introduced to describe an assemblage of interactive affordances, distinctive aesthetics and situatedness of Dys4ia in structures of minority media while considering video game-specific theories. This study attempts to empirically ground transgender queer game studies, suggesting avenues for future research and proposing a model of how videogames as procedural artefacts work alongside vlogs and other expressive means within transgender mediascape.
New media brought new possibilities for marginalized communities and authors, including videogam... more New media brought new possibilities for marginalized communities and authors, including videogames. Even though concept of queer scene is not without its problems, the decreasing skill-barrier needed for making their own game and emergence of new, user-friendly game-building tools, a new kind of videogame wave emerged amidst the tranquil sea of mainstream. Autobiographical titles speaking from previously unheard from positions began to flower. What interests me is the intersection of those two movements. Autobiographical games such as Dys4ia or Mainichi shows how videogames can be used by transgender people to express themselves. Yet there exists too little insight into how those work in context of minority mediascape, along personal blogs or self-help community message boards.
First, I will briefly introduce Overwatch 2 while also presenting a complementing perspective of ... more First, I will briefly introduce Overwatch 2 while also presenting a complementing perspective of embodies knowledge and hybrid body drawn from Brendan Keogh’s (2018) phenomenological work an Chistopher Patterson’s (2020) perspective of a playful race. The former draws attention to the bodily sensation of playing a game, latter moving beyond visual game semiotics, understanding them as necessarily procedural. By tying these two perspectives together, I will make an attempt to tie particular avatar’s procedural-semiosis and a particular hybrid body. I will also present the business model surrounding Overwatch 2 and outline some ideologically-critical perspectives that can be useful in understanding how the avatar-interface-complex is utilized in the political economy of this particular game. I will also use this perspective to inquire into five different modalities as per Klevjer (2023) to see how they are being enacted in Overwatch 2.
Videogames are becoming an important means of expression for marginalized communities. Despite th... more Videogames are becoming an important means of expression for marginalized communities. Despite the growing body of research in queer game studies, transgender identity remains under-researched and lacking in empirical data. By using an experimental approach coupled with grounded theory and informed by current game and queer theory, this study aims to illuminate how transgender-identifying persons approach autobiographical videogame depiction of transgender experience. Ten participants were asked to play influential independent videogame Dys4ia, which depicts the author's hormonal replacement therapy, and semi-structured interviews were conducted. Their responses were coded, and a preliminary model of how Dys4ia works in the context of transgender media ecology was constructed. The term Procedural-autobiographic multimodality is introduced to describe an assemblage of interactive affordances, distinctive aesthetics and situatedness of Dys4ia in structures of minority media while considering video game-specific theories. This study attempts to empirically ground transgender queer game studies, suggesting avenues for future research and proposing a model of how videogames as procedural artefacts work alongside vlogs and other expressive means within transgender mediascape.
New media brought new possibilities for marginalized communities and authors, including videogam... more New media brought new possibilities for marginalized communities and authors, including videogames. Even though concept of queer scene is not without its problems, the decreasing skill-barrier needed for making their own game and emergence of new, user-friendly game-building tools, a new kind of videogame wave emerged amidst the tranquil sea of mainstream. Autobiographical titles speaking from previously unheard from positions began to flower. What interests me is the intersection of those two movements. Autobiographical games such as Dys4ia or Mainichi shows how videogames can be used by transgender people to express themselves. Yet there exists too little insight into how those work in context of minority mediascape, along personal blogs or self-help community message boards.
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Papers by Ondřej Trhoň
Ten participants were asked to play influential independent videogame Dys4ia, which depicts the author's hormonal replacement therapy, and semi-structured interviews were conducted. Their responses were coded, and a preliminary model of how Dys4ia works in the context of transgender media ecology was constructed. The term Procedural-autobiographic multimodality is introduced to describe an assemblage of interactive affordances, distinctive aesthetics and situatedness of Dys4ia in structures of minority media while considering video game-specific theories.
This study attempts to empirically ground transgender queer game studies, suggesting avenues for future research and proposing a model of how videogames as procedural artefacts work alongside vlogs and other expressive means within transgender mediascape.
Ten participants were asked to play influential independent videogame Dys4ia, which depicts the author's hormonal replacement therapy, and semi-structured interviews were conducted. Their responses were coded, and a preliminary model of how Dys4ia works in the context of transgender media ecology was constructed. The term Procedural-autobiographic multimodality is introduced to describe an assemblage of interactive affordances, distinctive aesthetics and situatedness of Dys4ia in structures of minority media while considering video game-specific theories.
This study attempts to empirically ground transgender queer game studies, suggesting avenues for future research and proposing a model of how videogames as procedural artefacts work alongside vlogs and other expressive means within transgender mediascape.