Media Theory Journal special issue on videogame theory

Category: Publication

This special issue will commission articles on videogame theory from scholars in the humanities and social sciences, especially those working in the field of videogame studies. Videogame scholars have drawn on a range of theories to analyse and interpret the medium, including affect theory (Anable 2018), queer theory (Ruberg 2019), visual theory and critical race theory (Murray 2018), and postcolonial theory (Mukherjee 2017). Yet, while a range of theories have been used to gain insight into videogames, videogames are themselves rarely used to gain insight into theory. Unlike film and literature, for example, videogames are not typically mobilized to give voice to theoretical insights that theorists have not yet articulated for themselves. While exceptions exist, like McKenzie Wark’s (2007) Gamer Theory, such experiments are rare. The articles commissioned for this special issue will not simply apply theory to the study of videogames or recapitulate key theories in videogame studies, but explore how and to what extent videogames prompt us to theorize anew. Rather than revising the formalist debates associated with the field’s formative years, articles will utilize videogames to make contributions to broader theoretical conversations in media and cultural studies and/or critical and continental thought. Prospective authors are invited to address how videogame studies can disrupt or reshape critical approaches to media and cultural theories. Potential topics include but are not limited to: Theories of play Theories of subjectivity Theories of affect and the body Theories of posthumanism Theories of technology and materiality Theories of platforms and monetisation Theories of simulation and speculation Media and screen theory Marxism and psychoanalysis Critical race theory Critical disability theory Postcolonial theory Feminist theory Queer theory Genealogies of videogame theory The political potential of videogame theory We encourage submissions from authors writing from global majority contexts and submissions on ability/disability.

Initiator(s):
Media Theory Journal

Deadline: 01.02.2025
Publication-Type: Article / Journal

https://mediatheoryjournal.org/cfp-videogame-theory/

Post created by: Lymor Wolf Goldstein