Romance, Sexuality & Intimacy in Games: An Introduction

Catalog description

Both in the digital and analogue worlds, the topic of romance and sexuality in games has been garnering increasing interest. While games that feature romantic plotlines have long been popular for a while (think DRAGON AGE and MONSTERHEARTS) games such as BOYFRIEND DUNGEON and STARCROSSED, which feature romance and sex as core themes, have become centers of recent attention. As Mary Flanagan writes, "play patterns themselves reflect cultural change"; it is no surprise thus, that this uptick in romantic and "sexy" games coincides with increasingly fraught culture wars focusing on sexuality and gender. Unpacking our artistic expressions of such topics helps us understand the topics themselves In ROMANCE, SEXUALITY, AND INTIMACY IN GAMES: AN INTRODUCTION, we will study a diversion array of scholarship, games, and other media in order to understand how intimacy, romance, sex and sexuality manifest in games.