From the princess in another castle to internet café deaths in Korea, there are many ways to love games. Whilst the media tends to focus on ‘bad love’; obsession, negative portrayals of sexuality and misogyny within games, love itself is a vastly complicated, individual experience which plays a fundamental role in our daily lives. Investigating love in the context of games – how it is mis/represented, how it might be developed, and how designers are trying to challenge our expectations of gaming itself by engaging with some of love’s more complex iterations, helps us to understand the thriving world of gaming in more complex ways. In this talk Esther MacCallum-Stewart will look briefly at these issues, and ask why falling in love by gaming is an important development in the ways games are considered as media artefacts.

Esther recently joined the DCRC as a Research Fellow and is based in the Pervasive Media Studio. Her work investigates the ways that players understand gaming narratives, and she has written widely on issues of gender, roleplaying, sexuality, deviant play and online communities. Her forthcoming book 'Players vs Games, Online Communities, Virtual Narratives' examines how players interpret gaming narratives beyond the game world itself (and features work on Bristol based webcasters, The Yogscast), whereas Playing with Affections: The Game Love Reader, collects various responses to the ways that love can be understood in and around gaming cultures by a variety of new and established voices in Game Studies.

This Lunchtime Talk is part of Open Studio Friday, which takes place at the Studio every week.

Do you want to find out what is going on at the Pervasive Media Studio? Are you interested in meeting our residents, talking about a specific project or curious about pervasive media? Why not pack a sandwich and join us for one of our Lunchtime Talks and Open Studio Friday.

Lunchtime Talks are informal presentations by Studio residents and associates. They normally take place at 1pm on Friday, are free and open to everybody who’s interested in what we do.

After the Talk, we also invite you to stay with us for the afternoon to continue the conversation or work on your own projects. We provide chairs, tables, wireless and a great space. You bring what you need to work with (laptop/mobile). Our open afternoons close at 5pm.
Let us know if you’d like a tour of the space and we'll be happy to show you around. Send an email to admin@pmstudio.co.uk