Orientations in Queer Game Studies

This paper examines the paradigm of queer game studies. In order to do so, I employ Sara Ahmed’s (2006; 2007) queer phenomenology as a method, which I call a spatial discourse analysis, to trace orientations in the paradigm’s foundational texts from 2017-2018. I identify how queer gets meaning in relation to objects via proximity and distance, and present three orientations in queer game studies: representation, materiality, and fun. I argue that representation becomes constituting for queer game studies, in the effort to escape it; that tech-materiality perceived as video game specific gets articulated as carrying queerness; and finally, that fun is a central site of contention for queerness, both on a gameplay and community building level. I end the paper by bringing attention to the paradigm’s internal contradictions, so that scholars might mobilize them in their efforts to further queer research practices and methodologies.