Further Reading

Below is a list of academic writing about gender, sexuality, and LGBTQ video game content, designers, players, or related topics complied early in the generation of this archive. If you’ve written something you think should be on this list, please get in touch. Alternatively, if you see a publication of your’s here that you’d like us to remove, let us know that as well. In the future we hope to also have a non-academic work on LGBTQ game topics as well. If you’d like your work featured on that list let us know!

We have listed work published based on our research here. You can also find a regularly updated list of Queer Game Studies resources complied by Bo Ruberg here.

Books:

  1. Anthropy, A. (2012) Rise of the Videogame Zinesters. New York: Seven Stories Press.
  2. Brathwaite, B. (2013). Sex in Video Games. Publisher: Author. (Games addressed: Grand Theft Auto, Leisure Suit Larry, 7 Sins, Playboy: The Mansion, others TBA).
  3. Brown, A.M.L. (2015). Sexuality in role-playing games. London: Routledge.
  4. Enevold, J. & MacCallum-Stewart, E. (2015). Game Love: Essays on Play and Affection. Jefferson, N.C.: MacFarland and Company.
  5. kopas, m. (ed.). (2015). Videogames for Humans: Twine authors in conversation. New York: Instar Books.
  6. Malkowski, J. and Russworm, T. (eds.). (2017). Gaming Representation: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Video Games. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
  7. Milburn, C. (2015). Mondo Nano: Fun and Games in the World of Digital Matter. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
  8. Ruberg, B. (2019). Video games have always been queer. NYU Press.
  9. Ruberg, B. (2020). The Queer Games Avant-Garde: How LGBTQ Game Makers Are Reimagining the Medium of Video Games. Duke University Press.
  10. Ruberg, Bonnie and Adrienne Shaw (eds.). (2017). Queer Game Studies: Gender, Sexuality, and a Queer Approach to Game Studies. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
  11. Shaw, A. (2015). Gaming at the edge: Sexuality and gender at the margins of gamer culture. Minneapolis, MN: University Of Minnesota Press.
  12. Sundén, J. & Sveningsson, M. (2012). Gender and sexuality in online game cultures: Passionate play. New York, NY: Routledge.(Games addressed: World of Warcraft).
  13. Wysocki, M. and Lauteria, E.W. (eds.) (2015). Rated M for Mature: Sex and Sexuality in Video Games. New York: Bloomsbury Academic.

Special Journal Issues:

  1. Morris III, Charles E. and Thomas K. Nakayama, eds. “Queerness and Video Games” special issue. QED: A Journal of GLBTQ Worldmaking, volume 2, issue 2, 2015.
  2. Ruberg, Bonnie (ed.) “The 2014 Queerness and Games Conference” special feature series. First Person Scholar, February 18, February 25, and March 11, 2015.

Journal Articles, Book Chapters, Theses, Reports, Conference Presentations:

  1. Adams, M. (2015). Renegade Sex: Compulsory Sexuality and Charmed Magic Circles in the Mass Effect series. Loading…, 9(14). Retrieved August 17, 2016, from http://journals.sfu.ca/loading/index.php/loading/article/view/154/187 (Games addressed: Mass Effect).
  2. Belmonte Avila, J.F. (2015). Corporeality, identity and digital culture: gender and sexuality in video games. Universidad de Murcia, Spain. (Games addressed: Final Fantasy IX, others TBA)
  3. Brookey, R.A., & Cannon, K.L. (2009). Sex lives in Second Life. Critical Studies in Media Communication 26(2): 145–164. (Games addressed: SecondLife)
  4. Cabiria, J. (2008). Virtual world and real world permeability: Transference of positive benefits for marginalized gay and lesbian populations. Journal for Virtual Worlds Research 1(1), 1-13. Retrieved from https://journals.tdl.org/jvwr/index.php/jvwr/article/view/284 (Games addressed: SecondLife)
  5. Chang, E.Y. (2015, March 11). Cards Against Humanity Is____: Playing with and playing up difference in games. First Person Scholar. Retrieved from: http://www.firstpersonscholar.com/cards-against-humanity-is/
  6. Chang, E.Y. (2015). Love is in the air: Queer (im)possibility and straightwashing in FrontierVille and World of Warcraft. QED: A Journal in GLTBQ Worldmaking 2(2): 6-31. (Games addressed: FronterVille; World of WarCraft; Bully; Mass Effect; Dragon Age; Fable; The Sims; Dys4ia; Lesbian Spider Queens of Mars)
  7. Chang, E.Y. (2012). Technoqueer: Re/Con/Figuring Posthuman Narratives. (PhD dissertation, University of Washington, 2012) (Games addressed: World of Warcraft; FronterVille; Bioshock; Farmville)
  8. Chess, S. (2016). The Queer Case of Video Games: Orgasms, Heteronormativity, and Video Game Narrative. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 33(1), 84-94.
  9. Clark, N. and kopas, m. (2015, February 18). Queering Human-Game Relations: Exploring queer mechanics and play. First Person Scholar. Retrieved from http://www.firstpersonscholar.com/queering-human-game-relations/
  10. Condis, M. (2015). No homosexuals in Star Wars? BioWare, “gamer” identity, and the politics of privilege in a convergence culture. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 21(2), 198-212. (Games addressed: Star Wars: The Old Republic; Dragon Age)
  11. Conn, M. (2015). Gaming’s untapped queer potential as art. QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking, 2(2): 1–5. (Games addressed: The Last of Us; Gone Home; Portal; Mirror’s Edge; Deus Ex; Minecraft; Mainichi; Lim; Persona 4; Dys4ia; Read Only Memories)
  12. Consalvo, M. (2003) It’s a queer world after all: Studying The Sims and Sexuality. GLAAD Center for the Study of the Media and Society. New York: NY. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/654441/Its_a_queer_world_after_all_Studying_The_Sims_and_sexuality (Games addressed: The Sims; SimCity; Donkey Kong; The Legend of Zelda; Final Fantasy IX; Duke Nukem; Harvest Moon; Okage: Shadow King; Metal Gear Solid 2; Tomb Raider; Tekken Tag; Street Fighter)
  13. Consalvo, M. (2003). Hot dates and fairy-tale romances: Studying sexuality in video games. In M.J.P. Wolf and B. Perron (Eds.). The Video Game Theory Reader (pp. 171–194). New York, NY: Routledge. (Games addressed: Final Fantasy IX; The Sims; Harvest Moon: Back to Nature; BMX XXX).
  14. Consalvo, M., & Dutton, N. (2006). Game analysis: Developing a methodological toolkit for the qualitative study of games. Game Studies 6(1). Retrieved from http://gamestudies.org/0601/articles/consalvo_dutton (Games addressed: The Sims)
  15. Dutta, M. (2015, March 4). Designing for the Other: Serious games, its challenges, and mindful play. First Person Scholar. Retrieved from: http://www.firstpersonscholar.com/designing-for-the-other/
  16. Eklund L (2011) Doing gender in cyberspace: the performance of gender by female World of Warcraft players. Convergence 17(3): 323–342. (Games addressed: World of Warcraft)
  17. Engel, M. (2017). Perverting Play: Theorizing a Queer Game Mechanic. Television and New Media. 18(4): 351-360.
  18. Evans, S.B., & Janish, E. (2015). #INeedDiverseGames: How the queer backlash to GamerGate enables nonbinary coalition. QED: A Journal in GLTBQ Worldmaking 2(2): 125-150. (no specific games addressed)
  19. Fecher, D.L. (2012). Gender Issues, fighting games, and progress: Finding a place for a genderless character in Tekken 6. Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture 12(2). Retrieved from http://reconstruction.eserver.org/Issues/122/Fecher_Leland.shtml (Games addressed: Tekken 6; Tomb Raider; Mass Effect; Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas; Dragon Age: Origins; Dead or Alive; Super Mario Bros; Zelda)
  20. Goetz, C. (2015, February 25). Building Queer Community: Report on the queerness and games design workshop. First Person Scholar. Retrieved from: http://www.firstpersonscholar.com/building-queer-community/
  21. Greer, S. (2013). Playing queer: Affordances for sexuality in Fable and Dragon Age. Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds 5(1), 3–21. (Games addressed: Fable; Dragon Age; The Sims; Mass Effect 3)
  22. Harper, T. (2011). “Gay-for-Play: Addressing the Challenge of Relevant Gay Game Content” (paper, presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association of Internet Researchers, Seattle, WA, 2011). Retrieved from http://gambit.mit.edu/readme/lectures/gay-for-play-addressing-the-ch.php#004952 (Games addressed: A Closed World)
  23. Harvey, A. (2014). Twine’s revolution: Democratization, depoliticization, and the queering of game design. GAME: The Italian Journal of Game Studies 3. Retrieved from http://www.gamejournal.it/3_harvey/#.U8xCbYBdV8D (Games addressed: Enough; Conversations with My Mother; Encylopedia Fuckme and the Case of the Vanishing Entrée; Sex Cops of Tickle City; Cart Life; Howling Dogs; Depression Quest; Parasite).
  24. Jenson, J., & and de Castell, S. (2008). Theorizing gender and digital gameplay: Oversights, accidents and surprises. Eludamos 2(1): 15–25. (no specific games addressed)
  25. Juliano, L. (2012). “Digital,” review of: A Love Story; Bully; Grand Theft Auto IV; Portal; Dys4ia. Theatre Journal 64(4): 595–598. (Games addressed: Digital: A Love Story; Bully; Grand Theft Auto IV; Portal; Dys4ia)
  26. Kelley, J.B. (2012). Gay naming in online gaming. Names 60(4): 193–200. (no specific games addressed)
  27. Kelley, J.B. (2013). “Hot avatars” in “gay gear”: The virtual male body as site of conflicting desires. In Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. In J. Prida (Ed.) Conan meets the academy: Multidisciplinary essays on the enduring barbarian (pp. 144-173). Jefferson, NC: McFarland Press. (Games addressed: Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures; Neverwinter Nights)
  28. Kiel, Nina. (2014) Gender In Games: Geschlechtsspezifische Rollenbilder in zeitgenössischen Action-Adventures. (Note: only available in German, some sections available here, more from Nina Kiel available here)
  29. Kocurek, C.A. (2015).Tabled for discussion: A conversation with game designer Michael De Anda. QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking 2(2), 151–172. (Games addressed: TRANS-gression; Dog Eat Dog; Depression Quest; Papers, Please; I Get This Call Every Day; Papo & Yo; Female Experience Simulator; Hey Baby; The Mechanic is the Message; Train; Dys4ia; Mainichi; Hi, Sweetheart; Consensual Torture Simulator; SoulCalibur; RuPaul’s Dragopolis; Super Tuck: Drag Queen RPG)
  30. Krobová, T., Moravec, O., & Švelch, J. (2015). Dressing Commander Shepard in pink: Queer playing in a heteronormative game culture. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 9(3), article 3. doi: 10.5817/CP2015-3-3 (Games addressed: Mass Effect; Dragon Age; Jade Empire)
  31. Lauteria, E.W. (2012). Ga(y)mer theory: Queer modding as resistance. Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture 12(2). Retrieved from http://reconstruction.eserver.org/Issues/122/Lauteria_Evan.shtml (Games addressed: Persona 4; Mass Effect; Dragon Age: Origins; Dragon Age II; The Sims II; Enchanted Arms; Fallout 3; Fallout: New Vegas; Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony; Fable; Bully)
  32. Leong, V. (2014). The Mother series: a study of gender in role-playing video games. A Thesis
    Presented To the Faculty of California State University, Chico. (Games addressed: Mother; Chrono Trigger)
  33. Light, B. (2009). More than Just a Combo of Slaps? Representations and Experiences of LGBT Gamers on and Beyond the Screen. (paper presented at DiGRA Breaking New Ground: Innovation in Games, Play, Practice and Theory) Brunel Univeristy, London. Retrieved from http://www.digra.org/digital-library/publications/more-than-just-a-combo-ofslaps-representations-and-experiences-of-lgbt-gamers-on-and-beyond-thescreen-abstract (Games addressed: SingStar Anthems; Streets of Rage 3; Fear Effect 2; Bully: Scholarship Edition; The Temple of Elemental Evil; Fable; Fallout; Cho Aniki; Dance Summit 2001; Zelda; Resident Evil: Code Veronica X; Super Mario Bros. 2)
  34. MacCallum-Stewart, Esther. (2008). Real boys carry girly epics: Normalising gender bending in online games. Eludamos 2(1): 27–40. (Games addressed: Tomb Raider; The Secret of Monkey Island; World of Warcraft; Gauntlet; Metroid; Streetfighter II; Mortal Combat; Virtua Fighter; Tekken; Dead or Alive; Resident Evil)
  35. MacKnight, M.W. (2013). Saving Prince Peach: A Study of ‘Gaymers’ and Digital LGBT/gaming Rhetorics. (PhD diss., University of Rhode Island, 2013) (Games addressed: Mass Effect 3; Final Fight; Super Mario Bros.; Chrono Trigger; Rise of the Dragon; Police Quest: Open Season; The Orion Conspiracy; Final Fantasy VII; Fallout 2; Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force; Star Ocean: The Second Story)
  36. McDonald, H. (2015). Romance in games: What it is, how it is, and how developers can improve it. QED: A Journal in GLTBQ Worldmaking 2(2): 32-63. (Games addressed: World of Warcraft; Dragon Age: Inquisition; Mass Effect; Elder Scrolls: Skyrim; Fable; Jade Empire; Star Wars: The Knights of the Old Republic; Baldur’s Gate; Neverwinter Nights; Persona 4)
  37. Mosca, I. (2014). Ontology of gender in computer games. Mise au Point 6. Retrieved from https://map.revues.org/1631?lang=en (Games addressed: Pac-Man; World of Warcraft; Stroker; Vendetta; Streets of Rage 3; Go Go Ackman 3; Star Ocean 2; Final Fantasy XIII; Street Fighter 2; The Sims; Fable; A Closed World; Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony; Super Mario Bros. 2; Metal Gear Solid 4; Guilty Gear XX; Art of Fighting; King of Fighters XI; Mass Effect)
  38. Nakamura, L. (2012) Queer Female of Color: The highest difficulty setting there is? Gaming Rhetoric as gaming capital. Ada: A journal of gender, new media, and technology. 1: http://adanewmedia.org/2012/11/issue1-nakamura/
  39. Osborne, H. (2012). Performing self, performing character: Exploring gender performativity in online role-playing games. Transformative Works and Cultures 11. Retrieved from http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/411/343 (Games addressed: World of Warcraft; EverQuest; Campfuckudie; Cuddy’s House)
  40. Pavlounis, D. (2016) Straightening Up the Archive: Queer historiography, queer play, and the archival politics of Gone Home. Television and New Media, 17(7): 579-594.
  41. Phillips, A. (2014). (Queer) Algorithmic Ecology: The Great Opening Up of Nature to All Mobs. In Nate Gaerrelts (ed.) Understanding Minecraft: Essays on Play, Community, and Possibilities. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company.
  42. Phillips, A. (2014, November) “Bayonetta, Femme Disturbance, and AAA Queer Desires.” In Media Res.
  43. Pulos, A. (2013). Confronting heteronormativity in online games: A critical discourse analysis of LGBTQ sexuality in World of Warcraft. Games and Culture 8(2): 77–97. (Games addressed: World of Warcraft)
  44. Rae, J. (2015, February 25). All Balled Up Inside: Consent, pinball, and the end of ‘sex as conquest.’ First Person Scholar. Retrieved from: http://www.firstpersonscholar.com/all-balled-up-inside/
  45. Rhee, M. (2015, March 11). On Beauty: Gamers, gender, and Turing. First Person Scholar. Retrieved from: http://www.firstpersonscholar.com/on-beauty/
  46. Ruberg, B. (2015, February 18). Videogames, Queerness, and Beyond: Dispatches from the 2014 Queerness and Games Conference. First Person Scholar. Retrieved from http://www.firstpersonscholar.com/videogames-queerness-beyond/
  47. Ruberg, B. (2015). No fun: The queer potential of video games that annoy, anger, disappoint, sadden, and hurt. QED: A Journal in GLTBQ Worldmaking 2(2): 108-124. (Games addressed: Gone Home; Mainichi)
  48. Schmieder, C. (2009). World of Maskcraft vs. World of Queercraft?: Communication, sex and gender in the online role-playing game World of Warcraft. Journal of Gaming and Virtual Worlds 1(1): 5–21. (Games addressed: World of Warcraft)
  49. Schröder, A. (2008). We don’t want it changed, do we?: Gender and sexuality in role playing games. Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game Culture 2(2): 241–256. (Games addressed: Gothic; Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic; SimCopter; Final Fantasy IX; The Sims)
  50. Sens, J. (2015). Queer worldmaking games: A Portland indie experiment. QED: A Journal in GLTBQ Worldmaking 2(2): 98-107. (Games addressed: Dragon Age; Mass Effect; Gone Home; Queertastrophe; Queer Ducken, a Game of Thanksgiving Subversion)
  51. Shaw, A. (2009). Putting the gay in games: Cultural production and GLBT content in video games. Games and Culture 4(3): 228–253. (Games addressed: Bully; The Sims; Fable; Temple of Elemental Evil; EverQuest; Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy; Fear Effect 2; Tomb Raider; Lord of the Rings Online; Army of Two; Fallout 1 and 2).
  52. Shaw, A., (2012). Talking to gaymers: Questioning identity, community and media representation. Westminster Papers in Culture and Communication 9(1): 67–89. (Games addressed: World of Warcraft; Bully; Mass Effect 3; Dragon Age; Elder Scrolls: Skyrim).
  53. Shaw, A. (2012). Do you identify as a gamer?: Gender, race, sexuality, and gamer identity. New Media and Society 14(1): 25-41. (no specific games addressed)
  54. Shaw, A. (2015) Circles, Charmed and Magic: Queering Game Studies. QED: A Journal in GLTBQ Worldmaking 2(2): 64-97. (Games addressed: Fallout 2; The Sims; Fear Effect 2; Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic; Temple of Elemental Evil; World of Warcraft; Bully; Grand Theft Auto; Star Wars: The Old Republic)
  55. Sherlock, L. (2011). What happens in Goldshire stays in Goldshire: Rhetroics of queer sexualities, governance and fandom in World of Warcraft. In R. Colby, M.S.S. Johnson and R. Shultz Colby (Eds.) Rhetoric/Composition/Play Through Video Games: Reshaping Theory and Practice of Writing Through Video Games (pp. 161-174). New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. (Games addressed: World of Warcraft).
  56. Stenros, J. & Sihvonen, T. (2015). Out of the Dungeons: Representations of queer sexuality in RPG source books. Analog Game Studies 3(3):http://analoggamestudies.org/2015/07/out-of-the-dungeons-representations-of-queer-sexuality-in-rpg-source-books/
  57. Sundén, J. (2012). Desires at play on closeness and epistemological uncertainty. Games and Culture 7(2): 164–184. (Games addressed: World of Warcraft).
  58. Sundén, J. (2009). Play as Transgression: An Ethnographic Approach to
    Queer Game Cultures. (paper presented at DiGRA Breaking New Ground: Innovation in Games, Play, Practice and Theory) Brunel University, London. Retrieved from http://www.digra.org/digital-library/publications/play-as-transgression-anethnographic-approach-to-queer-game-cultures (Games addressed: World of Warcraft).
  59. Thompsan, N.J.A. (2014). Queer/ing game space: Sexual play in World of Warcraft. Media Fields Journal 8 (2014). Retrieved from http://mediafieldsjournal.squarespace.com/queering-game-space (Games addressed: World of Warcraft).
  60. Unéus, D. and Christenson, E. (2017). Transgender in Games: A comparative study of transgender characters in games. (Bachelor’s Thesis). Uppsala University. URN: urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-330774
  61. Wilberg, H.M. (2011). “What’s in a Game? Race, Gender, and LGB Representation in Video Games” (master’s thesis, Roosevelt University, 2011)
  62. Youngblood, J. (2013) C’mon! Make me a man!: Persona 4, Digital bodies, and queer potentiality. Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology, 2. Retrieved from http://adanewmedia.org/2013/06/issue2-youngblood (Games addressed: Persona 4).