Readings
In Of Floating Isles Chapter 5, is failure seen purely as a negative thing?
No. It is framed as a meaningful emotional and narrative experience where players learn, reflect, and build attachment to the game world.
In Elder Scrolls lll: Morrowwind, what mechanic allows for a playing experience that centers player agency to drive the game rather than linear progression?
Open-world
Name an example of 'Repetition and Emotional Meaning'
The act of repeating a game sequence or task shapes the emotional significance by giving us more time to feel, reflect, and make meaning.
In Playing Nature, what is Chang's critique of many video games?
How games treat nature instrumentally, and as something to be extracted and mastered
What is the story in Curtain?
the relationship between two punk bandmates, revealing how cycles of emotional manipulation and abuse can feel intimate and ordinary rather than dramatic
Name an example of 'Nature as a system, not a background'
Nature can be an active system that shapes behavior rather than a neutral backdrop. A dynamic system that responds to and shapes the characters or players within it. It sets rules, limits, and possibilities, influencing choices and outcomes rather than being just for decoration.
In Reaching Toward Home, what does Pow argue that video games can provide?
Digital spaces can provide forms of belonging(home) that might be difficult to find in physical life.
In Curtain, how does the game convey its story?
Through fragmented spaces, distorted text, and sound design. Letting players feel the narrative rather than being told it.
Name an example of 'Home as an ongoing process'
Home can be something you move toward rather than something you simply have. It’s constructed through relationships, memories, and emotional labor, rather than through a physical location.
Chpater 5 "Would you like to continue?" suggests that the 'continue' screen can symbolize what?
The difficult emotional experience where one chooses to either persist through pain or let go (move forward).
How does Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind embody the idea that belonging is constructed through action?
Players must often decide whether to align with political factions, local houses, or religious orders, suggesting that “belonging” is something shaped through choices rather than an identity one simply inherits
Name an example of 'Continuing vs letting go'
When facing emotional pain, you have the decision to keep going (to continue) or step away (letting go). This often depends on personal resilience, sense of purpose, and emotional attachment, weighed against the costs of harm and exhaustion. Continuing can mean growth, but stepping away can be a necessary act of self-preservation.
In the Ruberg and McGee interview, what is the highlighted importance of queer games?
It is a critical practice that challenges dominant assumptions about what games should be/who they are for.
What are some similarities/relationships between the two games?
Both games show that identity is not fixed. In Morrowind, you arrive as nobody, and who you become depends on your choices, affiliations, and relationships. Identity is constructed, not predetermined. In Curtain, the protagonist’s identity is shaped by her partner’s control and emotional manipulation. Who she is becomes entangled with someone else’s expectations.
Both Use Space to Express Emotion and Meaning. In Morrowind, you are an outsider trying to figure out how to live in a hostile and fantastic world that may never fully accept you.
Curtain’s apartment shrinks, distorts, and fills with noise to mirror psychological pressure and fear, as the protagonist clings to a relationship that feels like “home”.
Name an example of 'Embodied experince and understanding'
Environments can shape what we feel and know. Environments communicate through textures, sounds, movement, and spatial arrangement, shaping our emotional responses and understanding without direct explanation. They allow learning through presence and sensory experience, not just information. Bodies are never neutral, they are shaped by and respond to the landscapes they move through.