Cerise, the Gaming Magazine for Women, releases its March issue: The Older Gamer.
Check it out for great articles on making your own quick miniatures, an interview with costumer and sculptor Victoria Lamb, reviews, gamer stories, and more!
And don’t forget to hit the submissions page to see how you can contribute to the April issue, devoted to queerness and gaming: Do You Game With Dorothy?
Cerise, the Gaming Magazine for Women, is open for submissions for the April 2008 Issue!
Submission deadline: March 20th, 2008
Theme: Do You Game With Dorothy?
Any group whose members commonly use the word “gay” as a synonym for “foolish” or “undesirable” undoubtedly has some pretty serious heterosexist biases. Queer gamers face challenges ranging from lack of representation in many games to objectification or outright hostility from some corners of gaming culture.
What’s it like to be a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender gamer? Which communities, game designers and companies are serving queer gamers well, and which are failing to consider them at all? What can be done to improve representation for queer gamers? While we here at Cerise welcome discussion of queer concerns in gaming at any time, our April 2008 issue will be specifically devoted to giving the spotlight to marginalized sexualities – if the preceding questions are important to you, don’t miss this issue!
As always, submission guidelines and categories can be found here.
Check out the blog of Cerise magazine editor Robyn Fleming right here on the Iris Network! Robyn Can’t Jump follows the fun and foibles of video game playing from the point of view of a woman who loves gaming, but really can’t play video games:
Once, when I was in college, a guy I had a serious crush on invited me to join him at his apartment one evening to “play some video games or something.” Believing that this must be code for “fool around together,” I put on a cute skirt and a fitted t-shirt and prepared myself for an evening of semi-reclining fun.
To my surprise, he actually did want to play video games – specifically, ports of classic arcade games that would run on an emulator for his desktop computer. I did my best for a miserable half hour while he encouraged me by shouting things like: “Jump! Jump, damn it! HIT THE B BUTTON.”
I can’t believe I shaved my legs for this, I thought. But at least it will make for a funny story later. Once it stops being mortifying.
The Life and Times of a Video Game Design Student is a new blog hosted on Iris that I’ve started that revolves around my foray into the study of game planning and design.
From the About page:
This blog is a chronicle of the thoughts, ideas, and experiences of Andrea Rubenstein relating to her studies at HAL, a technical school in Japan. The articles here range from academic critiques to personal entries, including everything from her thoughts on the educational process to analyzing the aspects of the gaming industry that she is exposed to.
It won’t really kick into gear until April, which is when school starts, but in the meantime I’m in the process of getting up articles about my experiences up to now.
The June 2007 issue is out! The theme is “The Making of a Gamer”, and we have some great stories in our new feature “gamer stories” relating to that.
We’re currently looking for submissions for our May issue. Here’s the call for submissions:
Submission deadline: June 20, 2007
Theme: Inclusive Game Design
We often talk about what developers can do to attract women and other groups outside of the target audience to games, or discuss how bad game design can foster an environment hostile to that goal, but the nuances behind inclusive game design (beyond “give me women heroes who aren’t defined primarily by their sexuality”) don’t get as much airtime as perhaps they should.
What are the fundamentals of inclusive game design? How far have we come, or not come, since the old days of gaming? Should we give companies allowances in terms of these fundamentals, based on potential increased costs and other factors that come with inclusive design? Where do lesser talked-about issues, such as accessibility for people with disabilities, fit in? What about the more complex issues associated with inclusive design, such as using an idealized society versus a flawed one, or giving everyone equal choices versus using a certain amount of difference to create a dialogue about equality? If you have something to say about how, when, and why to strive for inclusive game design, then please consider submitting your piece for this issue.
