Sabrina Thompson-Cook

Defying stereotypes as I blend my eye shadow and apply lipstick for fun during re-spawn time in Overwatch. Devoted lover of games, speculative fiction, and not-terrible anime.

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    Latest Topics

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    Gaming's controversial move into the world of TV on a professional level.

    As esports and professional video gaming become a much bigger part of the wider world, there seem to be many people that show resistance.
    A tournament of an online game (can't remember which game) was televised on ESPN recently and I was shocked by some of the comments. "These people weren't bullied enough in school," took the cake from the pool of negative comments.
    Do you think gaming should make it's way into the mainstream world via television broadcasts? Should it stick to game-centered shows and websites rather than leak into the professional sporting world?

    • I don't necessarily believe video games should be recognised as a sport, but it's definitely worth looking into why kicking a ball back and forth is somehow more social than playing an MMORPG with friends online. – AGMacdonald 7 years ago
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    • AGMacDonald. Great point. I laughed at this. This a wide debate that has been going on for years. I even attended a conference where para-professionals delivered their papers on video games as a sport, how gender controlled the video game world can be, and how gamers perceive the concept of gender. It is an goimg, and interesting quetion, why is ghe gamer world still gender centered even though the LGBTQ is very much present in the gamer world. Back to video games beung considered a sport, honestly, a sport requires the movement of the body. It doesnt require a heavy focus on being socially active during the action of doing a sport, but it does mean that you get out of your seat and do something recreational. Interesting topic though. – breeyabrown 7 years ago
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    • When I read the topic I initially thought about the move of games/gaming into action movies. Perhaps a comparison of how films such as Hitman 47 and the new Assassins Creed movie are received as entrants into the wider public sphere with that of more traditional "sports" approach would be interesting. One could even work to tie in the mixed format aspects of current online media such as Twitch (which admittedly I know little about) or Web series such as Video Game High School. – derBruderspielt 7 years ago
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    Latest Comments

    Undertale is so so excellent. The obvious, yet casual representation in this game is so perfectly executed. Yeah, it isn’t subtle that Alphys is in love with Undyne, but the gayness isn’t mentioned. The monsters just are how they are and experiencing a world where nobody questions different romances and genders is a delight in modern gaming.

    A particular moment I loved was the protagonist’s date with Papyrus. Papyrus is the most lovable character in the game (imho) and I can’t imagine playing through and not accepting his invitation to go on a date. His hilarious personality draws you in and then on the date he reveals that he only likes you as a friend! It’s such a great twist of expectations, that he felt pressure to date you and felt bad that you liked him so much. For a protagonist to not “win” a romance and to be left with a friendship instead is SO refreshing and so much more realistic than the hero winning the girl.

    I could talk about the great characters and relationships in Undertale for many hours, this article was lovely to read and to illustrate the importance of the game. I hope we are all still talking about it in the years to come.

    Undertale and Social Justice Themes: Is "That" A Human?

    Interesting and pretty impartial article. I’m a gal who games and like many gals I know – I play games all over the spectrum. Overwatch and TF2 would both likely make my top 20 favourite games and both have hundreds of my never-to-be-seen-again hours. But I also adore being engrossed in character and story through the wonders of RPGs, having just finished Fire Emblem: Shadows of Valentia.

    I feel that, all types of people play all types of games. Enjoyment of an RPG or a shooter comes more down to interest and preference on a personality level, not so much a gender level. A bunch of my introverted friends join me online to meet new people and shoot up the baddies on Overwatch each week, and some of my loudest and wildest extroverts get into debates for hours about Dragon Age: Inquisition and its failures and successes.

    While I think its somewhat silly to segregate gamers into categories and talk of what games women play vs. what games men play, I also think it’s very important to look at gender in gaming.
    A lot of the time these studies come out on what games different genders play in order to make men feel better. A lot of men seem to feel threatened by the existence of women in the gaming community and their expectation of equality and representation. So statistics that suggest that women are sticking to mobile games, farming simulators and Bioware games all help men feel more comfortable that women aren’t REALLY there, they just hang around in the background, making them easier to ignore.
    At the same time, more talk about representation in games (not just female but LGBT+ and POC) fills me with joy – when it comes from the right perspective. It might sound extreme but I don’t want to read another IGN male-written article on “how many women are REALLY playing COD?”, I want to read articles and watch videos and hear the perspectives from the minority and how they feel in the gaming world and what their experiences are.

    As a women who is harassed online almost every night I speak into voice chat, hearing another man’s voice saying “women don’t play games” and “suck it up princess” in comments and articles is meaningless to me.

    It’s refreshing to read an article that while I may not wholeheartedly agree, is from an objective place and from a female perspective – thanks!

    “Bro Games” and the Gamer Divide

    Thinking about the excellence of Korra always brings up the fierce comparisons between the series and its near-perfect prequel. Something that I really respect about Korra is that it tackles some of the darker, harder and more important issues that society faces and I think this article illustrates that perfectly.

    The Last Airbender played it safe and produced something really great, but Korra took risks and came out the other end with a mixed bag of amazing, important moments (Zaheer and the end of Book 3, Korra’s personal struggle through Book 4, the non-bender uprising of Book 1) and some really big misses (basically just all of Book 2).

    I have a friend that criticizes Book 1 of Korra due to the way the show brushes off the issues of non-benders at the end of the season when Amon is defeated. While I wish the show had continued with the struggles of non-benders, the way it was tackled in Book 1 was really interesting – and honestly something I hadn’t considered when watching The Last Airbender.

    Politics and Privilege in The Legend of Korra