The International Journal of Computer Game Research

Our Mission - To explore the rich cultural genre of games; to give scholars a peer-reviewed forum for their ideas and theories; to provide an academic channel for the ongoing discussions on games and gaming.

Game Studies is a non-profit, open-access, crossdisciplinary journal dedicated to games research, web-published several times a year at www.gamestudies.org.

Our primary focus is aesthetic, cultural and communicative aspects of computer games, but any previously unpublished article focused on games and gaming is welcome. Proposed articles should be jargon-free, and should attempt to shed new light on games, rather than simply use games as metaphor or illustration of some other theory or phenomenon.



Game Studies is published with the support of:

The Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet)

The Joint Committee for Nordic Research Councils for the Humanities and the Social Sciences

Blekinge Institute of Technology

IT University of Copenhagen

Lund University

If you would like to make a donation to the Game Studies Foundation, which is a non-profit foundation established for the purpose of ensuring continuous publication of Game Studies, please contact the Editor-in-Chief or send an email to: foundation at gamestudies dot org
How are Games Interpreted? Hermeneutics for Game Studies

by Jonne Arjoranta

This paper presents a hermeneutic theory for game studies. It starts by giving an overview of hermeneutics, shows how in understanding games it is useful to divide hermeneutics into two aspects -- real-time hermeneutics and game hermeneutics -- and finishes by detailing complementary approaches to hermeneutics for games. [more]
Ellie’s Journal: Para-Narratives in The Last of Us Part II

by Ryan Banfi

This article examines Ellie’s journal in The Last of Us Part II. Naughty Dog utilizes this artifact as a paratext to expand upon their game’s main narrative. By critically investigating Ellie’s diary, this paper explains how videogame stories are inherently singular. [more]
Language, Identity and Games: Discussing the Role of Players in Videogame Localization

by Marina Fontolan, James Malazita, Janaina Pamplona da Costa

This paper aims to analyze the role players have in videogame localization based on perceptions of localization experts. We use data gathered during ethnographic field work in videogame conventions, archival materials and interviews with localization experts. We conclude that players are key actors driving localization practices. [more]
“Sexuality does not belong to the game” - Discourses in Overwatch Community and the Privilege of Belonging

by Tanja Välisalo, Maria Ruotsalainen

This study explores how belonging and non-belonging are constructed in discussions around sexuality of game characters in the multiplayer online game Overwatch. Rhetoric-performative discourse analysis is used to identify how different understandings of games, game characters and their functions are used to negotiate who is allowed to belong. [more]
Press X to Wait: The Cultural Politics of Slow Game Time in Red Dead Redemption 2

by John Vanderhoef, Matthew Thomas Payne

This article argues that Red Dead Redemption 2’s deployment of slow game time thwarts player expectations for speed and efficiency, thereby complicating its relationship to hegemonic play and pleasures typical of triple-A, blockbuster action-adventure games. [more]

 

©2001 - 2022 Game Studies Copyright for articles published in this journal is retained by the journal, except for the right to republish in printed paper publications, which belongs to the authors, but with first publication rights granted to the journal. By virtue of their appearance in this open access journal, articles are free to use, with proper attribution, in educational and other non-commercial settings.