Palgrave Games in Context

This volume addresses the persistent and frequently toxic associations between masculinity and games. It explores many of the critical issues in contemporary studies of masculinity-including issues of fatherhood, homoeroticism, eSports, fan cultures, and militarism-and their intersections with digital games, the contexts of their play, and the social futures associated with sustained involvement in gaming cultures. Unlike much of the research and public discourse that put the onus of "fixing" games and gaming cultures on those at its margins-women, LGBTQ, and people of color-this volume turns attention to men and masculinities, offering vital and productive avenues for both practical and theoretical intervention.

Queerness in Play examines the many ways queerness of all kinds-from queer as 'LGBT' to other, less well-covered aspects of the queer spectrum-intersects with games and the social contexts of play. The current unprecedented visibility of queer creators and content comes at a high tide of resistance to the inclusion of those outside a long-imagined cisgender, heterosexual, white male norm. By critically engaging the ways games-as a culture, an industry, and a medium-help reproduce limiting binary formations of gender and sexuality, Queerness in Play contributes to the growing body of scholarship promoting more inclusive understandings of identity, sexuality, and games.