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The Burden of Queer Love
Press Start Burden of Queer Love The Burden of Queer Love Brianna Dym University of Colorado Boulder Abstract Video games are a unique narrative and interactive experience that allow players to construct their own fantasies through play. The fantastical possibilities a video game could explore are nearly limitless. However, a game’s design often precludes certain imaginative routes, shutting down one fantasy in favour of another. Games close out possibilities through actions as small as character design (gender, race, ability) and restrict imaginative interpretations to serve a narrow audience. Game developers design play that prioritizes hypermasculine narrative experiences, and players that do not align with this identity must condition themselves to play that excludes fantasies or alternate worlds that align with their experiences. This essay explores attempts by game development studio BioWare to create video games that are inclusive of gay, lesbian, and bisexual players by writing queer romantic narrative subplots into their games. While BioWare’s attempts are certainly not malicious, they fail time and time again, game after game, to break free of the hypermasculine and heterocentric culture dominant in the gaming industry. Instead, BioWare appropriates queer experiences and construes them as a burden to the player so as not to displace the fantasies of male, heterosexual gamers. Keywords LGBTQ identity; marginality; BioWare; queer game studies Press Start 2019 | Volume 5 | Issue 1 ISSN: 2055-8198 URL: http://press-start.gla.ac.uk Press Start is an open access student journal that publishes the best undergraduate and postgraduate research, essays and dissertations from across the multidisciplinary subject of game studies. -
Mass Effect 2 Unofficial Guide
SuperCheats.com Unoffical Mass Effect 2 Guide http://www.supercheats.com/guides/mass-effect-2 Check back for updates, videos and comments for this guide. Table of Contents Introduction 2 Character Creation 3 Hacking 5 Getting Started 6 Normandy Prologue 7 Intro 8 Freedom's Progress 15 The Normandy SR2 19 Omega 23 - Recruit the Veteran 24 (DLC Character) - Recruit Archangel 25 - Recruit Professor 35 Mordin Solus Omega Side Quests 43 Recruit The Convict 48 Recruit The rogan 52 Save Horizon 59 Illium 68 Illium Side-Quests 79 Recruit Tali 84 The Collector Ship 91 Loyalty Missions 94 - Miranda: The Prodigal 95 - Jacob: The Gift of Greatness 99 - Jack: Subject Zero 102 - Garrus: Eye for an Eye 105 - Mordin: Old Blood 108 - Grunt: Rite of Passage 113 - Thane: Sins of the Father 117 Samara: The Ardat-Yakshi 119 - Tali: Treason 121 - Zaeed: The Price of Revenge 123 page pnb / nb SuperCheats.com Unoffical Mass Effect 2 Guide http://www.supercheats.com/guides/mass-effect-2 Check back for updates, videos and comments for this guide. Reaper IFF 128 Recruitment: Legion 133 Legion: A House Divided 134 IFF Installation 138 Suicide Mission 139 Normandy Assignments 151 Downloadable Content 169 DLC: Normandy Crash Site 170 DLC: Firewalker MSV Rosalie 172 DLC: Firewalker: Recover Research Data 173 DLC: Firewalker: Artifact Collection 175 DLC: Firewalker: Geth Incursion 177 DLC: Firewalker: Prothean Site 178 DLC: asumi Goto 179 - asumi: Stealing Memory 181 The Citadel 185 Tuchanka 187 Romance 190 Planetary Mining 192 Xbox 360 Achievements 196 page 2 / 201 SuperCheats.com Unoffical Mass Effect 2 Guide http://www.supercheats.com/guides/mass-effect-2 Check back for updates, videos and comments for this guide. -
UNIVERSITY of VAASA School of Marketing And
UNIVERSITY OF VAASA School of Marketing and Communication Multidisciplinary Master’s Programme in Communication Harri Huusko “Direct intervention is necessary” Interesting character creation through narrative elements in Mass Effect Master’s Thesis in digital media Vaasa 2018 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS IMAGES AND FIGURES 2 ABSTRACT 3 1 INTRODUCTION 5 1.1 Objective 7 1.2 Material 9 1.3 Method 11 2 MASS EFFECT AS A ROLE-PLAYING GAME 13 2.1 Single player role-playing games 13 2.2 The world of Mass Effect 16 3 NARRATOLOGY IN GAME STUDIES 25 3.1 Traditional narratology 26 3.2 Studying game narratives 33 3.2.1 Narrative in role-playing games 39 3.2.2 The narrative appeal of Mass Effect games 45 3.3 Close-reading game narratives 50 4 CHARACTER NARRATIVES IN THE MASS EFFECT SERIES 55 4.1 Commander Shepard 58 4.2 Urdnot Wrex 69 4.3 Tali’Zorah nar Rayaa 74 4.4 Emotional character narratives 80 4.5 The binding of character narratives 84 5 CONCLUSION 88 WORKS CITED 93 2 IMAGES Image 1. First encounter with the ancient Reaper machines. 17 Image 2. Normandy ambushed by an unknown enemy in Mass Effect 2 (2010). 19 Image 3. Commander Shepard floating in space, with air coming out of the suit 20 Image 4. Reapers shown ascending upon the city of Vancouver etc. 22 Image 5. Appearance options for Shepard, as seen in Mass Effect 2 (2010). 60 Image 6. Pre-service history selection in Mass Effect 1 (2007). 61 Image 7. The narrativized interface, as seen in Mass Effect 1 (2007). -
Certificate for Approving the Dissertation
MIAMI UNIVERSITY The Graduate School Certificate for Approving the Dissertation We hereby approve the Dissertation of Kevin J. Rutherford Candidate for the Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Director (Jason Palmeri) Reader (Michele Simmons) Reader (Heidi McKee) Reader (Kate Ronald) Graduate School Representative (Bo Brinkman) ABSTRACT PACK YOUR THINGS AND GO: BRINGING OBJECTS TO THE FORE IN RHETORIC AND COMPOSITION by Kevin J. Rutherford This dissertation project focuses on object-oriented rhetoric (OOR), a perspective that questions the traditional notions of rhetorical action as solely a human province. The project makes three major, interrelated claims: that OOR provides a unique and productive methodology to examine the inclusion of the non-human in rhetorical study; that to some extent, rhetoric has always been interested in the way nonhuman objects interact with humans; and that these claims have profound implications for our activities as teachers and scholars. Chapter one situates OOR within current scholarship in composition and rhetoric, arguing that it can serve as a useful methodology for the field despite rhetoric’s traditional focus on epistemology and human symbolic action. Chapter two examines rhetorical history to demonstrate that a view of rhetoric that includes nonhuman actors is not new, but has often been marginalized. Chapter three examines two videogames as sites of theory and practice for object-oriented rhetoric, specifically focusing on a sense of metaphor to understand the experience of nonhuman rhetors. Chapter four interrogates the network surrounding a review aggregation website to argue that, while some nonhumans may be unhelpful rhetorical collaborators, OOR can assist us in improving relationships with them. -
Mass Effect Saga Não Utiliza Destiny Points, Ado- Do De Frio, Calculista E Brutal
C APÍTULO III 1 TRAÇOS HERÓICOS CAMPAING SOURCEBOOK DBOHR PADAWAN BESSA DM RAFAEL Turian Agent .............................................. 20 Sumário Themes Talent Trees ......................................... 20 Special Theme Talents ...................................... 23 Introdução ...................................................................5 Capítulo III Capítulo I Traços heróicos ................. 25 Espécies ................................... 6 Event Background ........................................ 25 Asari ................................................................. 7 Occupation Background ............................... 26 Drell ................................................................. 8 Planet of Origin Background ....................... 26 Humanos ......................................................... 9 Krogan ........................................................... 10 Traits & Passions ............. 28 Quarian .......................................................... 11 Usando Traits e Passions .............................. 28 Salarian .......................................................... 12 Traits e Passions famosos ............................. 28 Turian ............................................................ 13 Traits e Passions ordinários .......................... 28 Traits .............................................................. 28 Capítulo II Chaste/Lustful ........................................... 30 Classes Heróicas .................15 Energetic/Lazy........................................... -
The Expanding Storyworld: an Intermedial Study of the Mass Effect Novels Jessika Sundin
Stockholm University Department of Culture and Aesthetics The Expanding Storyworld: An Intermedial Study of the Mass Effect novels Jessika Sundin Master Thesis in Literature (30 ECTS) Master’s Program in Literature (120 ECTS) Supervisor: Christer Johansson Examiner: Per-Olof Mattsson Spring Semester 2018 Abstract This study investigates the previously neglected literary phenomenon of game novels, a genre that is part of the increasing significance that games are having in culture. Intermedial studies is one of the principal fields that examines these types of phenomena, which provides perspectives for understanding the interactions between media. Furthermore, it forms the foundation for this study that analyses the relation between the four novels by Drew Karpyshyn (Mass Effect: Revelation, 2007; Mass Effect: Ascension, 2008; Mass Effect: Retribution, 2010) and William C. Dietz (Mass Effect: Deception, 2012), and the Mass Effect Trilogy. Differences and similarities between the media are delineated using semiotic theories, primarily the concepts of modalities of media and transfers of media characteristics. The thesis further investigates the narrative discourse, and narrative perspectives in the novels and how these instances relate to the transferred characteristics of Mass Effect. Ultimately, the commonly transferred characteristic in the novels is the storyworld, which reveals both differences and similarities between the media. Regardless of any differences, the similarities demonstrate a relationship where the novels expand the storyworld. Keywords: Drew Karpyshyn, William C. Dietz, Mass Effect, BioWare, storyworld, video games, digital games, intermediality, transmediality, narratology, semiotics 2 Table of Contents 1. Introduction ………………………………………………………………………….…. 4 1.1. Survey of the field …………………………………………………………...………..… 5 1.1.1. Novelizations …………………………………………………………….…….……. 5 1.1.2. -
Mass Effect! Action! Drama! War! Romance!
Story: In the year 2148, explorers on Mars discovered the remains of an ancient spacefaring civilization. In the decades that followed, these mysterious artifacts revealed startling new technologies, enabling travel to the furthest stars. The basis for this incredible technology was a force that controlled the very fabric of space and time. They called it the greatest discovery in human history. The civilizations of the galaxy call it... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Intro: Element Zero! You're going to be hearing that term (or eezo) a lot from now on. It'll be used to justify faster-than-light travel, energy shields, even glowy space psychic people. Why? Because you get to spend the next 10 years in the sci-fi adventure setting of Mass Effect! Action! Drama! War! Romance! You will begin your adventure in the year 2181. For the record, the first Mass Effect takes place in 2183, Mass Effect 2 takes place in 2185, and Mass Effect 3 kicks off in 2186. You get a few years to get yourself ready for the impending Reaper (sentient starship) invasion. You might even be able to stop it yourself. Remember, you probably know information (or can learn it by just reading the Jump) that could save a lot of lives if you can get people to believe you. Cerberus' (human supremacist organization headed by the Illusive Man) antics, the Collectors, all of that information could be resolved with less fuss if you can get the word out to the right people. You'll have to survive though. Good luck with that! Go join up with Shepard, take things into your own hands, or use your information to change the galaxy. -
UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations
UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Transcoded Identities: Identification in Games and Play Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0394m0xb Author Juliano, Linzi Publication Date 2015 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Transcoded Identities: Identification in Games and Play A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Theater and Performance Studies By Linzi Michel Juliano 2015 © Copyright by Linzi Michel Juliano 2015 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Transcoded Identities: Identification in Games and Play By Linzi Michel Juliano Doctor of Philosophy in Theater and Performance Studies University of California, Los Angeles, 2015 Professor Sue-Ellen Case, Chair This work foregrounds how technologies create and emerge from sociocultural, economic and political discourses. My use of transcode, a term introduced by the semiotician A.J. Greimas and carried into the digital realm by Lev Manovich, refers to how cultural elements such as assumptions, biases, priorities emerge within programming code and software. It demonstrates how cultural norms persist across different mediums and posits that, in many ways, the capacity to be flexible defines cultural ideologies. At the software level, programming languages work like performative speech: grammar which produces effects. When cast as speech, coming from a body (or bodies) instead of hardware, information structures can be perceived as acting within regimes of corporeality; when cast as software, information structures demonstrate and advertise the capabilities of hardware. Although often aligned with veracity and stability in its proximity to (computer) science, software is not culturally neutral. -
Mass Effect 3 Checklist
Mass Effect 3 Checklist ---After Priority: Sur'Kesh--- ...After Priority: Tuchanka continued ---After Priority: The Citadel I --- Citadel: Barla Von Nimbus Cluster Apien Crest Arcturus Stream Agaiou System Castellus System Arcturus System Citadel: Library of Asha Citadel: Banner of the 1st Regiment Euler System Kallini System Gemmae System N7: Cerberus Abductions Mesana System Exodus Cluster ->Citadel: Evidence Ardat-Yakshi Monastery Asgard System Gemini Sigma ->Citadel: Asari Widow Utopia System Han System Pelion System Priority: Eden Prime(DLC) {Garrus} Ming System Valhallan Threshold Hades Gamma Krogan DMZ Micah System Antaeus System Aralakh System Paz System Cacus System Tuchanka: Turian Platoon Citadel: Prothean Data Drives Dis System ->Tuchanka: Bomb(3) {Garrus} Raheel-Leyya System Farinata System ->Citadel: GX12 Thermal Pipe Plutus System N7: Cerberus Attack ---After Priority: Geth Dreadnought--- Kite's Nest ->Citadel: Improved Power Grid Argos Rho Harsa System Dranek System Gorgon System Untrel System Nith System Hydra System Sigurd's Cradle Ninmah Cluster Phoenix System Decoris System Mulla Xul System Citadel: Kakliosaur Fossil N7: Cerberus Lab Attican Traverse: Krogan Team {Javik} Silean Nebula ->Citadel:Alien MediGel Formula ->Citadel: Krogan Dying Message Kypladon System Skepsis System N7: Fuel Reactors ---After Priority: Tuchanka--- ->Citadel: Chemical Treatment ---After Priority: Palaven --- Citadel: Shore Leave DLC {after Horizon} Rannoch: Admiral Koris Grissom Academy(3){EDI if David here} Aethon Cluster ->Citadel: Target -
Chapter 1- Priority: Dholen (Haestrom's Sun) So Here She Was
WHISPERING SHADOWS- A MASS EFFECT 3 ALTERNATE ENDING - 1 Chapter 1- Priority: Dholen (Haestrom’s Sun) So here she was. Back on the Normandy. She couldn’t say she was surprised, by what she’d seen at Sanctuary. She’d known the Illusive Man had no problem sacrificing other people for his vaguely-stated goals. And she knew that scamming refugees was a traditional way to make money in wartime. Still, Sanctuary had been coldblooded even by those standards. She’d seen people in the Citadel markets, selling everything they had so they could afford to send their families to Sanctuary. And now the whole lot of them were husks. ...The Illusive Man probably thought it proved how serious and committed he was to saving humanity, that he’d go to such extreme, pointless lengths to save it. Shepard chuckled darkly. She had to wonder what he was saving it from. Hackett wanted to talk to her, ASAP, apparently. She splashed water on her face, wishing that would be enough to wash away the sickness-and-ammonia stench of Sanctuary. Not that Hackett would notice: He’d be a hologram with no sense of smell. She leaned on the metal sink, allowing herself a moment to look in the mirror. Not much of the old Shepard left there, she thought. When the Illusive Man had resurrected her as his errand-girl, he’d made her look the same as she had before she died. She’d hated that. It was a lie, that you could work for Cerberus and not change. -
Discourses of Queer Gender and Sexuality Across Bioware's Mass
University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies The Vault: Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2018-01-26 “But You’re Female!”: Discourses of Queer Gender and Sexuality Across BioWare’s Mass Effect Trilogy Thai, Tina Thai, T. (2018). “But You’re Female!”: Discourses of Queer Gender and Sexuality Across BioWare’s Mass Effect Trilogy (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/5451 http://hdl.handle.net/1880/106370 master thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY “But You’re Female!”: Discourses of Queer Gender and Sexuality Across BioWare’s Mass Effect Trilogy by Tina Thai A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS GRADUATE PROGRAM IN COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA STUDIES CALGARY, ALBERTA JANUARY, 2018 © Tina Thai 2018 Abstract BioWare’s highly successful Mass Effect trilogy is one of the most lauded examples of mainstream video games that have incorporated prominent queer representation. In a media landscape that is still navigating marginalized representation in a meaningful way, BioWare has made strides in terms of their depth and quality of queer inclusion since its release. The ways that this inclusion is constructed in all levels of design – from formal game qualities to its storytelling choices – can tell researchers much about how discourses of queerness function, using the game space as a site of discursive operations. -
Mass Effect! Action! Drama! War! Romance!
Story: In the year 2148, explorers on Mars discovered the remains of an ancient spacefaring civilization. In the decades that followed, these mysterious artifacts revealed startling new technologies, enabling travel to the furthest stars. The basis for this incredible technology was a force that controlled the very fabric of space and time. They called it the greatest discovery in human history. The civilizations of the galaxy call it... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Intro: Element Zero! You're going to be hearing that term (or eezo) a lot from now on. It'll be used to justify faster-than-light travel, energy shields, even glowy space psychic people. Why? Because you get to spend the next 10 years in the sci-fi adventure setting of Mass Effect! Action! Drama! War! Romance! You will begin your adventure in the year 2181. For the record, the first Mass Effect takes place in 2183, Mass Effect 2 takes place in 2185, and Mass Effect 3 kicks off in 2186. You get a few years to get yourself ready for the impending Reaper (sentient starship) invasion. You might even be able to stop it yourself. Remember, you probably know information (or can learn it by just reading the Jump) that could save a lot of lives if you can get people to believe you. Cerberus' (human supremacist organization headed by the Illusive Man) antics, the Collectors, all of that information could be resolved with less fuss if you can get the word out to the right people. You'll have to survive though. Good luck with that! Go join up with Shepard, take things into your own hands, or use your information to change the galaxy.