A successful presentation at this year’s Midwest Conference on Literature, Language and Media. Fellow panelists had intriguing topics, and we had a good discussion after with the audience and moderator. A lot of good people and things, and got to see some good friends from the old stomping grounds.

Exciting news! One of the projects that Wendi, Shaun and I worked on for class last semester is on display at Duke University’s CHAT Festival. CHAT, short for Collaborations: Humanities, Arts, & Technology, seeks “to build up sustainable conversations within the community through this event, to seed the growth of collaborative, project-based work in the arts and humanities, and foster reflection on the implications of this kind of work for teaching, research, and public arts and humanities efforts.”

We’re very honored to be features alongside local scholars and artists, including NCSU’s own Dr. David Rieder, whose course we designed it for. If you get the chance to check it out, find our display at the Bryan Center Gallery, in the Von Canon gallery: Playing outside the cartridge: (re)Experiencing Nintendo.

Our panel proposal has been accepted to the 33rd annual Southwest/Texas Popular Culture and American Culture Associations Conference in February; I’m very excited to be back on the conference horse, so to speak. The panel will examine genre in game studies, primarily video games however yours truly will be working with pen-and-paper RPGs!

Panel and Lineup:

Disputed Territory: Approaching Genre In Games

• “Check all the requisite boxes”: Defining Genre in Gaming

Wendi Sierra, North Carolina State University

• What Stories “Do” in Video Games

Christopher Kampe, North Carolina State University

• A Genre of Rolls: The Problem of Genre in the Other Gaming Industry

Jameson Hogan, North Carolina State University

• Hack ‘n Slash: The Misunderstood Video Game Genre

Chris Vian, University of Central Oklahoma

So far so good in Madison, Wisconsin! WisCon35 is humming along, and I’m enjoying it more than I really expected. Not a huge fan of the town itself so far, but we’ll see.

Spent some time in the “Gathering,” a sort of communal space of misfit events; a clothing swap (appeared to be entirely women’s clothing, alas), a fiber craft circle (no empty chairs or we would have joined for our respective craftings), tarot readings and other crafty things. Also, a large expanse of “Advance Uncorrected Proof” books, available for a $1 donation to the con charity. Picked up some intriguing titles:

The Avian Gospels Books I and II, by Adam Novy.
The Life of Polycrates and Other Stories for Antiquated Children by Brendan Connell.
The Techno-Human Condition, by Braden R. Allenby and Daniel Sarewitz.
The Lust for Blood: Why We Are Fascinated by Death, Murder, Horror, and Violence, by Jeffrey A. Kottler.
Choose Your Doom: Zombie Apocalypse, by DeAnna Knippling and Dave Savelli.

Also put down a bid on a silent auction item, an “Advance Uncorrected Copy” of Dreadnaught, by Cherie Preist. Who knows if I’ll win, but I intend to keep an eye on it and try if the price stays reasonable. Plus, it’s for charity.