Well Played

This Well Played presentation will focus on Crusader Kings II, a grand strategy game released in 2012 by Paradox Interactive. In this game the player assumes the role of a medieval ruler operating under the feudal system. When this ruler dies (naturally or otherwise), the player continues as the ruler’s heir, effectively controlling the fate …

Family Feud[alism]: Exploring the Intricacies of History Through Crusader Kings II Read More »

The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories (2018), uses the grotesque and absurd to encourage empathy and understanding for the main character, J.J. Macfield. This SWERY-developed game has the titular character dismember herself in order to progress through the story, even to the point that J.J. can become just a head rolling around. …

Empathy and Regeneration: The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories Read More »

In this well-played presentation, I will comment on a playthrough of Jason Nelson’s 2013 “Nothing You Have Done Deserves Such Praise” (NYHDDSP), one of a series of works situated at the juncture of poetry, digital art, and video game. NYHDDSP possesses a frenetic aesthetic experience in which the player encounters explosions, eruptions, wandering paramecia, decomposing …

Critical Play and Alchemical Aesthetics in Jason Nelson’s Poem-Games Read More »