by Naseem Jamnia | Mar 30, 2021 | Roundtables, Video Games
In theory, March is about renewal—the weather warms up, the little flowers that grow in grasses spring up, and the month marks the Persian New Year. (What do you mean I’m the only person who cares about that??) Anyway, this kind of renewal has us thinking about rebirth (we already talked about renewal in games, after all!), and rebirth in games means remakes and remasters. (more…)
Sidequest’s former managing editor Naseem Jamnia used to do sciencey things, but they now slam their keyboard and call it art. Their debut novella, THE BRUISING OF QILWA, introduced their queernorm, Persian-inspired secondary world; their middle grade horror debut SLEEPAWAY comes out in 2025.
by Emma Kostopolus | Nov 16, 2020 | Essays, Video Games
If you’ve been involved with any sort of political conversation surrounding video games for the last twenty years, you’ve probably heard a lot of people harping on about violence: specifically, that violent video games lead to violent behavior in real life. While that claim has largely been debunked by research, there’s no denying that violence is an integral part of most high-profile titles. A tight and fluid combat system is a major selling point for a major release from an AAA studio, and a game with poor combat is lambasted with bad reviews. For better or worse, combat can be how players define a game: it determines how we view its quality (sometimes privileged over other concerns like graphics and narrative), and how fun the process of violence is in a game is the point by which we decide whether or not to play. (more…)
Emma is a PhD candidate in Rhetoric and Composition who studies how play impacts learning. Her words have also appeared in Critical Distance and Unwinnable. When not writing, she enjoys passing the controller between friends for runs of Silent Hill. She can be found @kostopolus on Twitter.
by Zora Gilbert | Jul 30, 2020 | Opinion, Roundtables
Who doesn’t want a better world? Games have the power to let us see, build, and imagine something different than we currently inhabit; in other words, how can games imagine better futures? In this month’s roundtable, the Sidequest team asks what games are doing that, what games are failing, and the pitfalls to consider. (more…)
Zora Gilbert cares a whole lot about words, kids, and comics. Find them at @zhgilbert on twitter, and find the comics they edit at datesanthology.com.
by Soco Cinconegui | Aug 1, 2016 | Features
I live in Buenos Aires, one of the largest cities in South America. Despite the fact that our country’s economy is in perpetual crisis and our politicians belong firmly in hell, we have some positive things going on for us. I am deeply grateful for my peaceful, if neurotic, home. But, like most people who do not hail from central countries, I’ve also spent a lot of time looking outside, into the ever-present cultural there (more…)
Soco is a translator, writer and editor from Buenos Aires, Argentina who works in mobile games. She’s also a long-time tabletop roleplayer, a self-taught witch, and the mom of the tiniest, fluffiest mop of a dog. Follow @SocoCinconegui on twitter for pics of said dog and lots of game industry retweets.
by Melissa Brinks | Jul 20, 2016 | Essays, Opinion
Spoiler Warning: This piece contains spoilers for Firewatch, Gone Home, and Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Two of my favorite games of the past few years are also two of the games I most frequently see criticized for having bad endings—Gone Home and Firewatch. These are quiet, simple stories told in only a few hours at most. You don’t kill anybody in them. You explore and interact, putting together pieces of a narrative, rather than literal, puzzle. (more…)
Melissa Brinks is Sidequest’s editor in chief, co-creator of the Fake Geek Girls podcast, author of The Compendium of Magical Beasts, and an aspiring beekeeper. She once won an argument on the internet, and tweets at @MelissaBrinks.
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