Jonathan McIntosh: Playing with privilege: the invisible benefits of gaming while male (Polygon)
Working towards solutions requires that, as male gamers, we become aware of the ways in which we unconsciously benefit from sexism. We can't work to fix something unless we first see and understand its effects. When women as a group are systematically targeted by discrimination, it means that men are elevated by default.
‘A complete from scratch recreation of Super Mario Bros. with a focus on perfectly imitating the feel the 1985 classic gave us. Then give Mario a portal gun, add puzzle game mechanics from Portal and there you go. And if that wasn't crazy enough, play 4-player coop, with everyone having their own Portal gun!’
‘Most gamification sucks because it breaks down our humanity like it is no more than a computer program that needs to be understood and then rewritten for maximum reward—reward for the company behind it, rather than for the player. That's how gamification is disrespectful: because it no longer treats us like people.’
WIRED Magazine: Chain World Videogame Was Supposed to be a Religion—Not a Holy War
The story of Jason Rohrer’s ‘Chain World’, a customized fork of Minecraft of which there is only a single copy available on a USB stick and which is meant to be played only once, following a strict set of commandments, and then passed on to someone else. It’s meant to be a game about religion.
A Flash game in the vein of Jason Rohrer's 'Passage'. It sort of picks up where Passage leaves off. Minorly challenging, stylish, and a dark, fun story to play.
Creatively-captioned NES screenshots. "The problem with me and video games is that I want them to love me as much as I love them and they can't, so I have to fill in the blanks myself."