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Cues for Queer Play: Carving a Possibility Space for LGBTQ Role-Play

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Queerness in Play

Part of the book series: Palgrave Games in Context ((PAGCON))

Abstract

Representations of LGBTQ (or queer) themes and characters have been scarce throughout the history of role-playing games. However, there is a gap between source material of a game and the actual play of it. Our chapter explores this gap with two objectives: first, the authors review what kind of queer existence is possible in tabletop, online multiplayer, and live-action role-playing. Second, this chapter addresses how players negotiate with these “urtexts” in carving out queer potentials. Drawing from numerous examples, the authors conclude that the emergence of queer play necessitates the affordances of the urtext of the game, each player’s unique approach to play, and the core player group or online community in which the play is situated.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Vaasa, Vaasa, Finland

    Tanja Sihvonen

  2. University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland

    Jaakko Stenros

Authors
  1. Tanja Sihvonen
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  2. Jaakko Stenros
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Science, Information Arts and Technologies, University of Baltimore, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Todd Harper

  2. Department of English and Writing Studies, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

    Meghan Blythe Adams

  3. Department of Communication, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA

    Nicholas Taylor

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Sihvonen, T., Stenros, J. (2018). Cues for Queer Play: Carving a Possibility Space for LGBTQ Role-Play. In: Harper, T., Adams, M., Taylor, N. (eds) Queerness in Play. Palgrave Games in Context. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90542-6_10

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