How To Queer the World: Radical Worldbuilding Through Video Games

Ruberg (film and media studies, Univ. of California, Irvine; Sex Dolls at Sea: Imagined Histories of Sexual Technologies) examines worldbuilding in video games from a queer lens. According to Ruberg, queerness occurs when gender and sexual identity do not fall within societal norms, which can be translated into video games by variation of the dominant forms of storytelling and gameplay. Additionally, queer video games may include elements which resonate with LGBTQIA+ people. Ruberg examines seven games through close reading and a description of gameplay elements, covering themes such as orientation in the game space, observation, worldbuilding, time, game physics, and dimensions. Ruberg uses queer theory as well as previous scholarship on video games and developer-created documentation as support. They take an intersectional approach to their analysis, which looks at race and bias. Throughout, Ruberg emphasizes the power of players to direct the game’s story and experiences and ponders how systems can reflect identity and sexuality. They close by presenting lessons learned for queer worldbuilding in video games with further examples.