2019
Harrer, Sabine; Nielsen, Simon; Jarnfelt, Patrick
Of Mice and Pants: Queering the Conventional Gamer Mouse for Cooperative Play Proceedings Article
In: Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 1-11, ACM, 2019, ISBN: 9781450359719.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Computer mouse, Game design, Intersectionality, Queer game studies, Wearables
@inproceedings{Harrer2019,
title = {Of Mice and Pants: Queering the Conventional Gamer Mouse for Cooperative Play},
author = {Sabine Harrer and Simon Nielsen and Patrick Jarnfelt},
doi = {10.1145/3290607.3310431},
isbn = {9781450359719},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-05-02},
booktitle = {Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems},
pages = {1-11},
publisher = {ACM},
abstract = {Withing the fields of HCI and game design, conventional design practices have been criticised for perpetuating the status quo and marginalising users beyond the norm [11], [1], e.g. through genderized assumptions about user interaction [13]. To solve this problem of conservatism in HCI, one recommended strategy has been queering; the use of mischiveous, spaceful, and oblique design principles [13]. This contribution focuses on the conventional computer mouse within videogames as an example for a conventional input device optimised for a limited set of interactions. The article first reviews HCI discourses on the mouse within technology studies, game culture, and queer game studies. In these three domains, the mouse has been consistently reduced to its functionality as high-precision point-and-click device, constructing it as conservative seemingly hard-wired to cater to male-centred pleasures. We then discuss three experimental game design strategies to queer the mouse controller in The Undie Game, a cooperative wearable mouse-based installation game by the Copenhagen Game Collective. The Undie Game speculates about ways to confront and disrupt conventional expectations about gaming by fa''silly''tating interaction for two players who wear a mouse controller in their panties and collectively steer a 3D high definition tongue on screen to achieve a mutual highscore. By creating a social, silly, and potentially daunting play experience, The Undie Game reinterprets the affordances of the computer mouse to bring subjects like consent, failure, and ambiguity into the picture.},
keywords = {Computer mouse, Game design, Intersectionality, Queer game studies, Wearables},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Withing the fields of HCI and game design, conventional design practices have been criticised for perpetuating the status quo and marginalising users beyond the norm [11], [1], e.g. through genderized assumptions about user interaction [13]. To solve this problem of conservatism in HCI, one recommended strategy has been queering; the use of mischiveous, spaceful, and oblique design principles [13]. This contribution focuses on the conventional computer mouse within videogames as an example for a conventional input device optimised for a limited set of interactions. The article first reviews HCI discourses on the mouse within technology studies, game culture, and queer game studies. In these three domains, the mouse has been consistently reduced to its functionality as high-precision point-and-click device, constructing it as conservative seemingly hard-wired to cater to male-centred pleasures. We then discuss three experimental game design strategies to queer the mouse controller in The Undie Game, a cooperative wearable mouse-based installation game by the Copenhagen Game Collective. The Undie Game speculates about ways to confront and disrupt conventional expectations about gaming by fa''silly''tating interaction for two players who wear a mouse controller in their panties and collectively steer a 3D high definition tongue on screen to achieve a mutual highscore. By creating a social, silly, and potentially daunting play experience, The Undie Game reinterprets the affordances of the computer mouse to bring subjects like consent, failure, and ambiguity into the picture.
Harrer, Sabine
Intersexionality and the Undie Game other
2019.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Intersectionality, Intersexionality, Undie Game
@other{Harrer2019c,
title = {Intersexionality and the Undie Game},
author = {Sabine Harrer},
url = {http://www.firstpersonscholar.com/intersexionality-and-the-undie-game/},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-03-20},
journal = {First Person Scholar},
abstract = {Fun. When game designers and scholars talk about it, we tend to treat it as the singular, universal product of all successful gameplay scenarios. What’s fun and what isn’t, however, arises from our situated experience as embodied, gendered beings situated within a specific cultural context. In this essay – half game post-mortem, half academic poem – I explore what fun might mean by drawing on queer subjectivity. I call this lens “intersexionality,” invoking Kimberlé Crenshaw’s (1989) notion of intersectionality to describe queer gameplay experiences beyond game industry standards. My case study in this essay is the Undie Game, which I co-designed in 2018 with members of the Copenhagen Game Collective. It is a short, wearable game for two players, which uses two standard mouse controllers inside various panties to facilitate an intimate gaming experience. In this essay, I touch on three “intersexional” design features in the Undie Game: The clicktoris, the tongue, and the pubic spectacle. These features address different materialities of the game and speculate about its potentials for queer play.},
keywords = {Intersectionality, Intersexionality, Undie Game},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {other}
}
Fun. When game designers and scholars talk about it, we tend to treat it as the singular, universal product of all successful gameplay scenarios. What’s fun and what isn’t, however, arises from our situated experience as embodied, gendered beings situated within a specific cultural context. In this essay – half game post-mortem, half academic poem – I explore what fun might mean by drawing on queer subjectivity. I call this lens “intersexionality,” invoking Kimberlé Crenshaw’s (1989) notion of intersectionality to describe queer gameplay experiences beyond game industry standards. My case study in this essay is the Undie Game, which I co-designed in 2018 with members of the Copenhagen Game Collective. It is a short, wearable game for two players, which uses two standard mouse controllers inside various panties to facilitate an intimate gaming experience. In this essay, I touch on three “intersexional” design features in the Undie Game: The clicktoris, the tongue, and the pubic spectacle. These features address different materialities of the game and speculate about its potentials for queer play.