2025
Scully-Blaker, Rainforest; Kalmanlehto, Johan; Korkeila, Henry; Ruotsalainen, Maria
Introduction to the Special Issue on Meta : “About, Within, and Around” the 20th Annual Tampere University Game Research Lab Spring Seminar Journal Article
In: ACM Games: Research and Practice, vol. 3, iss. 2, pp. 1-5, 2025, ISSN: 2832-5516.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Critical meta-analysis, Game culture
@article{nokey,
title = {Introduction to the Special Issue on Meta : “About, Within, and Around” the 20th Annual Tampere University Game Research Lab Spring Seminar},
author = {Rainforest Scully-Blaker and Johan Kalmanlehto and Henry Korkeila and Maria Ruotsalainen},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3723324},
doi = {10.1145/3723324},
issn = {2832-5516},
year = {2025},
date = {2025-04-09},
journal = {ACM Games: Research and Practice},
volume = {3},
issue = {2},
pages = {1-5},
abstract = {This is the introduction to a special issue based on papers presented at the 20th Annual Tampere University Game Research Lab Spring Seminar in Tampere, Finland. The theme for this iteration of the seminar was Meta. After a brief discussion on the multifaceted nature of meta, we introduce the six papers that make up this special issue. Within game studies, meta is a word or prefix that has many meanings to many people. We suggest that the articles in this special issue engage with meta as it pertains to players, developers, and scholars, and discuss each piece in turn. We conclude by thanking everyone whose work led to the production. Meta is what one makes of it, and we affirm that our authors have made this special issue a compilation of a set of significant contributions to the study of everything that occurs about, within, and around games.},
keywords = {Critical meta-analysis, Game culture},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
This is the introduction to a special issue based on papers presented at the 20th Annual Tampere University Game Research Lab Spring Seminar in Tampere, Finland. The theme for this iteration of the seminar was Meta. After a brief discussion on the multifaceted nature of meta, we introduce the six papers that make up this special issue. Within game studies, meta is a word or prefix that has many meanings to many people. We suggest that the articles in this special issue engage with meta as it pertains to players, developers, and scholars, and discuss each piece in turn. We conclude by thanking everyone whose work led to the production. Meta is what one makes of it, and we affirm that our authors have made this special issue a compilation of a set of significant contributions to the study of everything that occurs about, within, and around games.
2018
Harviainen, J. Tuomas; Brown, Ashley M. L.; Suominen, Jaakko
Three Waves of Awkwardness: A Meta-Analysis of Sex in Game Studies Journal Article
In: Games and Culture, vol. 13, no. 6, pp. 605–623, 2018, ISSN: 15554139.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Critical meta-analysis, Game studies, Methodology, Sexuality, Theory
@article{Harviainen2018,
title = {Three Waves of Awkwardness: A Meta-Analysis of Sex in Game Studies},
author = {J. Tuomas Harviainen and Ashley M. L. Brown and Jaakko Suominen},
doi = {10.1177/1555412016636219},
issn = {15554139},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-01-01},
urldate = {2018-01-01},
journal = {Games and Culture},
volume = {13},
number = {6},
pages = {605–623},
publisher = {SAGE Publications},
address = {Los Angeles, CA},
abstract = {This article critically evaluates and questions the growth and maturity of game studies as a scholarly set of related approaches to the study of games, by providing an account of studies of sexuality in (mostly digital) games from 1978 to present. The main goal of this article is to highlight overarching themes and patterns in the literature, with a focus on theories and methodologies commonly used and the way game studies is still risk aware, even awkward in its discussions of sexuality. In addition to a review of 37 years of literature, the article employs a chronological and thematic metaphor analysis of past research texts to analyze whether game studies is growing up or in perpetual puberty and whether it really is exploring sexual maturity alongside the games we study. It finds that while different periods of time can be identified in research as far as approaches to sexuality in games go, game studies is still to a large extent engaged in the management of the stigma that discussing sexuality may cause. Rather than a maturation process, the waves are shown to be manifestations of different types of environmentally influenced risk awareness, consecutive risk avoidance, and a resulting awkwardness.},
keywords = {Critical meta-analysis, Game studies, Methodology, Sexuality, Theory},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
This article critically evaluates and questions the growth and maturity of game studies as a scholarly set of related approaches to the study of games, by providing an account of studies of sexuality in (mostly digital) games from 1978 to present. The main goal of this article is to highlight overarching themes and patterns in the literature, with a focus on theories and methodologies commonly used and the way game studies is still risk aware, even awkward in its discussions of sexuality. In addition to a review of 37 years of literature, the article employs a chronological and thematic metaphor analysis of past research texts to analyze whether game studies is growing up or in perpetual puberty and whether it really is exploring sexual maturity alongside the games we study. It finds that while different periods of time can be identified in research as far as approaches to sexuality in games go, game studies is still to a large extent engaged in the management of the stigma that discussing sexuality may cause. Rather than a maturation process, the waves are shown to be manifestations of different types of environmentally influenced risk awareness, consecutive risk avoidance, and a resulting awkwardness.