The Technoculture, Art and Games (TAG) Research Centre is Canada’s largest and most-established games research centre; a platform for interdisciplinary collaboration in digital game research and design housed in the Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture, and Technology at Concordia University in Montréal, Canada.
In our final episode of the season we speak with Rob Gallager about his chapter “That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore (Or Is It?): On Hitman and Gamer Humour(lessness).” We chat about Hitman as a comedy of contingency, the wonders of Sapienza, and contemplate the moral implications of Hitman’s victims.
On this episode we speak with Caroline Bem about their chapter “Humour in Pornographic Browser Games: From Undertale to Uddertale, a Case Study.” We chat about approaching game studies from the outside, sexuality in video games, and the link between games, sexuality, and humour.
On this episode we speak with Rory Summerley about his chapter “A Tool of Efficiency and Consumption to Destroy Man”: Irony and Sincerity in Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes.” We chat about floundering when trying to make jokes during academic conferences, the difference between irony and parody, and the concept of abusive game design.
On this episode we speak with Samuel Poirier-Poulin about his chapter “Mark Matthews Stars in ‘Anatomy is Hard!’ A Struggling Student Tries to Make the Grade with His Professor”: Sexual Humour and Queer Space in Coming Out on Top.” We chat about queer humour in contrast to trends of queer trauma in games, and the positive public reception to Coming Out on Top, and tendentious jokes.
On this episode we speak with Darshana Jayemanne and Cameron Kunzelman on their chapter “Cybernetic Irony: Racial Humour from Mecha-Hitler to Nuclear Gandhi.” We chat about different cultural approaches to game humour, cybernetic irony, and the colonial roots of racialized humour in games.
On this episode we speak with Mateusz Felczak on his chapter “Emergence and Ephemerality of Humour During Live Coverage of Large-Scale eSports Events.” We talk about the difference between narrative game humour and live esports broadcasts, and how audience engagement changes the shape of humour.
On this episode we speak with Agata Zarzycka on her chapter “Ridiculing the Player: Live-Action Visualisations of Game Experience in YouTube Parody Videos as an Ambivalent Strategy of Self-Fashioning.” We talk about the humorous contrast between casual and serious play, remediated game humour, and clashes between mechanical and social play elements.
On this episode we speak with Sebastian Möring about his chapter “Making Fun of Tetris: Humour in Parodies of a Computer Game Classic.” We talk about paradoxes, processing the strange, and the evocative power of parody in game design.
Their System, Our Game looks at the history of Pathfinder and how it encourages aspiring makers to break into the game design space. Through interviews with player-creators and third party makers, the authors use a range of perspectives to define homebrew for TTRPGs. Taking a closer look at homebrew design, they create two homebrew campaigns (available as free downloads) collaboratively with two different groups of players. Player accounts of gameplay and designer reflections of how their homebrew actually played out at the game table outline some of the challenges and perks of designing on the fly, creating customized settings, and bending or breaking rules.
When the most American character in your video game adaptation is played by a Belgian martial artist, you know you’re in for something special. September 24th at 5:30 we’ll see how Jean-Claude Van Damme can unite a global force of brawlers to save the earth from a ruthless dictator. Please come back Jean-Claude!
Friday October 9th at 4:30, join us for our annual general meeting to meet each other, and learn what TAG is up to this upcoming year.
On October 22nd, we’ll watch as the director of Event Horizon adapts one of the most influential horror games of all time into a movie about computers, lasers, and guns.
After the moral panic of Mazes and Monsters, but before the success of Critical Role and Honor Among Thieves, D&D enthusiasts went up against the combined might of the guy that played Imhotep in the Mummy and Jeremy Irons. Join us on November 12th to see if this Millenial Dungeons & Dragons movie rolled a natural 1 on its adaptation roll.
The critical watch series is an opportunity to discuss all aspects of game adaptation. Once a month we screen a video game film, and follow each watch with a discussion on the context, form, and content of each film. Join us in the Fine Arts screening room, EV 10.525 for this edition of the TAG Critical Watch series.
Seating for each event is very limited, so if you wish to attend, please RSVP by sending an email directly to tag.coordinator@concordia.ca or by messaging Marc on the TAG Discord.
Celebrate the end of term with a brief digression from films to watch how the game industry fashions itself after Hollywood award shows through a critical watch of The Game Awards.
