Romance in Games: What It Is, How It Is, and How Developers Can Improve It
This project extends my first “Romance in Games” survey, seeking to be of assistance to developers who produce romance content in their games, resulting in richer gaming experiences for a wider audience. I have sought information about market readiness for LGBT romance content in games, how the audience defines “romance games,” what people’s definition of “satisfying game romance” is and how well developers are living up to that definition, as well as what developers can do to make game romance more satisfying for players. This survey consisted of four sections: basic demographics, general gaming preferences, the nature of romance in games, and satisfaction with romance in games. The preliminary findings are that straight audiences are ready for—and queer audiences crave—more LGBT romance content in single-player role-playing games (RPGs); that BioWare warrants and deserves a prominent position in any critical discussion of romance in single-player RPGs; and that there are tangible reasons why customers might not find game romances satisfying, although these problems are reparable. The end suggestion, recognizing that there is much more to be gleaned from this data set, is that wider research be conducted about these matters with proper funding and staffing by researchers.
Queer(ing) Game Studies: Reviewing Research on Digital Play and Non-normativity
Through a systematic literature review, this chapter considers how game studies scholarship has approached LGBTQ players, communities, and perspectives to outline new and ongoing opportunities for research and activism related to queer and non-normative digital games, players, and play practices. This chapter seeks to ascertain not only what scholarship has been produced with regard to LGBTQ games, gamers, and gaming but to critically consider where and how as well: which disciplines, methodological traditions, and publishing venues are most active in this area. Knowing how game studies has thus far engaged with queer identities, communities, and issues offers game scholars a trajectory to build on existing work in this area, to both contextualize and advance the efforts of LGBTQ players, critics, designers, allies, and activists.
Analysis: The Agenda 2007 Proposals: Evolution or Revolution?
On 10 February 2004 the Commission published its proposal for the financial perspective 2007-2013. A week later it adopted the third report on economic and social cohesion. These two documents form the basis of the so-called ‘Agenda 2007 reforms’. They will be the greatest challenge for the enlarged EU after the intergovernmental conference, since they will determine the financial basis for EU policy-making until the middle of the next decade. The Agenda 2007 proposals certainly hint at courageous reforms, because they place a previously unheard-of emphasis on performance and quality. Under the proposals, structural operations should generate value for money, and the funds should focus on projects which generate added value at a European level. Overall the Commission’s proposals point in the right direction, because they balance, on the one hand, solidarity for the new Member States and weak regions in the old Member States with, on the other hand, investments in future tasks. Moreover, they constitute a paradigm shift. For the first time, the Common Agricultural Policy will not be the dominant expenditure category. Now it is up to the Member States to examine the proposals politically and find a compromise between sometimes very divergent interests. It is to be hoped that, during the debate over expenditure limits and division of funds, national interests do not outweigh European interests.