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.
When I was your age
The more things change…
Shoeless Joe: Fantasy and the Humor of Fellow-Feeling
In his essay on Jean Paul Friedrich Richter, Thomas Carlyle writes of a humor that manifests itself in smile rather than laughter. "Richter is a man of mirth," says Carlyle, whose humor is "capricious . . . quaint . . . [and] heartfelt" (15). The three adjectives represent for Carlyle the essence of what he terms "true humor" because they suggest Richter's enormous respect for humanity. "True humor," he goes on to say, "springs not more from the head than from the heart; it is not contempt, its essence is love; it issues not in laughter, but in still smiles, which lie far deeper" (17). These smiles are not Hobbesian smirks of superiority1 but genuine signs of compassion for, sympathy toward, and empathy with the object of the humor. Carlyle further provides a direct link between humor and both pathos and nobility; the link is the smile of the caring man. For Carlyle, this smile is one of "fellow-feeling":