What Do We Do When We Talk About Games?

With a Terrible Fate

This week on With a Terrible Fate's podcast about the study and culture of video-game storytelling, we take a reflective look at the good, bad, and ugly of what it means to talk about games. Where does lore analysis end and literary interpretation begin, and how can streamed "book clubs" of games help create good-faith homes for a positive mode of analysis among common fans and thinkers? How might a game award show need to look different than film awards by virtue of differences in the medium? How can bad-faith internet personalities take advantage of the personal, experiential nature of games to lower standards of evidence in discussions with real stakes? What the heck do avatars have to do with the aesthetics of agency in gameplay? Buckle up: it's an overloaded podcast this week where we tackle all these questions and more!