Here is another list of various links that I have come across in the past few months (see previous Roundups here: Roundup #4: http://www.edmondchang.com/2018/07/11/video-game-studies-digital-cultures-rpg-larp-fandom-roundup-4/, Roundup #3: http://www.edmondchang.com/2017/03/17/video-game-studies-digital-cultures-rpglarp-fandom-roundup-3/, Roundup #2: http://www.edmondchang.com/2016/08/20/video-game-studies-digital-cultures-fandom-roundup-2/, and Roundup #1: http://www.edmondchang.com/2016/02/13/video-game-studies-and-digital-cultures-roundup-1/):
Video Games
Activision Blizzard cuts nearly 800 jobs amid ‘record results in 2018’
https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/12/18222484/activision-blizzard-layoffs-cuts-jobs-record-results-2018
How A Medieval Video Game Can Help Us Think About The Past
https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewgabriele/2019/01/27/medieval-video-game-think-about-past/#3987d9783cb8
Second Annual Business of Games Summit brings renowned gaming experts to Ohio University Feb. 22
https://www.ohio.edu/compass/stories/18-19/01/Gaming-Summit-2019.cfm
E-Sports Is the New Premed
http://fortune.com/2019/01/29/e-sports-is-the-new-premed/
This Absurdly Cute Game Puts Players in Charge of a Day Spa for Marshmallows
https://community.extra-life.org/articles.html/gamingnews/this-absurdly-cute-game-puts-players-in-charge-of-a-day-spa-for-marshmallows-r1848/
UK Linguists Awarded NEH Grant for Video Game Concept
https://uknow.uky.edu/professional-news/uk-linguists-awarded-neh-grant-video-game-concept?utm_medium=social
Six of 2018’s best new books about video games
https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/dec/19/six-of-2018s-best-new-books-about-video-games?CMP=share_btn_tw
Guy Counts Every Ellipsis You Have To See To Finish Xenogears
https://kotaku.com/guy-counts-every-ellipses-you-have-to-see-to-finish-xen-1830910221
Games of Color/Nerds of Color
Amazon’s questionable MMO has you colonize the ‘new world’
https://www.polygon.com/2019/2/8/18216053/new-world-game-mmo-impressions-preview-colonization-controversy
Exclusive preview: Octavia E. Butler’s prescient Parable books get gorgeous reissue
https://ew.com/books/2019/02/25/parable-octavia-butler-reissue/
What It’s Like To Write About Race And Video Game
https://kotaku.com/what-its-like-to-write-about-race-and-video-games-1832886047
“Black Panther” Designer Hannah Beachler Is the First Black Person to Win a Production-Design Oscar
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/oscars-2019-black-panther-designer-hannah-beachler-first-black-person-win-production-design
Love as Political ResistanceLessons from Audre Lorde and Octavia Butler
https://www.bitchmedia.org/article/love-time-political-resistance/transform-valentines-day-lessons-audre-lorde-and-octavia
A cosplay sisterhood mashes up Black Panther and Sailor Moon and it’s amazing
https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/a-cosplay-sisterhood-mashes-up-black-panther-and-sailor-moon-and-its-amazing
A little girl from West Philly grew up to become TV’s first black lesbian superhero
https://www.phillyvoice.com/little-girl-west-philly-who-became-tvs-first-black-lesbian-superhero/
Marlon James’ ‘Black Leopard, Red Wolf’ unleashes an immersive African myth-inspired fantasy world
https://www.latimes.com/books/la-ca-jc-black-leopard-red-wolf-marlon-james-review-20190103-story.html
Marvel Comics Introduces Indigenous Superhero
https://www.voanews.com/a/marvel-comices-introduces-indigenous-superhero/4405374.html
Photos of dark-skinned deities challenge India’s obsession with fairness
https://qz.com/india/1512700/facebook-photo-series-questions-indias-fair-skin-fetish/
Wing Luke Museum highlights Asian Pacific Americans in sci-fi in ‘Worlds Beyond Here’
https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/visual-arts/wing-luke-museum-highlights-asian-pacific-americans-in-sci-fi-in-worlds-beyond-here/
‘Angry Goy 2’ Neo-Nazi Video Game Lets Users Kill LGBT People and Minorities to Save Donald Trump
https://www.newsweek.com/charlotesville-crying-nazi-hosts-video-game-allowing-users-kill-lgbt-people-1212855
Nintendo Says It Will Remove Racist Native American Animation From Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
https://kotaku.com/nintendo-says-it-will-remove-racist-native-american-ani-1830282076
Dungeons, dragons and diversity: How the world’s most influential RPG turned the tables on inclusion
https://www.geekwire.com/2018/dungeons-dragons-diversity-worlds-influential-rpg-turned-tables-inclusion/
Octavia Butler Is Finally Heading to TV, Thanks to Ava DuVernay
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/08/ava-duvernay-octavia-butler-tv
Gay Black Men Helped Create EDM. Why Do Straight White Men Dominate It?
https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/pride/8460757/gay-black-men-edm-influence-history
Queer Games/Gender and Games
Steam game about raping women will test Valve’s hands-off approach
https://www.polygon.com/2019/3/4/18249916/rape-day-steam-valve
Players Who Hate Overwatch‘s Brigitte Are Harassing Her Voice Actress
https://kotaku.com/players-who-hate-overwatchs-brigitte-are-harassing-her-1832939304
The Internet Reacts To Soldier 76 And His Ex-Boyfriend
https://kotaku.com/the-internet-reacts-to-soldier-76-and-his-ex-boyfriend-1831557833
This new video game helps you understand what it’s like to have gender dysphoria
https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/05/14/video-game-pink-white-or-blue-gender-dysphoria-transgender/
Sex lives and video games: first exhibition of LGBTQ gaming history opens in Berlin
https://www.theguardian.com/games/2019/jan/04/rainbow-arcade-lgbtq-video-games-exhibition-world-of-warcraft-nintendo-berlin
This Black, Gay Furry Is Now the LeBron James of Gaming
https://www.out.com/popnography/2018/12/07/sonicfox-best-esports-player-game-awards
A Sexy Cyberpunk Dating Sim About (And By) Trans Folk
https://kotaku.com/a-sexy-cyberpunk-dating-sim-about-and-by-trans-folk-1830309223
Nerd Culture / Fandom
J.R.R. Tolkien — the artist, the writer, the scholar — is the subject of an exhibition at the Morgan Library & Museum. The show is a comprehensive view of his alternate reality.
Discover Otherworld: A Science-Fiction Art Installation Landing In Central Ohio
https://radio.wosu.org/post/discover-otherworld-science-fiction-art-installation-landing-central-ohio
Joe Manganiello on his Dungeons & Dragons obsession: ‘When I was a kid it wasn’t cool’
https://sports.yahoo.com/joe-manganiello-dungeons-ampamp-dragons-obsession-kid-wasnt-cool-130122211.html
Disney Princesses Play ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ in Delightful Video Short
https://comicbook.com/gaming/2019/01/03/dungeons-and-dragons-disney-princesses/
Eight Leadership Lessons You Can Learn From ‘Dungeons & Dragons’
https://www.forbes.com/sites/goldiechan/2018/12/11/8-leadership-lessons-dnd/#2922cd9a7015
How women are taking on the world of Dungeons and Dragons
https://www.thestar.com/life/2018/11/29/how-women-are-taking-on-the-world-of-dungeons-and-dragons.html
Fantasy literature applicable to real world with help of LARPing
https://www.thepostathens.com/article/2018/10/larping-english-class-ohio-university
Study suggests Russian trolls helped amplify the Last Jedi “backlash”
https://news.avclub.com/study-suggests-russian-trolls-helped-amplify-the-last-j-1829453731
Brie Larson Was Told to Smile, So She Put Smiles onto Marvel Dudes
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/gynvnw/brie-larson-was-told-to-smile-so-she-put-smiles-onto-marvel-dudes
Philip Pullman: why we believe in magic
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/sep/01/the-limits-of-reason-philip-pullman-on-why-we-believe-in-magic?CMP=share_btn_tw
The Hugo Awards just made history, and defied alt-right extremists in the process
https://www.vox.com/2018/8/21/17763260/n-k-jemisin-hugo-awards-broken-earth-sad-puppies
Netflix’s She-Ra creator adapted a Dungeons & Dragons character for the show
https://ew.com/tv/2018/08/19/netflix-she-ra-dungeons-dragons/
Digital Cultures/Cyberculture
Popular RPG Site ‘Roll20′ Allegedly Had 4 Million Users’ Information Stolen
https://comicbook.com/gaming/2019/02/15/roll20-dungeons-and-dragons-password-breach/
Bots Are Terrible at Recognizing Black Faces. Let’s Keep it That Way
https://www.thedailybeast.com/bots-are-terrible-at-recognizing-black-faces-lets-keep-it-that-way
Amazon Facial Recognition Software Used By Law Enforcement Has Racial Bias, Per Report
https://www.newsweek.com/racial-bias-found-amazon-facial-recognition-software-used-law-enforcement-1306407
The Other Art History: The Forgotten Cyberfeminists of ’90s Net Art
https://www.artspace.com/magazine/interviews_features/the-other-art-history/the-other-art-history-the-forgotten-cyberfeminists-of-90s-net-art-55864
Black Mirror’s “Bandersnatch” Is the Perfect Netflix Show
https://slate.com/culture/2018/12/black-mirror-bandersnatch-review.html
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch could become Netflix’s secret marketing weapon
https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/2/18165182/black-mirror-bandersnatch-netflix-interactive-strategy-marketing
These People Are Not Real—They Were Created By AI
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/mby4q8/these-people-were-created-by-nvidia-ai
How these humanities graduates are finding jobs in Silicon Valley
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-these-humanities-graduates-are-finding-jobs-in-silicon-valley