[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-201929-105":59,"doc-detail-201929-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","our-games-our-selves-meaning-difference-and-feeling-in-gaming","Our Games, Our Selves: Meaning, Difference, and Feeling in Gaming","","Video games function as a global, multi-billion industry at the intersection of technology, art, and commodity, shaping players’ investments through feeling. This dissertation asks what people feel, who those feelings are for, and why it matters politically. Using game studies, Black feminist theory, and affect theory, it analyzes how desire, empathy, and care circulate in games and related communities, affecting both individual capacities and societal possibilities, while also producing material consequences through the privileging of some digital bodies and the marginalization of others.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/our-games-our-selves-meaning-difference-and-feeling-in-gaming/201929/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/our-games-our-selves-meaning-difference-and-feeling-in-gaming/201929.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Rhys","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-27","2026-09-04",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":44},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What is the central question of the dissertation?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It asks what players are feeling, who those feelings are for, and why those affective investments matter politically.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"Which theoretical approaches does the dissertation use?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"It uses game studies, Black feminist theory, and affect theory to examine feeling in and around video games.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"How do the chapters differ in focus?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Chapter one proposes an analysis framework blending narratology, ludology, and affect theory; chapter two connects Sylvia Wynter to object-oriented ontology; chapter three argues for centering intimacy in game design to address empathy; chapter four examines desire and violence through dating sims.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},201929,1788540242,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":44,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":129,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},687207024643,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","©2022  \nAlessandra Valentin  \nALL RIGHTS RESERVED  \nOur Games, Our Selves: Meaning, Difference, and Feeling in Gaming  \nBy Alessandra Valentin A dissertation submitted to the School of Graduate Studies Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Women’s and Gender Studies Written under the direction of Brittney Cooper And approved by  \n\n|  |\n| --- |\n|  |\n|  |\n\nNew Brunswick, New Jersey  \nOctober 2022  \nABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION  \nOur Games, Our Selves: Meaning, Difference, and Feeling in Gaming  \nby Alessandra Valentin  \nDissertation Director:  \nDr. Brittney Cooper  \nABSTRACT: Video games are a multi-billion global industry. Existing at the intersection of technology, art, and commodity, video games keep us playing and consuming by making us feel invested in the worlds, characters, and experiences that exist inside them. But if feeling is a necessary part of play, what are we feeling and who are we feeling it for? And why does this matter? Utilizing game studies, Black feminist theory, and affect theory, this dissertation uses video games as a rich cultural site to consider how affect shapes one’s political investments in both progressive and oppressive ways. By thinking about how desire, empathy, and care circulate within video games and the communities built around them, this research shows that our affective investments shape individual capacities, as well as societal possibilities. Thus, the privileging of some digital bodies and the marginalizing of others has material consequences in-game and out. The first chapter intervenes in game studies by arguing for a framework of game analysis that blends narratology, ludology, and affect theory to effectively understand how gaming  \nshapes notions of possibility for individuals and society at large. The second chapter puts Sylvia Wynter in conversation with object-oriented ontology to argue that gameplay is a model for understanding flat ontology, which honors the agential capacity of the nonhuman, though with limits. My third chapter pushes back on traditional media studies scholarship on the creation of empathy through simulation or perspective-taking exercises to argue for an approach that centers intimacy in game design as a means of forging connections and a sense of care for others. Lastly, my fourth chapter looks at how desire is entangled with violence through dating sims (simulations). While desire in dating sims is modeled on hierarchies that perpetuate heterosexism and rape culture, there are also unanticipated moments of pleasure that serve to counteract or complicate these dangers. Through the analysis of video games, games journalism, and gaming communities, this dissertation proves that while representation shapes our world, our ability to alter the world through representation is conditioned by the circulation of affect. By looking at a wide range of games spanning dating simulations to third-person shooters, this dissertation argues that while video games have the unique power to shape and reshape how we think of ourselves, our friends, lovers, and enemies in ways that can have apolitical impact, this impact cannot be preempted or presupposed. Video games shift the ways we can relate across differences differently and digitally towards a more expansive, liberated future, but only with careful attention to structural inequality.  \nACKNOWLEDGEMENTS  \nMy capacities have been endlessly enhanced through all of these connections:  \nFirst and foremost, Dr. Cooper. Your rigorous and generous feedback has been, not only incredibly generative, but essential to this project and my overall growth as a scholar. But above all, your kindness and encouragement have kept me going through difficult work during an incredibly difficult time. Without your guidance, I truly wouldn’t have finished this program. Thank you so much.  \nThe rest of my committee: Dr. Schuller, Dr. Brooks","cbCaihyMpBV0M06E","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaihyMpBV0M06E","pdf",1366074,289,"English","# Abstract of the Dissertation\n# Acknowledgements\n# Introduction: This Dissertation Is A Love Letter\n# Chapter One: Power Plays and Polygonal Possibilities\n# Chapter Two: Parautilitarian Posthumanism: Man, Meaning and Matter That Matters\n# Chapter Three: Cancer, Constraint and Capacity: Empathy and Intimacy\n# Chapter Four: Dating Sims and Desiring Machines\n# Conclusion\n# Ludography","[{\"question\":\"What is the central question of the dissertation?\",\"answer\":\"It asks what players are feeling, who those feelings are for, and why those affective investments matter politically.\"},{\"question\":\"Which theoretical approaches does the dissertation use?\",\"answer\":\"It uses game studies, Black feminist theory, and affect theory to examine feeling in and around video games.\"},{\"question\":\"How do the chapters differ in focus?\",\"answer\":\"Chapter one proposes an analysis framework blending narratology, ludology, and affect theory; chapter two connects Sylvia Wynter to object-oriented ontology; chapter three argues for centering intimacy in game design to address empathy; chapter four examines desire and violence through dating sims.\"}]","Our Games, Our Selves: Meaning, Difference, and Feeling in Gaming | PDF",728]