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SUMMARY: How to Queer the World: Radical worldbuilding through video games 
 with Bo Ruberg
DESCRIPTION: How to Queer the World: Radical worldbuilding through video ga
 mes   Dr. Bo Ruberg Film & Media Studies\, University of California\, Irvin
 e HYBRID EVENT WHEN & WHERE Tuesday\, March 18\, 12:00-2:00pm Dodson Room (
 Room 302)\, Irving K Barber Learning Centre/via Zoom Please RSVP below in a
 dvance A light lunch will be served at 12:00pm. Presented […]
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html: <h1 style="text-align: center\;"><span style=
 "color: #993300\;"><span class="OYPEnA font-feature-liga-off font-feature-c
 lig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none"
 >How to Queer the World: Radical worldbuilding through video games</span></
 span></h1><p> </p><h2 style="text-align: center\;"><span style="color: #993
 300\;">Dr. Bo Ruberg<br />Film & Media Studies\, University of California\,
  Irvine</span></h2><hr /><p style="text-align: center\;"><strong>HYBRID EVE
 NT<br />WHEN & WHERE<br /></strong>Tuesday\, March 18\, 12:00-2:00pm<strong
 ><br /></strong>Dodson Room (Room 302)\, Irving K Barber Learning Centre/vi
 a Zoom</p><p style="text-align: center\;">Please RSVP below in advance</p><
 p style="text-align: center\;">A light lunch will be served at 12:00pm.</p>
 <p style="text-align: center\;">[accordions collapsible=true active=false][
 accordion title="RSVP (In-Person)"] [gravityform id="78" title="true" descr
 iption="true"]    [/accordion][/accordions]</p><p>[accordions collapsible=t
 rue active=false][accordion title="RSVP (Online/Zoom)"] [gravityform id="79
 " title="true" description="true"]  [/accordion][/accordions]</p><hr /><p s
 tyle="text-align: center\;"><em>Presented by The Institute for Gender\, Rac
 e\, Sexuality\, and Social Justice Noted Scholars Series\, Center for Cinem
 a Studies\, Department of Theatre and Film\, and the Popular Media for Soci
 al Change Research Cluster </em></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400\;"><st
 rong>ABSTRACT</strong></span></p><p><img class="alignleft wp-image-29598 si
 ze-medium" src="https://grsj.cms.arts.ubc.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/20
 25/02/How-to-Queer-the-World-cover-200x300.png" alt="" width="200" height="
 300" />Today more than ever\, we need the power to build new worlds. Video 
 games are exceptional tools for worldbuilding because every video game itse
 lf is a world. Yet\, in video games and other media forms\, worldbuilding i
 s still commonly understood as an expression of storytelling. A queer readi
 ng of video games shows us that worldbuilding means something much deeper a
 nd more radical than narrative elements that sit on the surface of the worl
 d. In video games\, worlds are built on the foundation of interaction desig
 n\, software simulations\, graphical dimensions\, and other elements often 
 overlooked as too technical to hold cultural meaning. By analyzing these el
 ements of game development as acts of worldbuilding\, we can reimagine worl
 dbuilding itself: as a process of challenging firmly held beliefs about the
  fundamental structures\, conventions\, and irreducible truths that give sh
 ape to the world around us. Video games also powerfully model the concept o
 f queer worldbuilding--a practice of building worlds that destabilizes the 
 fundamental logics of our universe and builds new worlds founded on alterna
 te expressions of gender\, sexuality\, embodiment\, intimacy\, and desire.<
 /p><p> </p><p><strong><img class="alignleft wp-image-29599 size-thumbnail" 
 src="https://grsj.cms.arts.ubc.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2025/02/Bo-Ru
 berg-web-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" />ABOUT Dr. Bo Ruberg
 </strong></p><p>Bo Ruberg\, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Film 
 and Media Studies and an affiliate faculty member in the Department of Info
 rmatics at the University of California\, Irvine\, as well as the co-editor
 -in-chief of the <i>Journal of Cinema and Media Studies</i>. Their research
  explores gender and sexuality in digital media with a focus on LGBTQ topic
 s in video games. They are the author of four books: <i>Video Games Have Al
 ways Been Queer</i> (NYU Press\, 2019)\, <i>The Queer Games Avant-Garde: Ho
 w LGBTQ Game Makers Are Reimagining the Medium of Video Games</i> (Duke Uni
 versity Press\, 2020)\, <i>Sex Dolls at Sea: Imagined Histories of Sexual T
 echnologies</i> (MIT Press\, 2022)\, and <i>How to Queer the World: Radical
  Worldbuilding through Video Games</i> (NYU Press\, 2025). They have also c
 o-edited two volumes\, <i>Queer Game Studies</i> (University of Minnesota P
 ress\, 2017) and <i>Real Life in Real Time: Live Streaming Culture</i> (MIT
  Press\, 2023). In 2021\, they received the Stonewall Book Award for Non-Fi
 ction from the American Library Association. In 2022\, they received the An
 ne Friedberg Innovative Scholarship Award from the Society of Cinema and Me
 dia Studies. They are also the recipient of a 2023-2025 Dangers & Opportuni
 ties grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.</p>
CATEGORIES:Featured Homepage
LOCATION:Dodson Room (302)
GEO:49.267619;-123.252761
URL;VALUE=URI:https://grsj.arts.ubc.ca/events/event/how-to-queer-the-world-
 bo-ruberg/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://grsj.cms.arts.ubc.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2025/02/Bo-Ruberg-web.jpg
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