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CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
X-WR-CALNAME:Bo Ruberg\, "How to Queer the World: Radical Worldbuilding thr
 ough Video Games"
X-WR-TIMEZONE:Pacific Time (US & Canada)
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260513T160823Z
UID:tag:localist.com\,2008:EventInstance_49295992119446
DTSTART:20250417T190000Z
DTEND:20250417T200000Z
DESCRIPTION:Please join the Silicon Valley Archives in welcoming Bo Ruberg 
 as they discuss their book\, How To Queer the World: Radical Worldbuilding
  through Video Games\," on April 17\, 2025. \n\nToday more than ever\, we 
 need the power to build new worlds. Video games are exceptional tools for 
 worldbuilding because every video game itself is a world. Yet\, in video g
 ames and other media forms\, worldbuilding is still commonly understood as
  an expression of storytelling. A queer reading of video games shows us th
 at worldbuilding means something much deeper and more radical than narrati
 ve elements that sit on the surface of the world. In video games\, worlds 
 are built on the foundation of interaction design\, software simulations\,
  graphical dimensions\, and other elements often overlooked as too technic
 al to hold cultural meaning. By analyzing these elements of game developme
 nt as acts of worldbuilding\, we can reimagine worldbuilding itself: as a 
 process of challenging firmly held beliefs about the fundamental structure
 s\, conventions\, and irreducible truths that give shape to the world arou
 nd us. Video games also powerfully model the concept of queer worldbuildin
 g--a practice of building worlds that destabilizes the fundamental logics 
 of our universe and builds new worlds founded on alternate expressions of 
 gender\, sexuality\, embodiment\, intimacy\, and desire.\n\nBo Ruberg\, Ph
 .D. is a Professor in the Department of Film and Media Studies at the Univ
 ersity of California\, Irvine and the co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of
  Cinema and Media Studies. Their research explores gender and sexuality in
  digital media with a focus on LGBTQ topics in video games. They are the a
 uthor of four books: Video Games Have Always Been Queer (NYU Press\, 2019)
 \, The Queer Games Avant-Garde: How LGBTQ Game Makers Are Reimagining the 
 Medium of Video Games (Duke University Press\, 2020)\, Sex Dolls at Sea: I
 magined Histories of Sexual Technologies (MIT Press\, 2022)\, and How to Q
 ueer the World: Radical Worldbuilding through Video Games (NYU Press\, 202
 5). They have also co-edited two volumes\, Queer Game Studies (University 
 of Minnesota Press\, 2017) and Real Life in Real Time: Live Streaming Cult
 ure (MIT Press\, 2023).
GEO:37.426631;-122.167086
LOCATION:Hohbach Hall\, 122
SUMMARY:Bo Ruberg\, "How to Queer the World: Radical Worldbuilding through 
 Video Games"
URL;VALUE=URI:https://events.stanford.edu/event/bo-ruberg-how-to-queer-the-
 world-radical-worldbuilding-through-video-games
CATEGORIES:Lecture/Presentation/Talk
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