Blogger Interview: Sara M. Grimes of the Gamine Expedition
August 2008 Issue
Features
- From the Editors
- Craft Check: RPG Fashion Dolls
Interviews
- Industry Interview: Monica Valentinelli, freelance writer
- Blogger Interview: Sara M. Grimes of the Gamine Expedition
Articles
- A Gaming Canon: Slaughtering Space Demons
Author: Anastasia Salter
- Let’s End the Imp Genocide
Author: Mara Poulsen
- Staying Svelte in Gamer Land
Author: Rachel Turner
Anastasia kicks off her new series by examining Doom's place in video game history.
Mara critiques fighting tropes in role-playing games and looks for other alternatives to the standard "Let's slaughter the imp!" mentality in gaming.
Rachel takes a look at the history of exercise and fitness video games, from the Power Pad to Wii Fit.
Gamer Stories
Reviews
Odds 'n Ends
I recently interviewed a woman who has a job that I could only dream of having: Sara Grimes has an enviable position as an academic who studies children’s media and technologies, including gaming. She also has a blog, Gamine Expedition. Ms. Grimes’ focus may be on children’s media in particular, but her intelligence and hard work provide vital critiques and some oft-needed appreciation of our much maligned pastime. I enjoyed our interview, especially her answers, as I hope you will.
Thomas Cross: I’d like to ask a few basic opening questions first. How did you come to start the Gamine Expedition?
Sara Grimes: I started Gamine Expedition after one of my professors recommended blogging as a good way to get into the habit of sharing my research and findings with a broader (i.e. non-academic) audience, and to start building a network with other people who share my research interests in children’s media and digital gaming. I was reading quite a few games-related blogs at that time, which I found immensely useful in my research, and thought it would be a good way to keep track of my work while also contributing something back to the community.
TC: What do you discuss on your blog, and what dictates the issues that will be brought up?
SG: I discuss a variety of issues relating to kids’ media and technology. I’m particularly interested in how large social institutions respond to and shape kids’ digital play culture, so the topics vary from marketing trends, to policy and law, to design and usage. This is also the focus of my PhD dissertation. I also bring in some of the theories I use in my academic work, and try to keep up with the latest developments in the kids’ media ecosphere. There’s always a LOT going on in kids’ media culture, much of it linking back in some way to digital gaming, so staying up to date is a big part of my work, and therefore a big part of Gamine Expedition. I’d say that the content is dictated in part by current events, and in part by whatever trajectory my research is taking at the time.
TC: How closely does you blog relate to your chosen profession, and how much overlap is there between your professional work and your blog?
SG: Gamine Expedition is a sort of “traveler’s log” for my PhD dissertation research–I treat it as a repository for info, statistics and sources that I think I might find useful, as well as a way of keeping track of my own thoughts as my work progresses. So I think the overlap is pretty near total.
TC: How avid of a gamer are you, in your opinion? When did you first become interested in games, and has your interest changed since that time?
SG: I’d describe myself as a sporadic gamer. I go through bouts of gaming constantly, followed by bouts of only very casual gaming. I think that researching games full-time can sometimes put a damper on the fun of gaming-for-pleasure, so part of this irregularity can probably be linked back to my academic work.
I’ve been playing games pretty much my entire life—starting with the Commodore 64 and Amiga, then the NES, all the way through to the current generation of consoles and MMOGs. I do think that my relationship to gaming has gone through many changes over the years—and it’s something that continues to change and evolve. But there’s also a lot about it that’s been very consistent over time, especially in terms of the kinetic and emotional experience of gameplay…the immersion, the deep satisfaction of finishing a level or achieving a high score, the indescribable sensation of vicarious movement through digital space.
TC: Is most of your gaming done to further research, or do you balance “work” and “play” games equally?
SG: When I’m doing game analysis or deep into writing a paper, the vast majority of my gaming either is or quickly becomes research. Other times, it’s all about having fun and the enjoying the experience of playing a great game. It’s more of an ebb and flow than a balance. But whenever I’m stuck with writers’ block or with questions about what to do next, I find that reconnecting with the “play” is the only way I can ever get back into the “work.”
TC: Do you consider yourself a feminist/to be pro-feminist? Can you tell me a little bit about how that impacts the way you approach your work and your writing?
SG: I absolutely consider myself a feminist and am very dedicated to incorporating a feminist approach into my work and writing. My approach has been deeply influenced by feminist scholarship in leisure, media and technology studies, all of which challenge dominant discourses about technological development, cultural norms and social scripts. There’s still an amazing amount of male-bias within academic and historical accounts of play, technology, even gaming, and so for me a big part of adopting a feminist approach involves uncovering gender bias and stereotypes, and then trying to find out what’s been omitted or hidden as a result. On the other hand, gender essentialism and harmful stereotypes are hardly limited to women and girls, and so an important dimension of this approach is to extend the analysis across genders. I find that this is especially crucial when dealing with kids’ culture, which contains an amazing (and ever increasing) amount of gender stratification and stereotyping.
TC: What do you think about gender-inclusive game design? Do we need to see more of it, or is what we have currently just fine?
SG: I think that there are many excellent games out there that appeal to players of both genders, sometimes intentionally and sometimes unintentionally. There are also many games designed to be gender-inclusive, or that try to target female gamers specifically, that are absolutely rife with stereotypes. For the most part, however, mainstream games are designed with a pretty narrow target market in mind (we all know which one). I think that gender-inclusive game design is a great concept in need of concerted debate—I’d like to see the idea taken more seriously, and to see some of its guiding principles tested and challenged. Above all, I’d like to see more discussion between academics and designers—I think that dialogue between these two groups would really help in the development of a more nuanced approach to gender issues and gender inclusiveness within games design and culture.
TC: While your research and blog are focused on games and children’s media, is it important to include other issues and analyses in your writing: issues of race, sexuality, gender equality, and various kinds of discrimination, for instance?
SG: Definitely. These issues are just as important and prevalent within children’s media, which is often characterised by hyperbole, gender and racial stereotypes, and neo-conservative morality tales.
TC: Women in the video games industry are outnumbered by their male colleagues. As somebody who carefully studies certain parts of the industry, do you find your colleagues to be predominantly male or otherwise part of a homogenous group? Is there any advice you would give to an aspiring student who is interested in this particular branch of media studies, regardless of their gender or orientation?
SG: Game studies is a pretty excellent field in that respect—unlike the videogames industry, quite a large proportion of games scholars are female, including many of the leading academics in this area. As a new discipline there’s a lot of space available for explorations of gender issues, race and identity politics, etc. There’s also a lot of emphasis right now on expanding the field, both theoretically and thematically, so there are many opportunities for new and divergent perspectives. I would advise aspiring students to find their niche and start carving.
TC: What do you think about the video gaming Internet community? Do you consider yourself to be part of it? If not, is there an online gaming-related community that you do consider yourself to be a part of?
SG: I think that the video gaming Internet community is very diverse, fragmented into various niches, which makes it difficult to define. On the other hand, it also appears to be quite comprehensive. I suppose I feel most at home within the academic “games studies” online community, but there are a number of non-academic sites and forums that I visit on a regular basis and feel a real allegiance to. Parts of the community are unbelievably current and cutting edge, and there’s a lot of thoughtful discussion and commentary going on out there. As a researcher and as a gamer, it provides an invaluable resource.
TC: With regards to Internet communities, do you feel that spaces that are devoted to addressing people of color and women’s interests, complaints and issues are necessary for a healthy internet community to flourish?
SG: Absolutely.
TC: Is there a particular area of video games studies that needs more attention than others, or do you feel that all are of equal importance?
SG: I’d have to say equal importance.
Ms. Grimes’ work, especially her thesis, addresses interesting and important issues in the world of children’s media and gaming. As more and more children become gamers, her future contributions to the field will doubtlessly be of great help to all of us. Ms. Grimes previous work includes papers in the International Journal of Media and Cultural and Politics, with Shade; and with Chung, in the Canadian Journal of Communication.
