Gaming Fandom (01/01/2025)

2024-08-06

The study and analysis of creative fan production (e.g., fanfiction, fanart, cosplay, etc.) is a cornerstone of fandom studies. These practices enable fans to assert a level of authorship over their favorite media – to reimagine, recontextualize, and reconceptualize their canons to better reflect their desires, wants, interests, and demands. They provide voice to individuals who cannot necessarily shape source texts directly (Vinney & Dill-Shackleford, 2018), allowing fans to carve out space for themselves within the pop-culture landscape that celebrates/embraces their identities. This is particularly poignant for marginalized fans. As such, we can understand fan practices as unique and invaluable forms of cultural critique (Jenkins, 2006; McCullough, 2020). 

This active engagement – arguably – is magnified within gaming fandoms and communities because the act of play is inherent to the source texts, whether that play comes in the form of hitting keys on a keyboard, moving joysticks on controllers, rolling dice, etc. Gaming seemingly provides fans an inherent sense of authorship over source texts as the players’ actions, choices, and skill shape the outcomes and narrative progression; thus, gaming fandom presents a strong opportunity to explore the idea of fan creativity as cultural critique and our understanding of authorship, ownership, and identity across the pop-cultural landscape. This strength is only increased by the critical reality of many gaming communities and spaces; criticism leveraged at games, gamers, and gaming communities is commonplace with topics like the lack of representation, the focus on hegemonic masculinity that often takes a turn towards toxicity, and the vitriol directed towards gender and sexual orientation politics being frequent points of discussion both by scholars/researchers, by journalists and reviewers, and by those within these communities. Of course, not all gaming criticism focuses on the cultural and political; some emphasize mechanical, financial, and performance issues.

 This special issue of Transformative Works and Cultures will explore fan creativity as critique in gaming fandoms; while we are construing the term ‘gaming fandom’ broadly, we are primarily interested in analyses and scholarly discussions of and related to fan-made works and productions, including fanfiction, fanart, cosplay, mods, fan-made games and series, etc. We welcome all forms from methodology – quantitative and qualitative, empirical and theoretical, etc. Possible topics include (but are not limited to):

  • Exploration of how fan-made works address and critique gender norms and sexual identities within gaming communities.
  • Exploration of fanfiction as a means of reclaiming and reshaping game lore and canon.
  • Analysis of LGBTQ+ representation and narratives in gaming fanfiction and fanart.
  • Case studies of specific mods (i.e., modifications) that have sparked significant discussion or controversy.
  • Investigation into how cosplay challenges or reinforces cultural stereotypes and representations.
  • The role of cosplay in expressing identity and critiquing game character design.
  • Study of fan-created games that offer alternative perspectives or critique the original game.
  • Exploration of intersectional critiques in fan-made content.
  • Investigation into how the act of play influences and enhances fan creativity and critique.
  • Study of how fan productions are received by broader gaming communities and the original creators.
  • The impact of fan critique and creativity on game development and industry response.
  • Examination of the ethical considerations and legal challenges in creating and sharing fan-made works.
  • Discussion of intellectual property and the boundaries of fan authorship.
  • Study of how digital platforms (e.g., YouTube, Twitch, Discord) facilitate and shape fan creativity and critique.
  • The role of social media in disseminating and discussing fan-made works.
  • Comparative analysis of fan creativity and critique across different gaming franchises or genres.
  • Examination of regional differences in fan production and cultural critique.

 

Submission Guidelines

Transformative Works and Cultures (TWC, http://journal.transformativeworks.org/) is an international peer-reviewed online Diamond Open Access publication of the nonprofit Organization for Transformative Works, copyrighted under a Creative Commons License. TWC aims to provide a publishing outlet that welcomes fan-related topics and promotes dialogue between academic and fan communities. TWC accommodates academic articles of varying scope as well as other forms, such as multimedia, that embrace the technical possibilities of the internet and test the limits of the genre of academic writing.

 

Submit final papers directly to Transformative Works and Cultures by January 1, 2025.

Articles: Peer review. Maximum 8,000 words.

Symposium: Editorial review. Maximum 4,000 words.

Please visit TWC's website (https://journal.transformativeworks.org/) for complete submission guidelines, or email the TWC Editor (editor@transformativeworks.org). 

Contact—Contact guest editors Hayley McCullough and Ashley P. Jones with any questions before or after the due date at hmccullough.popculture@gmail.com and ashley.jones@wartburg.edu .

Bibliography

Dill-Shackleford, Karen E., Cynthia Vinney, and Kristin Hopper-Losenicky. 2016. “Connecting the Dots between Fantasy and Reality: The Social Psychology of Our Engagement with Fictional Narrative and Its Functional Value.” Social and Personality Psychology Compass 10, no. 11: 634–46.

Goodman, Lesley. 2015. “Disappointing Fans: Fandom, Fictional Theory, and the Death of the Author.” The Journal of Popular Culture 48, no. 4: 662–76.

Jenkins, Henry. 2006. Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture. New York: New York University Press.

McCullough, Hayley. 2020. “The Diamonds and the Dross: A Quantitative Exploration of Integrative Complexity in Fanfiction.” Psychology of Popular Media 9, no. 1: 59–68.

Vinney, Cynthia, and Karen E. Dill-Shackleford. 2018. “Fan Fiction as a Vehicle for Meaning-Making: Eudaimonic Appreciation, Hedonic Enjoyment, and Other Perspectives on Fan Engagement with Television.” Psychology of Popular Media Culture 7, no. 1: 18–32.