For our stream on November 17th, we posed the question: What is your favorite fan-theory (or your own theory) of a game? We talked about all sorts of fan theories, ranging from boring to completely unhinged, with a special shoutout to the Sims’ Bella Goth mystery and the doe in Life is Strange (if that piqued your interest, you should check out the highlight video below!).
For each stream we combine a question with some academic reading and ask you to do the same. This time we read chapter 7 of The Videogame Industry Does Not Exist by Brendan Keogh. This proved a good base for a discussion around audience participation, free labor by fandom communities, the creation of value for game companies by fans and the advantages and dangers of this phenomenon. After this, it was time to play a game, so we played the first episode of Life is Strange. Who knew that the entire campus population is made up of red flags, or that we have very vocal opinions about public selfie-taking? If you want to become a part of these types of discussions, check out our upcoming stream and join us in the time machine!
