Folk etymologies, fashion statements, and the fun of a fraught class discussion.
Last game you played? I’ve officially completed the main storyline for Tiny Bookshop, but I’m still really enjoying popping back in for the odd day or two. I also spent part of my weekend drafting up a custom GM cheat sheet (Sanity flowchart pictured) for Call of Cthulhu 7th edition, which has been a wonderful system to play in.
What’s a topic you’d like to make a documentary about? I’d love to do a deep dive into the development, playtesting, and release of an Indie TTRPG, whether it’s a doc- or mockumentary. There are so many steps to take a game from idea to published product, and even then it’s not like the journey just stops there. I’ve always loved documentaries that demystify processes most people don’t even think about.
Quote from a reading you’d recommend? For anyone interested in postcolonial game studies, Souvik Mukherjee’s Playing Subaltern is a wonderful gateway article: “The more slaves the player frees, the more upgrades does the game allow to be unlocked. The ostensible act of liberation from the bondage imposed by the elite actually becomes a mechanism of generating in-game capital. The games’ rule sets of ‘‘freeing’’ and ‘‘saving,’’ therefore, effectively turn into a hegemonic system for both the player and the NPCs as well as an orienting on another level whereby the identity of the latter is stereotyped and read as human capital by the game” (p. 14.)
What’s something you’ve done, written, or helped create that you’re proud of? Last week I was featured on Rebecca of @phdinclothes fame’s blog to talk about dressing up at work, which is so surreal and cool as hell. I don’t consider myself a style icon by any means, but it was so fun to be a part of.
What game has some stellar/your favorite voice-acting? Going to zag here and say Brennan Lee Mulligan’s haunted automaton voice on Cloudward Ho, because I am always looking for fun NPC voice inspo but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to execute the vision that well. There’s a healthy dose of post-production happening here, of course, but that’s also what I’m envious of. My kingdom for an art department </3
What’s a moment of learning or teaching that felt really fun to you? I always love when students abhor an assigned reading and tear it to shreds in class, because it’s a really vital skill to be able to poke holes in an argument without resorting to “I disagree” or “I don’t like it”. Staying with the trouble of controversial readings (Ruberg’s work on empathy is always….eventful) and asking students to show their work for why they bristle at a text has been consistently so rewarding.
What’s one of your favorite historical anecdotes? The kangaroo story from Arrival, which is one of those classic pop linguistics factoids. I’ve always liked it because it sounds like something that would happen–of course colonial missionaries wouldn’t be doing ‘rigorous’ linguistics work, and things would get lost in translation (the implication there being, also, that Aboriginal tribes wouldn’t be able to understand a question like “What is that?”, when generally speaking it’s one of the easier concepts to mime or charades out). In reality, kangaroo likely comes from the Guugu Yimidhirr word /gaNurru/, which means, get this, large black kangaroo. Womp womp.
What’s a game that you really should’ve played by now? Too many to count, but the obvious one is Baldur’s Gate 3. Sorry!
What question should be swapped out for another? Let’s bid farewell to What’s something you’ve done, written, or helped create that you’re proud of? and dare to ask: Who is a scholar, designer, or creator you really look up to?
Keerthi Sridharan is a PhD candidate in the Playful Time Machines project. Their research is centered around games and play as spaces that facilitate and complicate processes of identification, identity construction, and relationality. Previous work has examined emotional play in TTRPGs, perspective in player-character interaction, and language as a playful resource in conversational interaction. They are a sociolinguist by trade, and a gamer by choice. Their spare time is spent stress-baking, making music, and drafting Twine games.
