Hello there fellow time traveler! We’re thrilled to tell you more about our PlayTime Twitch streams.
In these streams, we will ask the BIG questions about play and games, such as “What is your most cherished in-game item?”, “What is the best trip you have ever had in a game?” or “What is your favourite house-rule?”
Together with you, we may even come up with some great answers to these great questions of our playtime! So, join the chat or send us your answers before the stream using the form below.
Check the schedule for the upcoming weeks below, including games and suggested reading below.
We hope to see you every other Friday at 15:00 CE(S)T live on Twitch for some PlayTime!
| 2 May | Question: What is the best video game plot twist of all time? Game: Indika Suggested Reading: The Story of Now (With Deborah Ann Woll) – Adventuring Academy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rEtK9ucKGM&ab_channel=Dimension20) |
| 18 April | Question: What’s your favorite game to return to? Game: Stardew Valley (yes, again) Suggested Reading: Glas and Mukherjee (2023). From Replay to Revisit. |
| 4 April | Question: What’s the cutest game you’ve ever played? Game: Spiritfarer Suggested Reading: Pozo (2018). Queer Games After Empathy: Feminism and Haptic Game Design Aesthetics from Consent to Cuteness to the Radically Soft |
| 21 February | Question: What was the best in-game job you ever had? Game: Overcooked 2 Suggested Reading: Chang. (2012). Back to the Virtual Farm: Gleaning the Agriculture-Management Game |
| 7 February | Question: What book do you want to see as a video game? Game: Elsinore Suggested Reading: Stobbart (2018). Adaptation and New Media: Establishing the video game as an adaptive medium |
| 29 November | Question: Which character from a video game really grinds your gears? Game: Skyrim Suggested Reading: Waern (2011). ‘I’m in love with someone that doesn’t exist!’ Bleed in the context of a computer game |
| 15 November | Question: What is your favourite pet from a video game? Game: A little to the Left Suggested Reading: Van Ooijen (2018). The Killability of Fish in The Sims 3: Pets and Stardew Valley. |
| 1 November | Question: What is the best/worst weather you experienced in a video game? Game: Red Dead Redemption 2 Suggested Reading: Moring & Schneider (2024). Climate–Game–Worlds: A Media-Aesthetic Look at the Depiction and Function of Climate in Computer Games |
| 18 October | Question: What is a game to you that isn’t for most other people? Game: Unpacking Suggested Reading: Waszkiewicz (2024). Soft Horrors: The Visual and Ludic Safety of Dark Cozy Games |
| 20 September | Question: What is your proudest achievement in a game? Game: Crusader Kings III Suggested Reading: Groening (2019). “Achievement unlocked!” – The impact of digital achievements as a gamification element on motivation and performance. |
| 06 September | Question: What’s the farthest you’ve traveled in a video game? Game: No Man’s Sky Suggested Reading: Wolf (2011). Theorizing navigable space in video games. |
| 28 June | Question: When was the last time a game made you cry? Game: Where The Water Tastes Like Wine Suggested Reading: Anable (2018) Playing with Feelings. |
| 14 June | Question: What game feels timeless to you? Game: Skyrim Suggested Reading: TBA |
| 31 May | Question: What’s your favorite character customization setup in a game? Game: Star Trek Online (kinda) Suggested Reading: Apperley (2011). ‘Counterplay and Algorithmic Culture’, in: Gaming Rythms: Play and Counterplay from the situated to the global. |
| 17 May | Cancelled |
| 3 May | Question: Have you ever been a virtual hoarder in a game, and what drove you to accumulate so many items? Game: Stardew Valley Suggested Reading: Ball (2021). ‘All the Wheels of Cheese: Hoarding and Collecting Behaviours in Skyrim’, in: Being Dragonborn: Critical Essays on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. |
| 19 April | Question: What’s a meal or food from a video game you wish you could try? Game: Overcooked 2 Suggested Reading: Waszkiewicz, A. (2022). ‘Playing with Ludic Food’, ch 1. in: Delicious Pixels: Food in Video Games. Check out our highlight video! |
| 5 April | Question: What is your favourite easter egg in a game? Game: Stardew Valley Suggested Reading: Mago (2019). ‘Easter Eggs in Digital Games as a Form of Textual Transcendence (Case Study)’, in Acta Ludologica. Check out our highlight video! |
| 22 March | Question: What’s the most memorable sidequest you’ve come across? Game: Stardew Valley: New Update! Suggested Reading: Wilson (2016). ‘Ludic Narratology: Creating a Theory of Structure in Choice-Based Video Game Narratives’, in: Ludic Narratology: Creating a Theory of Structure in Choice-Based Video Game Narratives. Check out our highlight video! |
| 8 March | Question: What is your favorite mode of transport in a game? Game: 80 Days Suggested Reading: Van Nuenen (2024). ‘When Here Becomes There’, in: Traveling through video games. Check out our highlight video! |
| 23 February | Question: When have you laughed the hardest in a game? Game: Quiplash Suggested Reading: Eichberg (2007). ‘Laughing in sports and popular games Towards a phenomenology of laughter’. Check out our highlight video! |
| 9 February | Question: When have you felt really bored playing a game? Game: The Gnorp Apalogue Suggested Reading: Lammes. Failure in Play: Boredom as Meaningful Ludic Moment. Check out out highlight video! |
| 26 January | Question: What video game music won’t you ever forget? Game: Skyrim Suggested Reading: Summers (2016). ‘Texturing and the Aesthetics of Immersion’, in: Understanding Video Game Music. Check out our highlight video! |
| 15 December | Question: What is the loveliest winter wonderland you’ve ever played in? Game: Batman: Arkham Origins. Suggested Reading: To be announced. |
| 1 December | Question: What is a time you cheated in a game you are now ready to talk about? Game: Sims 3. Suggested Reading: Consalvo (2007). Cheating: Gaining Advantage in Videogames. Check out our highlight video! |
| 17 November | Question: What is your favourite fan-theory (or own theory) of a game? Game: Batman: Life is Strange. Suggested Reading: Keogh (2023). The Videogame Industry Does Not Exist. Chapter 7. Check out our highlight video! |
| 3 November | Question: What’s a game you won’t play after dark? Game: Devil in Me. Suggested reading: |
| 20 October | Stream was canceled. |
| 6 October | Question: What is your favorite “house rule”? Game: Pesten (card game). Suggested Reading: Sutton-Smith (1997). The Ambiguity of Play. Chapter 1. |
| 22 September | Question: What is your most cherished in-game item? Game: Baldur’s Gate III Suggested reading: Begley (2012). Objects of Realism: Bertolt Brecht, Roland Barthes, and Marsha Norman. |
