Category: Events

Queer Game Audio Network

For informal discussions, sharing work and community support, consider joining our network of folks interested in queer perspectives on game audio.

We welcome anyone who wishes to engage with game audio from a queer perspective. To join, please contact tim [dot] summers [at] rhul [dot] ac [dot] uk telling us your name and areas of interest.

We welcome those identifying under the LGBTQ+ umbrella and allies. On this page, you can find some brief information and resources. For more interactive discussion use the contact above to join our private discussion channel and mailing list.

Discussions and Plans

We plan to hold semi-regular sessions where we share work and discuss a piece of queer theory in the context of game sound. In our first session on 16th August, we plan to discuss Legacy Russell’s Glitch Feminism (2020) in the context of game audio. We also aim to schedule a symposium and methods workshops. Watch this space…!

Some Places to Start…

There is very little scholarship that pertains to queer studies and game audio. Here is a starter bibliography, but we hope it will grow. Please give us suggestions to add!

On music and queerness in games:

  • Summers, Tim, The Queerness of Video Game Music [Cambridge Element] (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023).

On music and queerness in Gone Home:

  • Synder, Shane, “The Impossible Relationship: Deconstructing the Private Space in Gone Home’, Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds 10 (2018): 7–20.
  • Tulloch, Rowan, Catherine Hoad and Helen Young, “Riot Grrrl Gaming,” Continuum, 33 (2019): 337–350.

On gender and sexuality in game music in the context of animation:

  • Chapters by Karen M. Cook, T.J. Laws-Nicola and Brent Ferguson, Dana Plank and Ko On Chan in The Intersection of Animation, Video Games, and Music, edited by Lisa Scoggin and Dana Plank. New York: Routledge, 79–132. Karen M. Cook’s chapter on Xandir P. Wifflebottom explicily deals with queer themes.

On gender coding:

  • Austin, Michael, “Orchestrating Difference: Representing Gender in Video Game Music.” In Masculinity at Play, edited by Nicholas Taylor and Gerald Voorhees (London: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2018): 165–183.
  • Meléndez, Elisa, “For Those About to Rock: Gender Codes in the Rock Music Video Games Rock Band And Rocksmith,” PhD diss., Florida International University, 2018.
  • Mera, Miguel, “Invention/Re-Invention,” Music, Sound and the Moving Image 3, no. 1 (2009): 1–20.
  • Yee, Thomas B. “Feminine Themings: The Construction of Musical Gendering in the Final Fantasy Franchise” in The Music of Nobuo Uematsu in the Final Fantasy Series, edited by Richard Anatone (Bristol: Intellect, 2022): 261–290.

Broad ideas of game music, gender and identity:

  • Cheng, William, Sound Play: Video Games and the Musical Imagination. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. Chapter 5 on voice and identity in online games.
  • Rietveld, Hillegonda C., and Andrew Lemon, “Female Credit: Excavating Recognition for the Capcom Sound Team,” in The Cambridge Companion to Video Game Music, edited by Melanie Fritsch and Tim Summers (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021), 376–388.
  • Tonelli, Chris, “Game Music and Identity,” in The Cambridge Companion to Video Game Music, edited by Melanie Fritsch and Tim Summers (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021), 327–342.

On music, dance and gender in Dance Central:

  • Miller, Kiri, Playable Bodies (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017) and “Gaming the System: Gender Performance in Dance Central”, New Media & Society 17 (2015): 829–1003.

Queer Game Audio: An Opportunity for Initial Conversations and Discussions

There are a number of academics and practitioners who are currently working on topics related to game sound/music and queer themes (to greater or lesser extents).

This is an open invitation for a one-hour meeting to discuss whether there would be appetite for events, networks, workshops (etc.) related to this theme, and if so, what might be most useful. Some proposed ideas have included workshops on queer methods, opportunities to share work in progress, or roundtable/dialogues.

All working on, or with an interest in, this topic, are welcome to attend.
It will be held on Tuesday 6th June at 4:30pm London time via video conferencing.


If you have an interest in this topic but cannot make the meeting, please let us know. We can receive suggestions by email, and/or keep you updated about outcomes.

To register, email tim.summers [at] rhul.ac.uk with your name.

Ludo2023 Programme and Registration

The draft programme schedule for the Ludo2023 Twelfth European Conference on Video Game Music and Sound held at the University of Edinburgh from March 23rd to 25th is now available here. Paper abstracts can be viewed on the programme page as well.

Registration has also opened and tickets can be booked via Eventbrite for both online access and in-person attendance.

For more information on the conference, including location and travel information, please see the conference information page.

We look forward to you joining us in person and remotely in March!

Ludo2023

Ludo2023, the Twelfth European Conference on Video Game Music and Sound, will take place March 23rd-25th at the University of Edinburgh.

The conference is focused on the theme of ‘Sound and Music Beyond the Human’.

The conference will feature a keynote address by Yann Van der Cruyssen, Music Composer and Sound Designer for games including Stray (2022), Game of Thrones (2012) and Test Drive Unlimited 2 (2011).

Draft programme and abstracts available, here.

The conference is hosted by James Cook and supported by the Reid School of Music of the Edinburgh College of Art and Edinburgh University Press’s Music and the Moving Image series.

Registration

Tickets are available for both online and in-person attendance, including discounts for unwaged/student tickets.

Book via Eventbrite, here.

Location & Travel

The conference will take place at St Cecilia’s Hall, 50 Niddry Street, Edinbugh EH1 1LG (just off the Royal Mile).

 N.B. Edinburgh is constructed on a somewhat confusing two-level layout. St Cecilia’s is situated on the lower level of the city.

By Train:

Edinburgh has excellent rail links throughout the UK.

The East Coast mainline, which links Edinburgh and London King’s Cross, is the UK’s fastest intercity railway: you can travel between the cities in around 4 hours.

Or, if you prefer to travel overnight, a sleeper service runs between London Euston and Edinburgh Waverley 6 nights a week.

There are great links to other cities too. The journey to Glasgow only takes 45 minutes, while York, Newcastle, Inverness or Aberdeen can be reached in about 2 hours.

All trains arrive at Waverley Station in the centre of the city, although some trains also stop at Haymarket, which is a smaller station in the West End.

National Rail Enquiries

Scotrail

By Bus:

If you are travelling on a budget, buses are often your best bet. Edinburgh is well placed on the Scottish motorway network so getting here is easy with regular bus services from all major UK cities.

Buses and coaches arrive at St Andrews Square bus station in Edinburgh’s city centre.

Citylink

National Express

Megabus

By Car:

Travel times by road are less than you might think. From the south: Birmingham is about 5 hours away; Manchester and York, 3 hours; Newcastle, 2 hours. From the north: Inverness is about 3 hours away; Aberdeen, 2 hours.

Route information for drivers can be found on the RAC or AA websites.

For questions relating to parking permits for the conference, contact medren@ed.ac.uk

RAC Route Planner

AA Route Planner

City of Edinburgh Council: Parking in the City

By Air:

Edinburgh International Airport receives daily flights from more than 20 UK and 40 European airports, as well as daily transatlantic flights. Flights from international destinations are also scheduled throughout the week.

The airport is about 12 km from the city centre. The 30-minute journey can be easily made using the frequent airport bus or tram services, or by taxi.

Edinburgh International Airport

Airlink Airport Buses

Edinburgh Trams