

Game Studies Study Buddies
Ranged Touch
Learn all about the academic field of game studies!
Episodes
Mentioned books

Oct 18, 2018 • 2h 13min
5 – Caillois – Man, Play and Games
This is the fifth episode of Game Studies Study Buddies, a podcast where your two co-hosts read through works of academic game studies and talk about it. If you’re interested in that, you might like this show!
This episode is about Roger Caillois’s Man, Play and Games, a book that is critical in the history of game studies.
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Support this show and all of our videos on Patreon, where you can also get our notes for this episode for $3 a month!
Jack/HendrixTrog did the Metal Gear Solid parody.
Chris Hunt created the theme song for this show.

Sep 14, 2018 • 1h 60min
4 – Ensslin – Literary Gaming
This is the fourth episode of Game Studies Study Buddies, a podcast where your two co-hosts read through works of academic game studies and talk about it. If you’re interested in that, you might like this show!
This episode is about Astrid Ensslin’s 2014 Literary Gaming, a book that argues for the existence of the literary-ludic spectrum and the mappability of games between those two poles. Do we agree? Listen and find out!
Here is a link to a post with some information about some of the references we made in this episode. You can also see the graph we talk about here.
Follow Ranged Touch on Twitter.
Follow CMRN on Twitter.
Follow Michael on Twitter.
Come hang out in our Discord channel.
Support this show and all of our videos on Patreon, where you can also get our notes for this episode for $3 a month!
Chris Hunt created the theme song for this show.

Aug 17, 2018 • 2h 55min
3 – Murray – Hamlet On The Holodeck
Delve into the transformative ideas in Janet Murray's classic work on digital narratives. Discover how procedural media alters narrative structures, blending art with interactivity. Explore the interplay between player agency and storytelling across various media, from Shakespeare to modern video games. The podcast also critiques emotional engagement and examines the chaos of fan interactions in webcomics like 'Homestuck.' Engage with complex themes like hypertext, the archive, and the realities of digital storytelling.

Jul 20, 2018 • 1h 46min
2 – Chess – Ready Player Two
This is the second episode of Game Studies Study Buddies, a podcast where your two co-hosts read through works of academic game studies and talk about it. If you’re interested in that, you might like this show!
This episode is about Shira Chess’s Ready Player Two, a book that argues for the concept of the “designed identity” of the target audience of casual games. We have a great time talking about the book, designed identity as a method, and actor-network theory. The book has some great insights, and we really dig into how it works.
Follow Ranged Touch on Twitter.
Follow CMRN on Twitter.
Follow Michael on Twitter.
Come hang out in our Discord channel.
Support this show and all of our videos on Patreon.
Chris Hunt created the theme song for this show.

Jun 7, 2018 • 1h 23min
1 – Juul – Half Real
This is the first episode of Game Studies Study Buddies, a podcast where your two co-hosts read through works of academic game studies and talk about it. If you’re interested in that, you might like this show!
This episode is about Jesper Juul’s 2005 book Half Real, a formative book for the study of games. We talk about the whole book!
Follow Ranged Touch on Twitter.
Follow CMRN on Twitter.
Follow Michael on Twitter.
Come hang out in our Discord channel.
Support this show and all of our videos on Patreon.
Chris Hunt created the theme song for this show.