Deadline: September 30, 2020

We have been approached by Bloomsbury Publishing to put together a proposal for a handbook on the intersection of (video) games with sexual content and sexuality. Traditionally, handbooks are envisioned as comprehensive surveys of the discipline aimed at the library market.

Volumes typically consist of about 25-35 contributions written by experts in their respective areas of the field. There is a great deal of interest and exceptional work being done on this topic with numerous publications written and published in the last five years. This publication would attempt to gather as many threads of work being done by both the established academics in the field of game studies as well as promising young scholars.

The concept behind a handbook is to compile a comprehensive assembly of essays in an attempt to map a discipline. As such we are primarily, but not necessarily exclusively, looking for synthesis/review essays that bring together existing research. We are not opposed to efforts which map out new directions in the field as long as they consider where we are as a basis for where we might/will be going. What makes this topic intriguing is that both the borders of sex and sexuality and the nature of video games resist easy categorization. Game Studies as an “academic field” is inherently interdisciplinary, creating both challenge and opportunity for how to conceptualize this (these) topic(s). As the range of platforms, formats, and game types continue to increase so do the ways to present, perform, and play sex and sexuality.

If you would like to propose a submission for this project, please send a short author(s) bio as well as a 500 word abstract along with title to Matthew Wysocki (mwysocki@flagler.edu) AND Steffi Shook (Steffi.Shook@mville.edu). The deadline for receipt of all proposals is September 30, 2020. We will attempt to notify all correspondents by November 15 regarding the status of their submission. Completed draft manuscripts will be due by February 28, 2021.

Potential Topics:

• Early erotic games (Atari 2600 and PC sex games)
• Playable sex scenes in games
• The evolution and explicitness of sexual cutscenes
• LGBTQ characters/stories/relationships
• Erotic interactive fiction games
• Hypersexual character design
• Sex/Nudity mods
• Depictions of sex work/sex workers in video games
• Regional/national differences in sexual content in games
• Sex across game series (Mass Effects, The Sims, The Witcher, etc.)
• Queergaming/ Queer Play