More than four years ago, in her article, The Language of Videogames, Elizabeth Ryerson wrote:
…a substantial critical discussion of a medium brings with it a more enlightened public sphere, which also brings more interesting and new uses of that medium into the world. This really doesn’t exist right now for videogames.
Since 2011 several projects and publications have filled in that discursive void. We might even say that Ryerson’s reproach no longer applies to videogame criticism — or at least, not to the great body of work which has been written in English.
When it comes to criticism written in Spanish, however, Reyrson’s reproach and many more still ring true. Surely there are exceptions, but the necessity to have more profound conversations about videogames is sorely felt, and it is constantly searching for spaces in which to bloom.
It is in the face of this necessity that we have created Matajuegos, a blog about videogames and the impact they have on those who play them and on the societies to which they belong.
We will publish articles both in Spanish and English. We consider this to be a practical way of building bridges between cultures and of fighting against the systematic isolation of certain linguistic communities within videogames, an expressive medium that to this day remains very Anglocentric. We will also publish Spanish translations of the most interesting articles in videogame criticism.
As a demonstration of all that is to come, we have uploaded three articles onto the site:
- Coming Out Simulator 2014, by Florencia “Rumpel” Rodriguez — an exploration of Nicky Case’s autobiographical game of the same name.
- A Friendship in Four Colors, by David T. Marchand — about a game of guns and cooperation by Damian Sommer.
- El lenguaje de los videojuegos, a translation of the Elizabeth Ryerson article quoted above.
Matajuegos is a partial and imperfect response to the discursive void — we have no high hopes of finding definitive or lasting solutions to the problems we pose. We do, however, hope that the space will have positive repercussions, and that with some luck, it will inspire other similar, kindred projects. <3
Image: Morte di Giulio Cesare (Vincenzo Camuccini, 1798).