VideoBrains June Epilogue

Our most recent all-day event, and the first of 2016, VideoBrains June was a fantastic event, not only because we had a host of wonderful talks, but also because we got to celebrate Jake Tucker’s birthday! It was a longer, more packed, and cake-filled VideoBrains. But enough of that: there’s a whopping 10 talks to show to you!

In order to go get herself a tattoo straight after (and then return to VideoBrains, because bruised skin won’t stop her), Alice Bell started off VideoBrains June, with Dark Souls Is Bad And You Should Feel Bad. Don’t @ her.

Giving his penultimate talk as resident speaker (aww), Rob Morgan showed of episode 5 of his Narrative Utility Belt, this month focusing on diegesis, the antonym of his second talk in this series! We also had a big announcement: who will succeed Rob as our resident speaker. Drumroll please!

Alice Bell, VideoBrains veteran, will start a residency at VideoBrains in August, with an as-yet-unannounced theme. Look forward to that!

"Games give us an opportunity to be wrong, but they rarely give us an opportunity to not matter" @AboutThisLater pic.twitter.com/eD0LgDNPtH

— VideoBrains (@VideoBrains) June 18, 2016

Games, as of late, have done their best to record and tackle some of the more difficult topics in our modern world. Thomas McMullan asked the question of whether there’s a useful intersection between games and documentary, and how they can influence one another.

Also @mikeBithell would be proud of Brecht making his way into another #Videobrains talk. pic.twitter.com/y0jBicR0Pz

— Alex Howard Whitaker (@ahwhitaker) June 18, 2016

For the first time ever, we had a fully drawn talk at VideoBrains June! Hana Lee discussed How We Become Our Own Characters, and how sometimes it’s easiest to empathise with the characters that don’t have faces, the ones we make ourselves, especially if you belong to a minority games don’t typically represent.

couple of frames from my #videobrains talk!!! this part was about bein mentally ill/questioning gender and > pic.twitter.com/iaSsipV0d4

— rowdy boy hana (@bonaneh) June 20, 2016

If you’re a fan of Doom and its modding scene, there’s a good chance you’ll have heard of Matt Tropiano. He’s been making maps for Doom for the last twenty years, and has learnt a lot about making a good map and how Doom works in the process. That wasn’t the most important thing, though, instead that was what making mods taught him as a creator.

"We don't just create to create. We create to validate ourselves and communicate." @TheRealMTrop #videobrains pic.twitter.com/3k6Sr2pxEJ

— Rosa Carbo-Mascarell (@moreelen) June 18, 2016

Gaming communities are incredibly important to many people, as ways to talk with like-minded people in a world where it can be hard to do so for a number of reasons. Natalie Clayton showed why it was doubly important for her – and many other trans people – to be a part of a community in World of Warcraft.

Tom Hatfield likes barbies. Not the Barbie Girl, living in a Barbie world kind, but the grimdark space barbie kind. He loves Warhammer 40K, the game all about little figurines killing each other on the whims of omnipotent dice-wielding gods. And he’s proud of it.

"I like my technology black, I like my cars rugged, and I like my dolls covered in skulls" @WordMercenary

— VideoBrains (@VideoBrains) June 18, 2016

Sometimes it feels like you should keep your creative projects – your babies that need to be protected and cared for – private until they’re perfect, ready for the world to see. Olivia Wood argued that, no, they shouldn’t, and it’s often good to show someone your project, even if you know it’s not done.

Are you bad at games? Meg Jayanth knows the feeling of being bad at games. But the thing is: that’s perfectly okay, and sometimes it’s really a good thing. Lots of us are bad at games, and that really, really, doesn’t matter. (See also: Alice’s talk from the start of VideoBrains June!)

'Winning is not the reason for playing games.' Truth is being spoken at #Videobrains

— Luke Graham (@LukeWGraham) June 18, 2016

Cassandra Khaw is smart in a lot of areas, and one of those is the speculative fiction community. While it’s certainly not a perfect area, there’s lots that games and gaming can learn from it, from how small groups of fans are worthwhile to how you should never discredit a game for being in a certain genre.

This is a great #videobrains talk about the how generic expectations can actually obfuscate, gatekeep, limit audiences, obscure the spectrum

— meg jayanth (@betterthemask) June 18, 2016

That wraps up the VideoBrains June Epilogue! There’s a lot to watch and hopefully it should tide you over until VideoBrains July: The Movies on July 26th. Hopefully we’ll see some of you there!