#BACKTRACK LOL PROFESSIONAL#

After identifying this manifestation of the medium’s chrononormativity, the essay discusses a set of queered corollaries to normative time in gaming, followed by an analysis of Life is Strange as a game that queers time and offers rich possibilities for interpreting queerness in its narrative. To explore Freeman’s concept in the context of video games, this essay locates the clearest example of gaming’s chrononormativity in esports, where financial stakes and standardized play lead to a strict observation of regulated time. Freeman’s term describes the major milestones of a normative life (graduate, get married, buy a house, etc.) as well as normative temporal cycles (the 9-to-5 workday, etc.). The game exemplifies one form of queer temporality, a contrary position to “chrononormativity” (a term I adopt from Elizabeth Freeman, 2010). In both its mechanical manipulation of time and its diegetic flirtations with outedness, Life is Strange invites its player to explore non-normativity. Among the player’s many decisions of narrative development and characterization is the way in which main character, Max, responds in moments of sexual tension with her closest friend Chloe. Life is Strange unwinds the linearity of time to enable the player to follow different branching paths, double back, rethink, accept inevitable failures and remake its story. I am playing Life is Strange (2015), a story-based game in which a defining mechanic is the ability to reverse time and (in most cases) unmake decisions after having seen their consequences. There is no timer, one option or another does not promise to make playing the game easier and if I choose to reverse my decision, I can do so immediately using in-game mechanics.

I weigh a gameplay decision as if I have all the time in the world. Keywords: queer, temporality, time, replay, rewind, pause, backtrack, esports, chrononormativity The article discusses Life is Strange as an illustration of both queer content and queered time in games. Instead of twitch reflexes, frame-perfect timing and rapid decision-making, queer play temporalities unwind linearity by backtracking, rewinding, resetting, mulling over and accepting frame-imperfect play.

#BACKTRACK LOL PROFESSIONAL#

Backtrack, Pause, Rewind, Reset: Queering Chrononormativity in Gaming by Matt Knutson AbstractĪpplying Elizabeth Freeman’s concept of chrononormativity to play, this article examines time in high-stakes, professional play as a normative structure against which to recognize a set of queer temporalities.

Backtrack lol