Carly A. Kocurek, PhD - Games, Scholarship, Media

Casual Thinking. Serious Gaming.



The future is unraveling as I write

Category : Digital Media, Gaming, Gender, Research · No Comments Jul 8th, 2019
The future is unraveling as I write

A few years ago, I saw a call for a special issue of Ada New Media about feminist hacking. I am a crafter: I crochet; I sew; I mend and meddle.… Read the rest

I’m always angry

Category : Gender, Research · No Comments Jun 20th, 2019
I’m always angry

I have said before that the longer I work, the more simple and the less theoretical my personal politics become. I sit in meetings often and think, “Could you please just treat me like a person?”Read the rest

I’m not supposed to be here, but I am

Category : Gaming, Gender, Representations of Gaming · (1) Comment May 24th, 2019
I’m not supposed to be here, but I am

A few years ago, I won a research award for junior faculty at my university. I was very excited. I got a thousand dollars and a crystal trophy plaque thing. But then I looked closely at the engraving: “presented to Carly Kocurek in recognition of his Outstanding Accomplishments in Research and Scholarship.”… Read the rest

What I’m playing: Lily’s Garden

Category : Gaming, Gender · No Comments Apr 2nd, 2019
What I’m playing: Lily’s Garden

Lily’s Garden is a cute, well-made mobile game that takes its audience seriously. While I play games in a variety of formats (and just dropped more than I meant to on RPGs at Cape Fear Games), most of my gaming these days is by phone.… Read the rest

An Encyclopedia of Women Who Have Died

Category : Digital Media, Gender, Research · No Comments Mar 21st, 2019
An Encyclopedia of Women Who Have Died

I have been trying for several days to write an encyclopedia entry about Theresa Duncan, who I did not know and whose legacy is so snarled up with her tragic, spectacular death.… Read the rest

What I’ve Been Playing: Agent Alice

Category : Gaming, Gender · No Comments May 14th, 2015
What I’ve Been Playing: Agent Alice

I downloaded Agent Alice to my phone a few weeks ago, and I’ve been playing it intermittently. It has a Warehouse 13-style supernatural detectives type setup and is very clearly being marketed to women with ad slogans like, “Sometimes it takes a woman to get the job done.”… Read the rest

A MAZE. Magazine: “I have a fucking agenda”

Category : Gaming, Gender · No Comments May 7th, 2015
A MAZE. Magazine: “I have a fucking agenda”

I was interviewed briefly for a piece in the current issue of A MAZE. Magazine, which is free to read online right here. The theme for this issue is “women,” and a number of amazing women in and around the games industry are featured.… Read the rest

Coin-Operated Americans has a cover!

Category : Gender, Research, Youth Culture · No Comments May 4th, 2015
Coin-Operated Americans has a cover!

I’m so excited about this that I’m using exclamation marks: Coin-Operated Americans: Rebooting Boyhood at the Video Game Arcade, the book I’ve been working on since sometime in 2009 or so, now has an actual cover and is available on pre-order from Barnes & Noble.… Read the rest

Call for Participants in Documentary Project on Women in Gaming Culture

Category : Digital Media, Gaming, Gender, Research · No Comments Dec 10th, 2013

My colleague Jennifer deWinter and I are putting together a short documentary project, and we are looking for contributors. Please pass along the call here and consider participating. If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch.… Read the rest

Belatedly Introducing Choice: Texas

Category : Gender, Research · No Comments Sep 12th, 2013
Belatedly Introducing Choice: Texas

A few weeks ago, Allyson Whipple and I launched an IndieGoGo campaign to raise funds for the completion of an interactive fiction game we’ve been working on called Choice: Texas.… Read the rest