• What is Queerness?
    • Queer - term that refers to anyone on the LGBTQIA world or anyone who does not fit heteronormativity or cisnormativity
      • Once was an insult, but was reclaimed by queer people as a ways to describe identity
      • Can also be used to describe things that are outside of cultural norms
      • Can be used as a verb; to queer means to reclaim for queer people, to make queer, etc.
    • The definition of queerness is relatively vague and open-ended so people can make their own definitions
    • To identify queerness, you must analyze it extremely closely because queer people have been suppressed and forced to hide their queerness
      • Queer studies may also “disidentify” media to claim that media for queer people
  • Queer Worldmaking
    • Defined as the idea that queer people must make new worlds through their everyday lives because they have been outcast from society
      • This is because the normal world is not made for queer people, so they must make their own worlds
    • Exemplified by art, families, public spaces, fandoms, etc.
  • Sexuality as Orientation in Queer Phenomology
    • There are different ways to “orient” yourself, and the typical, heteronormative orientation is very different than that of a queer one
      • Heteronormative orientation is typically “straightforward” and easy to follow while queer orientation is not - it is winding, must turn away, deviating, etc.
  • Queerness in Video Games
    • More and more LGBT representation is being included in video games, in both AAA and indie ones
    • Queerness in games can be thought of as very abstract; the ways you play, interpret, or design games can have implicit queerness
    • The ways people move through video games can also indicate queerness
  • Gone Home and Movement
    • The intended way the player moves in Gone Home is inherently queer; must meander, wander throughout the house to piece together the story of what happened to your sister
      • Kind of hypocritical, as many parts of the house are gated and the player must navigate through the house on a preset path created by the developers
      • Reminiscent of a “dark ride” in amusement parks where the path one takes is set, “on rails”
    • In speedrunning, instead of taking the scenic route and wandering, runners take the straightest possible path to reach a win state; “straightens out” a queer narrative
      • However, speedrunning is also non-normative; breaks the chrononormative way to play the game