This article argues that unplayability must be a considered component of game analysis and further discussed in new media studies. The concept that games cannot be or should not be played does not limit game analysis. On the contrary, the “unplayable aspect” of a particular game or genre of games is what must be investigated. This essay hopes to expand upon why new media such as video games are becoming inaccessible by using Nicholas Baer et al.’s Unwatchable to discuss a range of unplayable games for common reasons such as: (1) excessive violence, (2) sexual violence, and (3) preservation issues.
BowmanNicholas DavidBowenDaniel A.MercadoMelissa C.ResignatoLindsey Jeande Villemor ChauveauPhilippe. 2022. “I Did It Without Hesitation. Am I the Bad Guy?”: Online Conversations in Response to Controversial In-game Violence.” New Media & Society.
12.
CailloisRoger. 1961. Man, Play, and Games (BarashM., Trans.) London: Thames and Hudson.
FeliniDamiano. 2015. “Beyond Today’s Video Game Rating Systems: A Critical Approach to PEGI and ESRB, and Proposed Improvements.” Games and Culture10 (1): 106–22.
16.
Fernández-VaraClara. 2023. Interview by Banfi [email].
17.
FieldAllyson Nadia. 2015. Uplift Cinema: The Emergence of African American Film and the Possibility of Black Modernity. Durham: Duke University Press.
18.
FieldAllyson Nadia. 2022. “Editor’s Introduction: Sites of Speculative Encounter.” Feminist Media Histories8 (2): 1–13–13.
19.
FreyMattias. 2019. “Unstomachable: Irréversible and the Extreme Cinema Tradition.” In Unwatchable, edited by NicholasBaerHennefeldM.HorakL.IversenG., 165–170. Rutgers University Press.
20.
GallowayAlexander.2023. Interview by Banfi [email].
21.
GrønstadAsbjørn. 2012. Screening the Unwatchable: Spaces of Negation in Post-Millennial Art Cinema. Palgrave Macmillan.
MantelloPeter. 2017. “Military Shooter Video Games and the Ontopolitics of Derivative Wars and Arms Culture.” American Journal of Economics and Sociology76 (2): 483–521.
31.
McCarthyAnna. 2023. Interview by Banfi [email].
32.
McDonoughJerome. P.2011. “Packaging Video games for Long-Term Preservation: Integrating FRBR and the OAIS Reference Model.” Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology62 (1): 171–84.
Mora-CantallopsMarçalBergillosIgnacio. 2018. “Fan Preservation of ‘Flopped’ Games and Systems: The Case of the Virtual Boy in Spain.” Catalan Journal of Communication & Cultural Studies10 (2): 213–29.
37.
NewmanJames. 2012. Best Before: Video Games, Supersession and Obsolescence. London: Routledge.
PayneMatthew Thomas. 2016. Playing War: Military Video Games After 9/11. New York City: NYU Press.
41.
PayneMatthew Thomas.2023. Interview by Banfi [email].
42.
PayneMatthew ThomasAlilunasPeter. 2016. “Regulating the Desire Machine: Custer’s Revenge and 8-Bit Atari Porn Video Games.” Television & New Media17 (1): 80–96.
SicartMiguel. 2013. Beyond Choices: The Design of Ethical Gameplay. Cambridge: MIT Press.
51.
SicartMiguel. 2014. “Wicked Games: Designing Moral Dilemmas in Computer Games.” Design Issues29 (3): 28–37.
52.
SicartMiguel. 2019. “Papers, Please: Ethics.” In How To Play Video Games, edited by HuntemannN.PayneM. T., 149–56. New York: New York University Press.
53.
SkoldO.2018. “Understanding the “expanded Notion” of Video games as Archival Objects: A Review of Priorities, Methods, and Conceptions.” Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology69 (1): 134–45.
54.
StahlRoger, ed. 2009. Militainment, Inc.: War, Media, and Popular Culture. 1st ed. London: Routledge.
55.
StenrosJaakko. 2017. “The Game Definition Game: A Review.” Games and Culture12 (6): 499–520.
56.
Sutton-SmithBrian. 1998. The Ambiguity of Play. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
57.
SwalwellM.2016. “Classic Gaming.” In Debugging Game History, edited by LowoodH.GuinsR., 45–52. Cambridge: MIT Press.
58.
TaylorTL. 2018. Watch Me Play: Twitch and the Rise of Game Live Streaming. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
WhiteWill. 2020. “Would You Like to Save Your Game?: Establishing a Legal Framework for Long-Term Digital Game Preservation.” Ohio State Law Journal81 (3): 567.
61.
WingetMegan, A.2011. “Video game Preservation and Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games: A Review of the Literature.” Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology62 (14): 1869–83.
62.
WolfMark. J. P.2022. Personal Correspondence with Banfi. [email].
