Esther MacCallum-Stewart is a British author and academic on games and sex, sexuality and gender in gaming as well as on the narrative of games.
Biography
Esther MacCallum-Stewart attended the
University of Sussex
The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...
where she completed her degrees from BA to doctorate. Though her doctorate thesis was on ''Popular Culture and the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
'' MacCallum-Stewart has gone on to become Professor of Game Studies at the
University of Staffordshire
The University of Staffordshire is a public research university in Staffordshire, England. It has its main campus in Stoke-on-Trent and four other campuses in Stafford, Lichfield, Shrewsbury, and London.
History
In 1901, industrialist Alfred ...
. MacCallum-Stewart researches how narratives in games are understood by the player as well as publishing articles on sex, sexuality, and gender in games. MacCallum-Stewart works across the whole area of gaming including boardgaming, role-playing, MMOs and casual gaming. MacCallum-Stewart has written a number of books on the subject and co-written books and had chapters included.
She has also written a number of papers on the subject.
She was nominated in 2017 for
Hugo Award for Best Fanzine
The Hugo Award for Best Fanzine is given each year for non professionally edited magazines, or "fanzines", related to science fiction or fantasy which has published four or more issues with at least one issue appearing in the previous calendar y ...
for ''
Journey Planet
Journey Planet is an Irish-American science fiction fanzine currently edited by James Bacon, Christopher J. Garcia and various other co-editors. It has been nominated twelve times for the Hugo Award for Best Fanzine, winning in 2015.
Descripti ...
''.
MacCallum-Stewart is currently the chair of
British DiGRA and was responsible for hosting the BDiGRA 2018 conference. She is also heavily involved in science fiction and fantasy fan communities. MacCallum-Stewart was responsible for the games program and events of the
Worldcon in London in 2014, division head of facilitation for the
Worldcon in Dublin 2019 and deputy division head for facilities for
Worldcon in New Zealand 2020.
She was the chair of the
2024 Worldcon in Glasgow
Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
.
Bibliography
Books
* Ring-Bearers – Lord of the Rings Online as Intertextual Narrative, 2011
*Game Love: Essays on Play and Affection, 2014
*Routledge Studies in New Media and Cyberculture: Online Games, Social Narratives, 2014
*Gender and Sexuality in Contemporary Popular Fantasy: Beyond boy wizards and kick-ass chicks, 2016
*The Science Fiction of Iain M. Banks, 2018
* Rerolling Boardgames: Essays on Themes, Systems, Experiences and Ideologies (Studies in Gaming), due 2020
Chapters
* The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction. Chapter: Digital Games (with Tanya Kryzwinska).
* Theater of War (with Meredith Davenport)- Chapter: "A Master's degree in Shooting Stuff"
* Dungeons and Dragons and Philosophy. (Chapter) ‘Oh God! Kill Her, Kill Her; I'm Sorry!!!’
* 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2012)
* The Gender and Media Reader Routledge -Chapter :‘Real Men Carry Girly Epics – Normalising Gender Bending in Online Games
* The Edinburgh Companion to British and American Twentieth Century War Literature (ed. Piette and Rawlinson) -Chapter:‘Play up and Play the Game!’ – The Narrative of War Games.’
* Online Gaming in Context: The Social and Cultural Significance of Online Games - Chapter: ‘Conflict, Thought Communities and Textual Appropriation in MMORPGs’
References and sources
{{DEFAULTSORT:MacCallum-Stewart, Esther
Year of birth missing (living people)
21st-century British women writers
Alumni of the University of Sussex
Academics of Staffordshire University
Living people