Join MMGC for ‘Flawless in Defeat – In and For the Margins’, a presentation and Q+A session with game scholar, Gaspard Pelurson.

Wednesday December 7th at 4pm

Online - Free

Gyaku Ryona is a voyeuristic subgenre that involves the beating up of one male character by another. Several channels have emerged on YouTube and garnered respectable attention, by using fighting games as their main platform. These channels compile videos of virtual and erotic one- sided fights between two characters, which are in turn watched and requested by viewers. Dissecting Gyaku Ryona videos, their content and “game” mechanics, this presentation underlines the fragility of the platforms on which this subculture thrives, and argues that through active passivity, Gyaku Ryona queers fighting game culture, but also celebrates deviant desires and it embraces homoeroticism on a platform that is publicly available. Ultimately, Gyaku Ryona triggers broader conversations about rewriting fighting games as a kinky platform exploring the limits of digital sex. 

 Bio: Gaspard Pelurson loves playing, teaching with, and writing about video games. . His work mainly draws upon cultural studies, game, gender, and queer theory. Gaspard approaches games as a polysemous medium and a critical platform for societal reflections. He is particularly interested in alternative and ‘deviant’ gaming experiences and practices, and has published in Game Studies, Continuum, and Convergence, in which he is also part of the editorial board. He published his first book, Manifestations of Queerness in Video Games in July 2022.