Friction Burns In Disco Elysium, Cops Aren’t Community By Ruth Cassidy • April 14th, 2022 No matter how kindly or redemptively you play Harry, and for all Kim speaks to his belief that the RCM are doing good, Disco Elysium itself recognises that cops are not social care.
Friction Burns Weapon Degradation – Or Ephemeral Equipment? By Ruth Cassidy • March 4th, 2022 Does having the specific language to spot a mechanic – or a narrative trope – prime players and critics to see what they know, instead of what they’re experiencing?
Friction Burns Broccoli Dungeon By Ruth Cassidy • February 25th, 2022 I want to come to the defense of challenging art, but I’d found Boyfriend Dungeon to feel too safe.
Friction Burns For Commander Shepard, Ignorance Is Access By Ruth Cassidy • January 31st, 2022 Shepard’s xenophobia and its invisibility are both tools to give players what they want: as much access to the game’s world as possible, without the social cost.
Friction Burns Being Willfully Bad at Games By Ruth Cassidy • January 26th, 2022 Being ‘bad at games’ was partly a statement of intent: I will not get good and I don’t care to try.
Friction Burns Unpacking Vulnerability, Empathy and Player Agency By Ruth Cassidy • December 17th, 2021 It’s that moment when you walk down the street and realise that every single stranger, whose presence is fleeting in your life, has lived an entire history up until that moment.
Friction Burns Authoritarianism (In Frostpunk) Is Not Inevitable By Ruth Cassidy • December 10th, 2021 In that optimisation-first mindset, it’s easy to do – violence will make this problem go away’. But then, so would meeting your citizens’ material needs.
Friction Burns Dishonored’s Chaos System Was Never Punishing You By Ruth Cassidy • November 12th, 2021 Dishonored’s Chaos system introduces a world where you can take exactly what you want, and have fun with it, but the cost is laid bare.
Friction Burns Urgency and Mastery in Umurangi Generation By Ruth Cassidy • October 29th, 2021 While I followed advice to turn off the timer, I kept chewing on its presence. Was it at odds with the game’s purpose, or was I acting in conflict with it?
Feature Excerpt Pendragon and Anti-Fascist Medievalism By Ruth Cassidy • October 29th, 2021 “Camelot has, for the moment, fallen, but the dream of Camelot – of a sane Government by consensus, led by an Arthur and not a Mordred – must and will live on.”
