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The Border House is a blog for gamers. It's a blog for those who are feminist, queer, disabled, people of color, transgender, poor, gay, lesbian, and others who belong to marginalized groups, as well as allies. Our goal is to bring thoughtful analysis to gaming with a feminist viewpoint and up-to-date news on games, virtual worlds, and social media.Discussion Policy
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Category Archives: Casual Games
A Mile in Her Shoes: Teaching Transphobia through Video Games
I had tried to teach my students in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies 100 about transphobia before. When I unwittingly assigned them a classic feminist essay that contained some transphobic language (including an uncritical quotation of Janice Raymond, the use … Continue reading
Posted in Casual Games, General Gaming, PC Games
Tagged anna anthropy, dys4ia, lim, Mainichi, mattie brice, merritt kopas, transgender, transphobia
2 Comments
TransMovement: Freedom and Constraint in Queer and Open World Games
Samantha Allen is a transgender woman, an ex-Mormon and a PhD student in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Emory University writing a dissertation on sexual fetishism. She is also an erstwhile singer-songwriter. You can find her on the web … Continue reading
Posted in Casual Games, General Gaming, PC Games, Virtual Worlds
Tagged anna anthropy, dys4ia, far cry 3, merritt kopas, Samantha Allen, skyrim, transgender
10 Comments
Casual Fridays – Full Bloom
We’ve done a lot of flash games, but there’s something I’ve been playing for a while that I’ve really been enjoying and want to share with you. It’s Playdom’s Full Bloom game which is available on Facebook. The premise of the … Continue reading
Posted in Casual Games, PC Games, Social Media
Tagged casual fridays, Facebook, Full Bloom, Playdom
1 Comment
Style Savvy’s Fashion Limitations
I’ve borrowed a 3DS and have been playing Style Savvy: Trendsetters, the sequel to the 2009 DS game Style Savvy. They are both fashion games that are part business sim: players take on the role of a manager of a … Continue reading
Posted in Casual Games, Handheld Games
Tagged 3DS, fashion, Nintendo, style savvy, style savvy: trendsetters
13 Comments
Seeds: A ‘serious game’ connecting U.S. smartphone users to Kenyan businesswomen
The average U.S. social gamer is a 43 year old woman. And in Kenya 2 million monetary transactions, usually small amounts, are made daily via mobile phone. These two statistics may seem unrelated, but combined they’re what gave entrepreneur Rachel … Continue reading
Posted in Casual Games, Virtual Worlds
Tagged microlending, microlending film project, rachel cook, raise the village, seeds
1 Comment
A Small Aside from the NY Games Conference 2012
The following is a guest post from Jillian Schaar: Jillian Scharr is a recent graduate of Vassar College and a lifelong daydreamer. She floats between jobs and cafes in the greater NYC area, writing about videogames and computers and fictional … Continue reading
Posted in Casual Games, General Gaming, Mobile Games
Tagged conventions, ny games conference, sexism, women
1 Comment
Casual Fridays – William and Sly 2
This Casual Friday, because there hasn’t been one in a while, leads me to believe that I need to do one game at a time rather than a bunch of them. This way, they can still get done rather than … Continue reading
Magical Diary reviewed – why this game is truly magical
In the interests of full disclosure, this was a free review copy we were sent by indie developer and long-time reader Georgina Bensley, who thought this game would be a good fit for The Border House. There was, however, no … Continue reading
Posted in Casual Games, PC Games
Tagged female characters, games done right, Hanako Games, inclusivity, life simulators, Magical Diary, reviews
24 Comments
Wind-up Knight: An entertaining iOS game with questionable elements
While confronted with a few plane trips and long delays at the airport a couple of weeks ago, I browsed the App Store and downloaded a game for my iPad. Wind-up Knight is an “endless runner” style iOS game … Continue reading
Posted in Casual Games, Mobile Games
Tagged misogyny, rape culture, robot invader, sexism, wind-up knight
21 Comments
Lume Debuts for iOS
A little while ago I did a casual review about this game called Lume. You can check out the review here. It was a fun game made by a bunch of people who, according to Luke Whittaker of State of … Continue reading
Posted in Casual Games, General Gaming, Indie Games, Mobile Games
Tagged casual games, indie games, iOS, Lume
2 Comments