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Meghan Adams
PHD

Assistant Teaching Professor

Game Development and Interactive Media

Faculty of Business and Information Technology

Contact information

Software and Informatics Research Centre (SIRC) - Room 4384
North Oshawa
2000 Simcoe Street North
Oshawa, ON L1G 0C5

905.721.8668 ext. 7432

Meghan.Adams@ontariotechu.ca

Research topics

  • Game design
  • Queer studies
  • Narrative design

Areas of expertise

  • Gender/Women's Studies

Background

Dr. Meghan Blythe Adams (they/them) is an Assistant Teaching Professor at Ontario Tech University within the Faculty of Business and Information Technology's Game Development and Interactive Media program. Their research background is in media studies. In 2020, they defended their dissertation "Exquisite Corpses: Markedness, Gender, and Death in Video Games" at the University of Western Ontario. That project examined gendered death animations in video games and the way games thematize death to remarginalize marked characters, including women. Currently, their research interests include representations of queerness and non-normative sexuality in video games.

Education

  • Ph.D. in English and Writing Studies The University of Western Ontario 2020
  • Master of Arts (English and Creative Writing) The University of Toronto 2011
  • Bachelor of Arts (English) The University of Western Ontario 2009

Courses taught

Player Engagement: User Experience and Social Network Design, Game Design 2: Play Design, Introduction to Game Studies, Video Games and Literature, Social Media and Professional Identity, Gender and Games

Involvement

  • Publications

    Game Design

    • 2022 The End of the Rainbow? Published by Crazy Maple Games. Writer. Mobile.
    • 2021 Whip Smart. Published by I Got Games – Gamers at Heart. Writer. Mobile.
    • 2021 Memories of Gods. Published by Soft Chaos. Co-creator. LARP.
    • 2018 Curse of the Classroom Icebreaker. Creator. Twine.
    • 2017 Feminist Survival Simulator. Co-Creator. Browser.
    • 2016 Imaginary Friend Creator. Creator. Twine.
    • 2014 Lights Out, Please. Contributing Author. Twine.

    Edited Volumes

    • 2018 Harper, T., Adams, M.B., & Taylor, N., eds. (2018) Queerness in Play. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Refereed Journal Articles

    • 2018 Adams, M.B. & Rambukkana, N. (2018) “‘Why do I have to make a choice? Maybe the three of us could, uh…’: Non-monogamy in Video Game Narratives.”
    • Game Studies: The International Journal of Computer Game Research. 18.2. 2017 Adams, M.B. (2018) “Andromeda on the Rocks: Retreading and Resisting Tropes of Female Sacrifice in Tomb Raider.”
    • Kinephanos: Journal of Media Studies and Popular Culture. Special Issue.
    • 2015 Adams, M.B. (2015) “Renegade Sexualities: Compulsory Sexuality and Charmed Magic Circles in the Mass Effect Series.” Loading…: The Journal of the Canadian Game Studies Association 9.14: 40-54.
  • Speaking Engagements

    Panel Presentations and Workshops

    • 2018 “Banging on Invisible Walls: Talking Alternatives to Getting the Hell Out of Games and Academia.” Lead Facilitator for community workshop. Canadian Game Studies Association, May 30, 2018, Regina, SK.
    • 2017 “Cake and Death: Tales of Death and Video Games.” Roundtable discussion with Emily Flynn-Jones and Gabby Darienzo. Canadian Game Studies Association, July 2017, Toronto, ON.
    • 2015 “First Person Scholar: Talking to Games Academics, Enthusiasts, and Professionals.” Roundtable discussion with Gerald Voorhees, Emma Vossen, Steve Wilcox, and Michael Hancock. Canadian Game Studies Association, June 2015, Ottawa, ON.

    Invited Talks

    • 2016 Adams, M.B. “Bye, Bye, Birdo: Heroic Androgyny and Villainous Gender Variance.” March 2016 at the Institute for Research on Digital Learning at York University, Toronto, ON.
  • Affiliations

    Hand Eye Society. Toronto, ON. (2020 – Present)

    QGCon: The Queerness and Games Conference. International. (2018 – Present)

    Dames Making Games. Toronto, ON. (2016 – Present) Canadian Game Studies Association. Canada. (2012 – Present)