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 , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

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 (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

'' MacCallum-Stewart has gone on to become the Associate Professor of Game Studies at

Staffordshire University , mottoeng = Dare to know , type = Public , endowment = £70 million (2015) , administrative_staff = 1,375 , chancellor = Francis Fitzherbert, 15th Baron Stafford , vice_chancellor = Professor Martin Jones , ...

. 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. 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. She is currently the chair of the 2024 Worldcon in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

and 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. Description J ...

. 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.

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