I’m a media and game studies scholar completing an English Ph.D. with certificates in film studies, cultural studies, and digital humanities at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. At UNC, I work in the Digital Literacy and Communications Lab as the Research Coordinator for the NEH-funded Critical Game Studies Initiative; run an IAH-funded working group and speaker series on Media Aesthetics; and teach courses on media, film, video games, and writing.

My dissertation, “Playing with Habit: The Biopolitics of Games Under Neoliberalism,” addresses the power games exercise over life by examining the habits they promote in colonial, military, managerial, and entertainment contexts. You can find related work on habit, neoliberalism, and games in journals Eludamos, Qui Parle, and the Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds, as well as edited collections Playing the Field and Encyclopedia of Video Games.

Additionally, I research the ways in which games have shaped concepts fundamental to the digital age such as “system,” “indeterminacy,” and “artificial intelligence.” Find some of my thoughts on this subject in Leonardo.

My other publications include an essay on TV show BoJack Horseman in Post-45 and an article on Octavia Butler’s afrofuturism in Extrapolation. Both reflect my concerns with technology, community, and futurity.

I also design video games that challenge the conventions of computer use like Platform Orthographer, which makes players navigate a 3-D world from a 2-D perspective.

Access my CV here and my departmental page here. Email me at doge[at]live.unc.edu