Robert will present on the topic of Mything with games, gaming with myths.
Robert presents insights drawn from his dissertation, Myth in Translation: The Ludic Imagination in Contemporary Video Games (2016), and other writings on the myth-conscious approach to media and media-conscious approach to myths. He outlines the theoretical problems, ethics, and new creative possibilities that emerge when considering the incorporation, production and reception of traditional—and fictional—mythologies in the interactive context of games and gaming culture. A pluralistic ethos is proposed to engender critical, but playful, polymythy as a sensible principle of design and storytelling across new media. This especially resonates with the growing need for today’s mythologists to engage with cultural, creative, and stylistic diversity in our increasingly multifabulaic world and inclusive media ecology.
Robert W. Guyker, Ph.D., is Resident Mythologist for the Joseph Campbell Writers’ Room at Studio School, Los Angeles where he teaches writing, storytelling, and art history. He currently serves as Associate Editor for the journal Cultural Analysis: An interdisciplinary forum on folklore & popular culture in collaboration with the Société Internationale d’Ethnologie et de Folklore, and is co-editor of Retrospective Methods Network Newsletter, based out of the University of Helsinki, Finland. Robert earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in Mythological Studies from Pacifica Graduate Institute. His research has been published in Heidelberg Journal of Religion on the Internet, Marvels & Tales: Journal of Fairy-Tale Studies and his poetry has been featured in Immanence: The Journal of Applied Myth, Story, and Folklore. His areas of interest beyond mythological studies include folkloristics, digital culture, (virtual) ethnography, and game studies.
Learn more about Robert’s work at the Joseph Campbell Writers’ Room and at his ResearchGate page.
