Happy new year! As our first symposium of 2014, we will be discussing Christine Love’s don’t take it personally, babe, it just ain’t your story this coming Thursday, 9 January. Come, having played or watched a playthrough, with your thoughts on how it treats privacy, queer sexuality, and the role of teachers.

In many ways, don’t take it personally also builds on Love’s previous game Digital: A Love Story’s mechanics, pairing player interface with character identification. Bridging conversations of previous symposiums with some more recent talk, consider the implications of where, if any, don’t take it personally subverts the player’s expectations of the visual novel genre and how it provides ‘mirror moments’ for the player. Did you feel as if it was ‘your story’ despite the titular reassurance? Why?

And as always, we’ll meet at 9:30pm EST (6:30pm PST) for talk on our Mumble server. If you would like to join us, and you do not have the connection details, leave a comment and we can send you the information needed.