I’m Cameron Kunzelman, an academic and critic whose work revolves around science fiction, games, and the broader philosophical impacts that they have on our lives.
I have been writing about games on the internet for more than a decade. You might have read my work for Waypoint, Paste, Polygon, Bullet Points, or some other location.
I am a part of Ranged Touch, a critical analysis podcasting group that does longform shows on topics like Stephen King’s oeuvre, the Fallout games, and the Baldur’s Gate CRPG lineage. We also have a show called Game Studies Study Buddies where we read academic books of game studies and help lay them out for a general readership. I’ve also been forced to read Homestuck.
I have a PhD in Moving Image Studies from Georgia State University. My academic work is focused in science fiction studies and video game studies. My first book, The World is Born From Zero, is a philosophical investigation into how games generate speculation within players, particularly within science fiction games. It came out in 2022, and you can read it now.
My second book, Everything Is Permitted: On Assassin’s Creed, is a longform analysis of Ubisoft’s open-world franchise contracted by the University of Minnesota Press. I contextualize and close-read the games in order to understand the philosophical and cultural impact of the longrunning weird object. I am currently writing this book and the manuscript is due early 2023.
My third book is tentatively titled Cumulative Upkeep and is an analysis of Magic: The Gathering‘s cultural legacy and impact over the past 30 years. It is currently under contract with The MIT Press.
I am always interested in new opportunities in any medium or form, so please feel free to reach out my clicking on the contact tab on this page.
“. . .Cosmic and human praxis has only ever been a question of machines. . .”
– Félix Guattari, The Three Ecologies