Hi, welcome to my website! On this page you’ll find the link to my latest paper and Ph.D. thesis, the recording to my latest talk, and information about my current projects. On the other pages, you can find my CV, list of talks, podcast episodes, and publications. Cheers!

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Highlighted articles

Blom, Joleen.  July 2022.“Attachment, Possession or Personalization? : Why the Character Trade in Animal Crossing: New Horizons Exploded.” Replaying Japan 4: 23–34. (Open Access, available here)

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Blom, Joleen. 2022. “Challenging Linearity: Microstructures and Meaning-making in Trails of Cold Steel III.” In Japanese Role-playing Games: Genre, Representation, and Liminality in the JRPG. Edited by Jérémie Pelletier-Gagnon and Rachael Hutchinson. Washington, DC: Lexington Books.

Book abstract:
Japanese Role-playing Games: Genre, Representation, and Liminality in the JRPG examines the origins, boundaries, and transnational effects of the genre, addressing significant formal elements as well as narrative themes, character construction, and player involvement. Contributors from Japan, Europe, North America, and Australia employ a variety of theoretical approaches to analyze popular game series and individual titles, introducing an English-speaking audience to Japanese video game scholarship while also extending postcolonial and philosophical readings to the Japanese game text. In a three-pronged approach, the collection uses these analyses to look at genre, representation, and liminality, engaging with a multitude of concepts including stereotypes, intersectionality, and the political and social effects of JRPGs on players and industry conventions. Broadly, this collection considers JRPGs as networked systems, including evolved iterations of MMORPGs and card collecting “social games” for mobile devices. Scholars of media studies, game studies, Asian studies, and Japanese culture will find this book particularly useful.

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Ph.D. Thesis

Find my Ph.D. thesis here!