Join us with The Office of the Vice President for Research for this special Book Matters reading and reception to celebrate Christopher Goetz’s recent book, The Counterfeit Coin: Videogames and Fantasies of Empowerment.  Goetz will give a reading from the book and be joined in conversation by Corey Creekmur, associate professor of cinematic arts, followed by a Q&A with the audience and reception & book signing.

The Counterfeit Coin argues that games and related entertainment media have become almost inseparable from fantasy. In turn, these media are making fantasy itself visible in new ways.
“Christopher Goetz’s The Counterfeit Coin: Videogames and Fantasies of Empowerment is a triumphant theoretical leap forward for game studies. The Counterfeit Coin invites readers to go on an adventure in game and media studies by unlocking how games and media let us play through our fantasies, whether those fantasies are what tether us into a safe spot, let us exceed and transcend bodily limitations, or just accrue more and more loot. Reading across a wide range of games, film, anime and television series, Goetz’s The Counterfeit Coin illuminates how and why players find comfort, transcendence, and accomplishment in the routine and familiar ways we play.”–Sheila C. Murphy

Christopher Goetz is an assistant professor in the Department of Cinematic Arts at the University of Iowa, Iowa City. He is one of the founding organizers of the annual Queerness and Games Conference.

Corey Creekmur is associate professor of cinematic arts at the University of Iowa.