Alberto, M.K. & Burton, A. (Eds.). (2027). Fans, Fandoms, and Tabletop Roleplaying Games. University of Michigan Press. 

Fans, Fandoms, and Tabletop Roleplaying Games is an edited book collection written by inter-, intra-, or multi-disciplinary media scholars that broadens perspective on gaming fandom by paying academic attention to third-party publishing, indie games, and fan creative content. 

Burton, A. (2027). Brands Co-Opting Heated Rivalry: Performing Allyship and Capitalizing on Queer Joy. Journal of Fan Studies, 15(1). 

Including queer audiences is easy when it is convenient and profitable—the millions of views and sales from the Heated Rivalry fandom are tempting new markets to brands. Check back in when I finish writing. 

Alberto, M., Berge, PS, Blackburn, B., Burton, A., Thach, H. (2026). “You strange and violent queers”: A ­Disaster-Queer Collaborative Autoethnography of Playing Thirsty Sword Lesbians. In Hedge, S. (Ed.), Playing Outside the Mainstream: Essays on Indie Tabletop Roleplaying Games, Studies in Gaming series. McFarland & Company, Inc.

Drawing on collaborative autoethnography, discourse analysis, and our own gameplay (depicted through brief, narrative vignettes), we explore how TSL is paradigmatic in its engagement of queer structures, not idiosyncratic in creating them. We highlight some specific structures and practices that support queer roleplaying in TSL and contextualize those within broader roleplaying conventions. By drawing attention to these areas, we also hope to demystify the label of ‘queer game’ so common to indie spaces, and elucidate how TTRPGs more broadly can support queer play and storytelling.

Burton, A. (2025). Chosen Structures of Belonging: Kith and Kin in Actual Play. JCMS: Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, 64(2), 174-179. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/cj.2025.a951194

Through this application of queer kinship to AP, I contribute to early discussions of kinmaking in roleplaying spaces. Most importantly, I argue that queer worldmaking is at the heart of the TRPG table, exposed by its underlying investment in queer kinship within an adventuring party. By thinking critically about kinmaking practices in APs, I aim to show how queer family-making is an important type of queer worldbuilding.

Burton, A, Trammell, A., & Castiello-Jones, K. (2024). Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Role-Playing Games. In: Zagal, J. & Deterding, S. (eds.). The Routledge Handbook of Role-Playing Game Studies. Routledge.

This chapter introduces the stakes of diversity, equity, and inclusion in role-playing games (RPGs). We trace how the structure and culture of RPGs have reproduced stereotyping, essentializing, and exclusionary representations of marginalized social categories. We show how representations of diverse communities in games interact with a long history of not only a lack of this kind of representation, but also an active exclusionary culture This chapter unpacks how computer role-playing games, tabletop role-playing games, and live-action role-playing games offer an exciting space for diversity despite these struggles. The chapter closes by highlighting positive initiatives promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in RPG communities and useful educational resources for future learning.

Burton, A. & Dennin, K. (2023). Experiential Play as an Analytical Framework: Empathetic and Grating Queerness in The Last of Us Part II. Game Studies, 23(2). https://gamestudies.org/2302/articles/denninburton 

Through our experience, we demonstrate how queer representation renders TLOU2 as an empathy machine meant for non-queer players. We expose how TLOU2 leverages queerness in its representational, mechanical, and narrative elements and center our analysis of these queer elements in our experience. We suggest that future games studies attuned to questions of diversity must examine AAA games holistically and pay particular attention to nuanced experiences of play, including that of the researcher.