Maddison Stoff

Melbourne

Freelance Writer and Experimental Artist at Freelance

Nb, nd, polyam space dyke & fucker of the basilisk. ;) In Naarm, but originally from regional Australia. Likes reptiles, cooking, philosophy and computer games.

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Articles

Born Sinbound: Haibane Renmei as a trans allegory

1 month ago | medium.com | Maddison Stoff

Like many western trans women that grew up after or during the 1990s, I have a complicated personal relationship with anime. I started out by watching butchered English dubs of shows like Pokémon, Sailor Moon, and Dragon Ball Z whichwere played on children’s morning television programs constantly during the 90s, apparently because the cost of licensing them was very cheap in international markets.
Why gender essentialism is a white supremacist ideology

1 month ago | medium.com | Maddison Stoff

The recent counter-protest in Melbourne against UK transphobe Posie Parker sent shockwaves through both international and local media after white supremacists were seen saluting on the steps of parliament house.
Game over: players in right wing worlds

1 month ago | medium.com | Maddison Stoff

I don’t remember how old I was when I played my first computer game. I started out on a DOS based IBM compatible 386 and an old Atari 2600, some time in the early 1990s. I played NES and Master System games at other children’s houses, and watched them trade them in for Super Nintendos and Mega Drives. We got a CD drive for our 386, and I watched the birth of early multimedia gaming. Basically, I’ve been around for every major beat in gaming history, and I still enjoy them to this day.
Animal Crossing as utopia

1 month ago | medium.com | Maddison Stoff

Even prior to the March 20 release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the 2020 Nintendo Switch sequel to the popular 2012 3DS title Animal Crossing: New Leaf, the game was heavily associated with the COVID-19 crisis. Fans petitioned Nintendo for an earlier release, explicitly drawing an argument around its calming nature.
Treated like savage beasts: disabled people and the vaccine

1 month ago | medium.com | Maddison Stoff

There’s a common misconception in mainstream legal and political philosophy that socially irresponsible or criminal behaviour is fundamentally irrational at heart.
What Mafia III’s portrayal of 1968 says about 2016

1 month ago | medium.com | Maddison Stoff

Recently, videogame company 2K Games released the third instalment of the open-world crime series Mafia. By most accounts, it’s a fairly average game: a mix of the original Saints Row with Grand Theft Auto V, marred by bugs and partially implemented gameplay. But where it truly shines is its depiction of the world — a gorgeously rendered simulacra of New Orleans in 1968 called ‘New Boudreaux’.
Post-punk, you’ve nothing to fear

1 month ago | medium.com | Maddison Stoff

Historically, ‘post-punk’ has been described as a predominately white, male, middle-class musical scene. While the reality was really very different — female-fronted bands such as Delta V and Au Pairs not only participated in the subculture, but used it as a platform for gender commentary — it has mostly been the male performers — Joy Division, Wire, Gang of Four — who’ve received the bulk of critical attention.
Lazy journalists and controversial games

1 month ago | medium.com | Maddison Stoff

In my playthrough of controversial mobile phone game Survival Island 3, I didn’t meet a single Indigenous Australian. I cut down trees, mined from rocks, and constructed a small base out of wood and stone.
25 hours for $20

1 month ago | medium.com | Maddison Stoff

I recently attended the initial appointment with a Jobactive provider in Melbourne, the first stage of the federal government’s recently revived Work for the Dole program. As a jobseeker under thirty who took over six months to find employment after graduation, I am well within the demographic for inclusion in the highest level of the program: being asked to work 25 hours a week in retail or community service for only $40 extra every fortnight. I live in inner south-east Melbourne.
Grand Theft Auto V’s grand gender problem

1 month ago | medium.com | Maddison Stoff

Grand Theft Auto hasn’t always had a gender problem. The first game even had a number of female protagonists, none of which were any different to the male characters. But as its target audience became predictable, and the gameplay more defined, the franchise quickly laid the roots for its currently inescapable misogynistic undertones — from the simple exclusion of women in the otherwise neutrally gendered Grand Theft Auto London to the pure misogyny of Grand Theft Auto V.