Emerging Narratives: Teaching, Research, & the Power of Play

Posted March 4, 2024December 17, 2024 in Emerging Media, Faculty, Stories

Reading Time: 4 minutes

From poetry slams to Arthurian board games, storytelling has always been at the heart of what matters most. As Program Director for the new Emerging Media program, Dr. Claire Stricklin brings that passion to Rutgers-Camden, where she explores how narratives emerge in both digital and analog spaces. Her research dives into the intersections of play, collaboration, and power, challenging assumptions about who gets to tell stories—and how games can transform the way we experience them.

Discover how games, stories, and collaboration come together in ways you might not expect.

Miles, Mullets, and Medieval Quests

I’m from a lot of places. I was born in Oakland, but the family moved when I was two. We wound up in Montgomery, AL where I promptly developed an accent and a mullet. We moved to Wilmington, NC by the 4th grade, and that’s where I began to lose said accent. It was gone completely (along with the mullet) by the time I made it to freshman year in Portland, OR. I finished out high school in Buffalo, NY before taking on undergrad in Ithaca, NY. It was at this time that I became a slam poet, looked like a hippy, and decided to make a writer of myself. After graduation, it was another summer in Alabama with the family before heading out for my first big-kid job in Cheyenne, WY. I spent 10 years as a state employee in the Cowboy State before realizing I’d rather work on my own big ideas than blog about other peoples’. By the time I left my gig as a social media monkey at the Wyoming State Arts Council, I had a MA in English through the University of Wyoming. That was good enough to gain entry to the Digital Media PhD program at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. That’s the most recent where-I’m-from before accepting my position as an Assistant Teaching Professor here at Ruggers-Camden.

It was a long walk. I’m very tired.

Back at the University of Wyoming, I took an Arthurian Literature class. Because my passion is games, I asked if I could write my final paper on a board game called Shadows Over Camelot. I was surprised when they let me go through with it. Seeing the despair of the grail quest and the treachery of Mordred reflected through game mechanics was revelatory to me. You mean to say all those analytical skills I picked up as an English major can be used for more than traditional literature? Buh!? My subsequent MA thesis dealing with tabletop roleplay modules and my dissertation in actual play podcasting sprang directly from that moment.

I’m proud to be a part of the new Emerging Media program. I’m well positioned as a Digital Media PhD to help train the next generation of professionals and academics in research design and multimedia execution
Dr. Claire Stricklin

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Research at the Intersection of Play and Power

I’m proud to be a part of the new Emerging Media program. I’m well positioned as a Digital Media PhD to help train the next generation of professionals and academics in research design and multimedia execution.

My research is focused on collaborative storytelling in hybrid environments. By examining the shifts in emergent behavior that appear when play moves from the analog to the digital world, my work articulates the complex relationships that form between people, formal systems, and networks of power.” In practice, that means I’m interested in who gets to tell stories and how games reflect those narratives. My most recent publication is an extended abstract at the upcoming Foundations of Digital Games conference in Guadalajara. It was co-authored by one of my undergraduate students, and features equal parts horror, gameplay, and existentialist philosophy.