Vol of Duty, a brand new video game writing club, provides University of Tennessee undergraduates with a blank canvas — one they will shape through the stories they choose to tell.
John Han, a professor in the English department, spearheaded the club partially due to his experience with gaming journalism and as a way to empower students.
“Vol of Duty is a gaming website specifically geared towards undergraduate students,” Han said. “We strive to enable them to write anything about gaming that interests them. We really just want to be a vessel that the undergraduates will hopefully be able to use to get published while practicing writing they genuinely enjoy.”
Because the club is run entirely by students and for students, it can operate in a way that other contemporary gaming sites can’t.
Rachel Mekdeci, a senior English major and editor for the club, spoke about how Vol of Duty fits into the larger landscape of video game writing.
“We really wanted to highlight the idea that we can’t be bought,” Mekdeci said. “Unfortunately, with a lot of gaming news sites now, if you give them enough money, they’ll write you a rave review. We are not those people. There’s no funding involved here besides funding from the English department.”
Accessible publication is a key cornerstone of Vol of Duty. The club hopes to be a venue for undergraduates to fill out their resumes and provide the ever-essential ‘previous experience’ needed to get a job as a professional writer.
Editor Hannah McInturff expanded on how writing for the club is beneficial for busy college students.
“Writing for Vol of Duty is also a way to relax while expressing what you love,” McInturff said. “Students are often drowned in so much academic writing that they can be left with a creative block. Writing about games gives them a flexible, creative topic to freewrite.”
The club challenges contemporary social views, such as the idea that video games are a stage for the male audience.
“Growing up, gaming was, and still is, a field dominated by men,” McInturff said. “Because of this, I didn’t know a lot of women who wanted to talk about games. All the editors for Vol of Duty are women who love all genres of games. A club that pushes the boundaries of what is typically a male-dominated field is a club I want to be a part of.”
The club features three sections of stories — gaming now, gaming nostalgia and arts and culture.
“We have a basic framework with these three broad categories and a style guide,” Han said. “From that point on, the growth is really dictated by the undergraduates. Whatever they want to write about will be the focus. We really are just the vessel.”
The gaming now involves the current popular video games that UT students enjoy playing. The gaming nostalgia allows students to interact with their childhood favorites, and the arts and culture provide a narrative style of gaming.
“Vol of Duty is for any type of video game,” Mekdeci said. “It is a broad, sweeping thing.”
Students interested in writing for Vol of Duty should visit the club’s website to review the posted style guide and look at examples of published articles.
Any further questions can be sent directly to Dr. John Han at his school email, [email protected].
