About Me

Lyne Dwyer is a writer, researcher, and homebrew game maker based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. They are a PhD candidate at Concordia University who is researching video game social systems through the Milieux Institute's Technology, Art and Games (TAG) lab, and Dr. Mia Consalvo’s mLab.

Lyne began in the world of cultural studies and critical theory before journeying into media production and specializing in the study of games and play. Since 2019, their work has drawn on queer theory, method, and praxis to examine representations of non/monogamy in digital games. This includes a project where they spent two real-world years (and six in-game) building a virtual life and documenting the queer social possibilities of the hit farming RPG Stardew Valley. 𐚁

Their PhD dissertation picks up where their MA thesis left off: Now that researchers have done some exploring to provide a breakdown of what representations of non/monogamy already exist, Lyne is preparing to launch a speculative prototyping practice that connects the informal design knowledge of players with the professional insight of queer game developers to think about how we can explore a variety of approaches for designing video game dating and intimacies.

Aside from designing games for queer(er) experiences, Lyne's other research interests include platformization, interface studies, labour and unionization the games industry, and game jams. In 2025, they taught an undergraduate course (COMS 333: Games, Media, and Culture) and began developing a framework for using tandem play (playing single games together) as a method for studying media and interactive technologies more broadly.

Wander around this blog to learn more!

You can follow Lyne online @QuestingQueerly. (b'_')b