Matthew Thomas Payne

Director of Graduate Studies
Associate Professor, Television

Specialties

History, Theory, and Criticism

Research Interests

Cultural History of Video Games, Video Essays, Media & War, Media Literacy, Play Theory

Biography

Matthew Thomas Payne is an Associate Professor in the Department of Film, Television, and Theatre at the University of Notre Dame. Matthew has taught a range of media studies and film/video production courses at the university level, and he has conducted industry research for Warner Brothers. He is currently working on a book project that historicizes the influence of Ultima, an early computer role-playing game. Matthew also serves as a regional director for the Learning Games Initiative, a multi-institute research collective dedicated to archiving games and gaming ephemera, and to distributing these materials to educators for classroom instruction. He adores Ms. Pac-Man and is irrationally terrified of Midwestern winters.

Representative Publications, Performances, and Creative Works

How to Play Video Games (NYU Press, 2019). Co-edited with Nina B. Huntemann.

Playing War: Military Video Games after 9/11 (NYU Press, 2016).

Flow TV: Television in the Age of Media Convergence (New York: Routledge, 2010). Co-edited with Michael Kackman, Marnie Binfield, Allison Perlman, and Bryan Sebok.

Joystick Soldiers: The Politics of Play in Military Video Games (New York: Routledge, 2009). Co-edited with Nina B. Huntemann.