Gaming and Gender

COMM 190, Games & SocietyBill White

The Gender of Gamers

CATEGORY Male FemaleAge 17- 18% 17%Age 18+ 35% 30%Total 53% 47%

Source: Entertainment Software Assn.

Where the Women Are

• Why are female gamers “invisible”?• Women enjoy MMOs

– Social and identity play– Exploration

• Moving beyond “pink games” allows women to occupy role of “gamer.”– Mastery and status– Team sport and combat

• Avatar design raises issues of embodiment and representation.

• Calls for inclusiveness & visibility in design and marketing of games.

The Discourse of the “Girl Gamer”

Contesting “Gamer Girl” As A Term

Ultimately, the message is the same: An “authentic” female player is a girl who plays the way boys play.

From Barbie to Mortal Kombat

“Girl Games”

• Research on “what girls want” assumes girl is a fixed, definite identity.

• But gender is fluid; it is constituted & cultural.

• Many “girl games” enact traditional, gender-specific notions of girlhood.

A Feminist Approach to Software Design• Origins

– Performative view of gender– Feminist pedagogy, accepting multiplicity of “knowledges”

• Fundamental Principles– Transfer authority to user– Value subjective/experiential knowledge of user– Allow different kinds of users and contexts to work.– Give user a tool to express his or her own voice, “truth”– Encourage collaboration among users

• “Storytelling” as Focal Game Activity– Renga (global round-robin shared story)– Rosebud (cyborg stuffed animal storytelling)– SAGE (interactive storytelling, “sage” character design)

Making Room for the Women

• Women are becoming more active as gamers.

• “A definite backlash” from male gamers.– Lewis’s experience– Anita Sarkeesian and the

“gamification of misogyny”

• Social pressure seems to be reducing the backlash.

Social Media: “#1reasonwhy”

Backlash

Backlash, cont’d.

Backlash, cont’d.