The Gamer Identity & The Representations of Gender and Race in Games
Metagame Book Club: Game Studies. "The Gamer Identity & The Representations of Gender and Race in Games " by Sherry Jones. Published Nov. 3, 2014. Last Updated: Jan. 14, 2019.
**This page was first published on the Metagame Book Club.
Welcome to Week 1 of Track 1: Game Studies!
We are starting off this reading track with a very timely and important discussion about the gamer identity, and the representations of gender and race in games. In recent years, game studies scholars have applied gender and identity theories to understanding games and the communities that form around gaming. As you already may be aware, the gamergate controversy is influencing the world of gaming, and the persistence of this brewing controversy has prompted many responses from both game journalists and game studies scholars.
Our first week of readings will cover perspectives from both academics and game journalists: 1) the scholarly texts will provide historical context on the need to redefine the gamer identity, and on the way gender and race are represented in games; both issues have been discussed in length long before the gamergate controversy has begun; 2) the game criticism articles will address the changing demographic of game players that has contributed to a shift in the gaming culture, and address some issues that potentially initiated and fueled the gamergate movement.
Below are several articles that I have organized under specific sections/themes. Please feel free to choose which texts you would like to read from each section/theme to learn about the issues at hand (please know that you are not expected to read all of the texts!). We will have a live discussion on some of the issues and theories mentioned in the reading materials at the #Metagame Book Club G+ Community website on November 9th, 5pm MT (use this nifty time zone converter to figure out when the live discussion will occur in your time zone). Join our G+ Community to receive the latest notifications of upcoming webinars and discussions.
Enjoy the readings! Onward~
-- Sherry Jones (Track 1: Game Studies Facilitator)
**This week's recorded live streaming video is published at the end of the page.
Academic Scholars on Gamer Identity
- [ARTICLE] "On Not Becoming Gamers: Moving Beyond the Constructed Audience" by Adrienne Shaw (2013)
- [ARTICLE] "Confronting Toxic Gamer Culture: A Challenge for Feminist Game Studies Scholars" by Mia Consalvo (2014)
- [PDF] "You Are What You Play? A Quantitative Study Into Game Design Preferences Across Gender and Their Interaction with Gaming Habits" by Vermeulen Lotte et. al. (2011)
- [PDF] "Attention Whore! Perception of Female Players Who Identify Themselves as Women in the Communities of MMOs" by Fortim Ivelise and de Moura Grando Carolina (2013)
Academic Scholars on Representations of Gender and Race in Games
- [ARTICLE] “C’mon! Make Me a Man!”: Persona 4, Digital Bodies, and Queer Potentiality" by Jordan Youngblood (2013)
- [PDF] "We Are Two Strong Women: Designing Empowerment in a Pervasive Game" by Jon Back and Annika Waern (2013)
- [ARTICLE] "Self-Saving Princess: Feminism and Post-Play Narrative Modding" by Alex Layne and Samantha Blackmon (2013)
- [ARTICLE] "Collective Organizing, Individual Resistance, or Asshole Griefers? An Ethnographic Analysis of Women of Color In Xbox Live" by Kishonna Gray (2013)
Game Critics on Gender Representations in Games & the Gamergate Controversy
- [ARTICLE] "Wardrobe Theory: Yuna from Final Fantasy X" by Gita Jackson (2014)
- [ARTICLE] "Breaking Gender and Racial Barriers in Netrunner" by Eric Caoilli (2014)
- [ARTICLE] "'Gamers' Don't Have To Be Your Audience. 'Gamers' Are Over" by Leigh Alexander (2014)
- [ARTICLE] "The End of Gamers" by Dan Golding (2014)
- [E-ZINE] The Drink Tank #Gamergate (Issue 390) by Journey Planet (2014)
- [ARTICLE] "We Will Force Gaming to be Free: On Gamergate and the Licence to Inflict Suffering" by Katherine Cross (2014)
Video Series by Anita Sarkeesian (Central to the Gamergate Controversy)
Recorded Live Streaming Video (Review of This Week's Readings)
Published: Nov. 9, 2014.