https://theogramme.itch.io/the-masculine-urge
Questions and Answers
search terms: “independent”, “indie”, “men”, “man, “masculinity”, “gender”, “feminism”, “feminine”
Are there any games which are specifically about the experience of being a man?
- Itch.io
- The Masculine Urge by theogramme : “You should know that your task is to gather enough sperm to be able to progress to the next level”
- All Men Are Pigs by KaimakiGames : “A queer and raunchy adult comedy with a tropical flavor. As the main character, you get to move to a Caribbean island named Santa Locura, working the summer away in a bar named The Inqueersition.”
- Burly Men at Sea by Brain&Brain : “With gameplay halfway between a visual novel and a point-and-click adventure, the branching story carries its ungainly heroes into waters where lurk creatures from Scandinavian folklore and other misadventures. You play as storyteller and wayfinder, shaping a custom tale that begins again where it ends.”
- Mint To Be [DEMO] by lazygout : “Five plant boys and only a week to get to know them. Pick wisely, or else… I dunno, restart the game or get a walk-through or something. All boys are unique in that they follow different common tropes. We got the depressed one, the stupid one, the stuck-up one, the patient one, and the gentleman.”
- Steam
- Game jolt
- Five Nights at F***boy’s 2: Final Mix by Team q.e.d. – Game Jolt : “Featuring a massive eight-man party, a challenging non-linear structure, and dozens upon dozens of secret bosses, FNaFb2 is a game developed by Sable Katmai and Joshua Shaw. It is the second entry in the juggernaut FNaFb series.”
- The Night with Ben 2 by NEWTheOswaldMovie – Game Jolt : “Not even a week after the Roblox server outage, Ben faces yet another crisis; he’s losing his fragile masculinity because he sent too many GIFs of black dudes kissing on Discord. Using his brain for the very first time, he decided that the best solution is to steal someone else’s masculinity. So he invited some rando to a kids’ playplace that he rented for a game of hide-and-seek.”
- Five Nights With The Boys: PLUS by world – Play Online – Game Jolt : “The Boys have decided to make your house the target of their next break-in. You recently won some valuable items in an auction, and they plan to steal them from you. The problem is, the valuables are too big to steal all in one night. Luke hatches a plan to steal all of the items over the course of the next five nights. What they don’t know is you’re a light sleeper, and you wake up to the sound of The Boys breaking into your home. You get up to investigate further and accidentally make a loud sound, alerting The Boys that you’re awake.”
- Global game jam
- Nothing
- Reddit
- Mewing Simulator 🤫🧏🏻♂️ on Steam : “Funny clicker game where you should increase your Mewing Score 🤫🧏🏻♂️ for becoming trully Sigma😎”
- Humble Bundle
- 0
- Epic Games store
- 0
Critiquing my research approach
- I might be using the wrong keywords – may need to expand the search from gender theory terms to terms that are more part of ordinary life e.g. ‘alpha male’
- LoveLess Alpha by StudioTeamLess : LoveLess is a game about asking a girl you like to the school dance.
- Alpha Hole Prison – Adults Only 18+ BL, Yaoi, Gay, Bara Visual Novel / Dating Sim by Y Press Games
Reflections
- this was a relatively quick search for games that involved terms related to masculinity
- I think the relatively small number of games suggested that I was searching in the wrong way
- I think that I would need to take a more thematic approach looking for games that could be coded as being about masculinity (e.g. a stereotypical war conquest game) rather than one that uses keywords related to masculinity
- I think this would require a much more purposeful search approach informed by other research or disciplines (e.g. cultural studies)
- My research also tells me that there is a potential gap in the market for games about masculinity – but perhaps the gap is there because there is no demand(!)
