What I found interesting
- In the US female players constitute 45% of player (pg. 24) but the industry is only 22% women
- There is a consensus that in mainstream games:
- “a masculine culture systematically minimises or oppresses female and non-heteronormative perspectives, for instance through hypersexualization of female game characters or harassment of women on online discussion boards (Consalvo, 2012” (pg. 27)
- They argue that there should be more room made for other narratives / ways of understanding the world
- They suggest that “under the right circumstances, game play can be a valuable exercise in empowerment, as it makes visible dominant norms, and provides the tools to act out, within a safe environment, alternative identities” (pg.28) – this is something that I want to try doing with my game
- I liked the way that the researchers tried to use reflexivity in their qualitative approach – to try and mitigate their own biases through reflection and discussion
- In saying this, I think the analysis of the games that they chose comes across as a bit uni-dimentional. I think they make some interesting points about the lack of diversity of female characterisation in games like Tekken and Soul Caliber and in the same-sex romance story line in games like Dragon Age but maybe more discussion could have been had with different points of view, or the game maker’s themselves
- Also – it might have been interesting to think about the limitations of game design (from a technological point of view) and the constraints in the mainstream industry – i.e. thinking more carefully about the context and barriers to change
- Overall, some interesting reflections and also interesting methodological approaches (incl. thematic analysis) which I might look at in more detail when doing my own game analysis
- Also useful to know that the industry is not really changing much or quickly – there is still work to do!
References
Biscop, K., Malliet, S. and Dhoest, A. (2019). Subversive Ludic Performance: An Analysis of Gender and Sexuality Performance in Digital Games. DiGeSt. Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies, 6(2), p.23. doi:https://doi.org/10.11116/digest.6.2.2.
