Default Characters and the Embodied Nature of Play: Race, Gender, and Gamer Identity
Abstract
This paper examines several recent controversies in the gaming and popular culture fandoms that revolved around issues of sexuality, race, and gender. It uses these examples as a means for examining which roles and identities are privileged when it comes to talking about gamers and gamer identity. The paper argues that a shift toward play as an embodied process allows for more inclusive games and forms of play which would allow for the expansion of who both sees their self in videogames and is able to play like a character of their own identity. Drawing on videogames such as Mass Effect 3 and Grand Theft Auto V, this paper uses visual rhetorical strategies to analyse and identify how specific cultures and identities have been excluded from the tag of gamer. Additionally, it examines canonical videogames of the past to establish how feminine characters have been treated under the male gaze. Finally, it provides a glimpse of the possibilities for videogames to be aware of their embodied nature and potential for inclusivity.References
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Buchanan, K. (2015). The major female villain in Star Wars: The Force Awakens was originally a man. Vulture. Retrieved from http://www.vulture.com/2015/12/female-star-wars-villain-originally-man.html.
Consalvo, M. (2012). Confronting toxic gamer culture: A challenge for feminist game studies scholars, ADA: A Journal of Gender, New Media, & Technology, 1(1), 1-12.
Demby, G. (2014). Steet Fighter II: Most racist nostalgic video game ever? Code Switch : NPR. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/03/16/290119728/street-fighter-ii-most-racist-nostalgic-video-game-ever.
Ensslin, A. (2014). Literary gaming. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Gallagher, V. J. (2006). Displaying race: Cultural projection and Commemoration. In Lawrence J. Prelli (Ed.), Rhetorics of display (pp 177-196). Columbia, SC: U of South Carolina Press.
Grayson, N. (2015). Rust players divided over not being able to choose their sex. Kotaku. Retrieved from http://steamed.kotaku.com/rust-players-divided-over-unchangeable-character-sexes-1719118024.
Hernandez, P. (2015). Someone actually tried testing out if GTA V cops were ‘racist’. Kotaku. Retrieved from http://kotaku.com/someone-actually-tried-testing-out-if-gta-v-cops-are-ra-1691180811.
Hooton, C. (2013). GTA 5: Rockstar denies in-game police are racist. Metro News. Retrieved from http://metro.co.uk/2013/09/27/rockstar-gta-5-police-are-not-racist-4126162/.
Layne, A., & Blackmon S. (2013). Self-saving princess: Feminism and post-play narrative modding, ADA: A Journal of Gender, New Media, & Technology, 2(1), 17-31.
Reynolds, N. (1998). Composition’s imagined geographies: The politics of space in the frontier, city, and cyberspace. College Composition and Communication, 50(1), 12-35.
Salen, K. & Zimmerman, E. (2003). Rules of play: Game design fundamentals. Cambridge, MA. The MIT Press.
Shaw, A. (2011). Do you identify as a gamer? Gender, race, sexuality, and gamer identity. New Media & Society, 14(1), 28-44.
Sicart, M. (2014). Play matters. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Wysoci, A. F. (2012). Into between—On compostition in mediation. In Kristin L. Arola & Anne Francis Wysocki (Eds.), Composing (media) = composing (embodiment) (pp. 1-22). Boulder, CO: UP of Colorado.
Published
July 19, 2016
Section
Articles
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