Discussing Identities through Game-Making: A Case Study
Abstract
Identities should not be understood as a static, defining trait, but as a temporary articulation performed by diverse people. Based on data generated through the Playing Beowulf project, in which students produced their own games, I present a reflection on the meaning of a gamer identity and how diverse identities can be performed and articulated during game-making process. Understanding how these identities are orchestrated in a non-professional environment might help to clarify the relationship between them and the social and cultural position occupied by games, as well as to reflect on the validity and possible limits of a gamer identity.
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Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: the development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Weber, S., & Mitchell, C. (2008). Imaging, Keyboarding, and Posting Identities: Young People and New Media Technologies. In D. Buckingham (Ed.), Youth, identity, and digital media (pp. 25–48). Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Bethesda. (1997-2015) Fallout (game series). Bethesda.
Bogost, I. (2007). Persuasive games the expressive power of videogames. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Bogost, I. (2011). How to do things with videogames. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: a social critique of the judgement of taste. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Bourdieu, P. (2000). The biographical illusion. In P. Du Gay, J. Evans, & P. Redman (Eds.), Identity: a reader (pp. 15–30). London; Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications in association with The Open University.
Buckingham, D. (2008). Introducing Identity. In D. Buckingham (Ed.), Youth, identity, and digital media. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Burn, A. (2008). The Case of Rebellion: Researching Multimodal Texts. In J. Coiro, C. Lankshear, M. Knobel, & D. Leu (Eds.), Handbook of research on new literacies (pp. 149–177). New York: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Canclini, N. G. (2001). Consumers and citizens: globalization and multicultural conflicts. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Chess, S., & Shaw, A. (2015). A Conspiracy of Fishes, or, How We Learned to Stop Worrying About #GamerGate and Embrace Hegemonic Masculinity. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 59(1), 208–220. http://doi.org/10.1080/08838151.2014.999917
Chess, S., & Shaw, A. (2016). We Are All Fishes Now: DiGRA, Feminism, and GamerGate. Transactions of the Digital Games Research Association, 2(2), 21–30. http://doi.org/10.1080/08838151.2014.999917
Condis, M. (2015). No homosexuals in Star Wars? BioWare, ‘gamer’ identity, and the politics of privilege in a convergence culture. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 1-15. http://doi.org/10.1177/1354856514527205
Consalvo, M. (2007). Cheating: gaining advantage in videogames. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Consalvo, M. (2012). Confronting Toxic Gamer Culture: A Challenge for Feminist Game Studies Scholars. ADA: Journal of Gender New Media & Technology, (1). Retrieved from http://adanewmedia.org/2012/11/issue1-consalvo/
De Grove, F., Courtois, C., & Van Looy, J. (2015). How to be a gamer! Exploring personal and social indicators of gamer identity. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 20(3), 346–361. http://doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12114
Dormann, C., & Biddle, R. (2009). A Review of Humor for Computer Games: Play, Laugh and More. Simulation & Gaming, 40(6), 802–824. http://doi.org/10.1177/1046878109341390
Everett, A. (2014). Race. In M. J. P. Wolf & B. Perron (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to Video Game Studies. New York: Routledge.
Foucault, M. (1995). Discipline and punish: the birth of the prison. New York: Vintage Books.
Giddens, A. (1991). Modernity and self-identity: self and society in the late modern age. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.
Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday.
Grooten, J., & Kowert, R. (2015). Going Beyond the Game: Development of Gamer Identities Within Societal Discourse and Virtual Spaces. Loading… The Journal of the Canadian Game Studies Association, 9(14), 70–87.
Hall, S. (1992). The Question of Cultural Identity. In S. Hall, D. Held, & A. McGrew (Eds.), Modernity and its futures (pp. 273–326). Cambridge: Polity.
Hall, S. (2000). Who needs identity? In P. Du Gay, J. Evans, & P. Redman (Eds.), Identity: a reader (pp. 15–30). London; Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications in association with The Open University.
Jewitt, C. (org.) (2014). The Routledge handbook of multimodal analysis (2nd ed.). London; New York: Routledge.
Juul, J. (2010). A casual revolution reinventing video games and their players. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Juul, J. (2013). The art of failure: an essay on the pain of playing video games. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Kafai, Y. B. (org.) (2008). Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat: new perspectives on gender and gaming. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Kress, G. R. (2010). Multimodality: a social semiotic approach to contemporary communication. London; New York: Routledge.
Lee, J. (2007, September 25). Cue the Scream: Meet Holywood’s Go-To Shriek. Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/2007/09/st-scream/.
Sicart, M. (2009). The ethics of computer games. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Shaw, A. (2009). Putting the Gay in Games Cultural Production and GLBT Content in Video Games. Games and Culture, 4(3), 228–253. http://doi.org/10.1177/1555412009339729
Shaw, A. (2010). What Is Video Game Culture? Cultural Studies and Game Studies. Games and Culture, 5(4), 403–424. http://doi.org/10.1177/1555412009360414
Shaw, A. (2012). Do you identify as a gamer? Gender, race, sexuality, and gamer identity. New Media & Society, 14(1), 28–44. http://doi.org/10.1177/1461444811410394
Shaw, A. (2013). On not becoming gamers: moving beyond the constructed audience. ADA: Journal of Gender New Media & Technology, (2). Retrieved from http://adanewmedia.org/2013/06/issue2-shaw/
Shaw, A. (2014). Gaming at the edge: sexuality and gender at the margins of gamer culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: the development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Weber, S., & Mitchell, C. (2008). Imaging, Keyboarding, and Posting Identities: Young People and New Media Technologies. In D. Buckingham (Ed.), Youth, identity, and digital media (pp. 25–48). Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Published
July 19, 2016
Section
Articles
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