DIGITIZED GAMING
Digital gaming comes in three main varieties these days -- computer games (no longer restricted to laptops and desktops), console video games (Nintendo, XBox, Playstation, etc.), and mobile games (handheld consoles, smart phones, and tablets). Games have become a massive worldwide industry, now accounting for greater sales than the film industry. We are long past the time when games were only played by teenage boys. The average age of a gamer these days in mid-30s, and gaming attracts players of every age. Games are immensely pleasurable, come in an almost unlimited variety, ranging from the simplest cell phone-based games to elaborate games that take months to play to games that are works of art. Numerous studies suggest that games can teach a number of valuable skills, a fact often lost in the moral panic around the alleged connection between violent games and real life violence.
A small but very vocal segment of gamers, however, engage in racist, sexist and homophobic behaviors that have given game players a bad rap. The books, articles, and sites presented below offer a variety of perspectives on games and gamer culture, including work on the social issues that keep more folks from being able to fully enjoy digital gaming.
A NOTE TO GAMERS: Based on response forums, some gamers are a sensitive, defensive and vocal lot who love to shout "It's only a game, stupid!" or "Die social justice warrior! Die!" Some also regularly block or troll some of the sites cited on this page. While some celebrates the wonderful aspects of gaming, much of the material below is critical of aspects of games and gamer culture. It should go without saying that there are hundreds of wonderful games and millions of great gamers. But this is not a site dedicated to promoting digital cultures; it is dedicated to improving them. And, strangely enough, in order to improve things you have to point out things that need improvement.
So here's a proposal. Unless you can make an argument that racism, sexism and homophobia are intrinsically necessary in games, how about supporting efforts to open up gaming to people who are currently often unable to enjoy gaming pleasures because they feel more like targets than players?
Featured Site
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Never Alone The first Native (Iñupiat) designed and created video game to breakthrough to mainstream success. Will hopefully play a role in lessening Native stereotyping in games. Stunningly beautiful, it also marks an artistic triumph.
Selected General Works on Gaming Culture
- Bogost, I. How to Do Things With Videogames.. U of Minnesota Press, 2011. Richly imaginative survey of the many things videos games can or could do, offering an analysis that moves beyond simplistic attacks or equally simplistic defenses of the form.
- ---. Unit Operations: An Approach to Videogame Criticism. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006.
- Children Now. Fair Play? Violence, Gender and Race in Video Games. Oakland, CA: Children Now, 2001.
- Carr, Sax. "A Talk About Inclusive Gaming". Geek and Sundry (2016).
- Corneliussen, Hilde. and Jill Walker Rettberg. eds. Digital Culture, Play, and Identity: A World of Warcraft® Reader. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2008. Excellent collective study of the most popular massively multiplayer online game.
- Duncombe, Stephen. "Play the Game: Grand Theft Desire." Explores the possibilities and difficulties of 'gamifying' progressive politics.
- Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Simon , Jonas Heide Smith, and Susana Pajares Tosca. Understanding Video Games NY: Routledge, 2008.
- Garrelts, Nate. ed. Digital Game Play: Essays on the Nexus of Game and Gamer. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co, 2005.
- Juul, Jesper. The Casual Revolution: Reinventing Video Games and Their Player. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2009.
- ---. "Games Telling Stories?" Article from Game Studies carefully examining the narrative vs. gameplay approaches to understanding game dynamics.
- ---. Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2005.
- King, G., and K Tanya.. Tomb Raiders and Space Invaders: Videogame Forms and Contexts. London: I.B. Tauris, 2006
- Kline, S., Dyer-Witheford, N., & De Peuter, G. Digital Play: The Interaction of Technology, Culture, and Marketing. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2003.
- Mateas, M., & Stern, A. "Interaction and Narrative," In K. Salen & E. Zimmerman, eds. The Game Design Reader: A Rules of Play Anthology. 642-669. Cambridge: MIT Press. 2006.
- Pobuda, Tanya. "Assessing Gender and Racial Representation in the Board Game Industry." Careful empirical study with many insights highly relevant to the parallel digital game industry. 2019.
- Wardrip-Fruin, N., & Harrigan, P. First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game. Cambridge, MA.: MIT Press, 2004.
- ---. Second Person: Role-Playing and Story in Games and Playable Media. Cambridge, MA.: MIT Press, 2007.
- ---. Third Person: Authoring and Exploring Vast Narratives. Cambridge, MA.: MIT Press, 2009.
- Wark, MacKenzie. Gamer Theory. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2007.
- Wolf, Mark J.P. and Bernard Perron. eds. The Video Game Theory Reader. NY: Routledge, 2003.
- -- eds. The Video Game Theory Reader 2. NY: Routledge, 2008.
- Yee, Nick. The Proteus Paradox: How Online Games and Virtual Worlds Change Us—And How They Don't. New Haven, CT: Yale UP, 2015. Superlative study of the complex and often contradictory impacts of digital gaming that richly combines theory and empirical studies.
Gender and Sexuality in Gaming
Featured Sites
- Girl Geek Academy Seeking gender parity in game designers by 2025.
- Not Your Mama's Gamer. Smart, fun and rich site on gender and gaming.
- Leigh, Chris, ed. Roundtable - Sexism and Video Games.
- Misogyny in Video Games from UCB comedy. A quick, funny but serious and complicated look at sexism in games.
Books, Articles, Sites & Videos on Gender, Sex and Gaming
- Barton, Mathew. Gay Characters in Video Games.
- Beavis, Catherine. Pretty Good for a Girl: Gender, Identity and Computer Games. From the 2005 DIGRA conference.
- Bennet, Dorothy, Brunner, Cornelia, and Honey, Margaret. “Girl Games and Technological Desire.” From Barbie to Mortal Kombat. Eds. Justine Cassell and Henry Jenkins. Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1999. 72-89.
- Bertozzi, Elena. “Marking the Territory: Grand Theft Auto IV as a Playground for Masculinity,” in Social Exclusion, Power, and Video Game Play. Ed. David G. Embrick. Plymouth: Lexington Books, 2012. 3-22.
- Black, Samantha. "Not Your Mama's Gamer"
- Burgess, Melinda, Steven Stermer, and Stephen Burgess. "Sex, Lies, and Video Games: The Portrayal of Male and Female Characters on Video Game Covers." Sex Roles. 57.5/6 (2007): 419-433.
- Bryce, Jo and Rutter, Jason. “Killing Like a Girl: Gendered Gaming and Girl Gamers’ Visibility.” Computer Games and Digital Cultures Conference Proceedings. Ed. Frans Mäyrä. Tampere University Press: Tampere, 2002.
- Carr, Diane. Contexts, Pleasures and Preferences: Girls Playing Computer Games From the 2005 DIGRA conference.
- Carr, Sax. "A Talk About Inclusive Gaming". Geek and Sundry (2016).
- Cassell, Justine and Jenkins, Henry, eds. From Barbie to Mortal Kombat. Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1999.
- Corneliussen, Hilde G., “World of Warcraft as a Playground for Feminism.” In Digital Culture, Play, and Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader. Cambridge, MIT Press, 2008: 63-86.
- Davis, James. Understanding the Social and Cultural Processes Behind the Continual Male Dominance of Computer and Video Game Production and Consumption. Gamasutra (May 2002). [Use the search term "gender" to locate this and other useful articles on Gamasutra.]
- Denner, Jill, et al. Girls Creating Games: Challenging Existing Assumptions about Game Content From 2005 DIGRA conference.
- Dickey, Michele D. "Girl Gamers: The Controversy of Girl Games and the Relevance of Female-oriented Game Design for Instructional Design." British Journal of Educational Technology 37.5 (2006): 785-93.
- “Digital Women: Desire and Loathing in the Videgame Industry.” Edge. 121 (2003): 54-65.
- ELSPA (Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association). "Chicks and Joysticks: an exploration of women and gaming." White paper. September, 2004.
- Lees, Matt. "What Gamergate Should Have Taught Us about the Alt-right." Guardian (December 1, 2016).
- Feminist Gamers Comments on PALGN's roundtable on Sexism in Video Games. Feminist Gamers. April 2007.
- Fox, Jesse and Wai Yen Tang. “Women’s Experiences with General and Sexual Harassment in Online Video Games: Rumination, Organizational Responsiveness, Withdrawal, and Coping Strategies.” New Media & Society 19.8. (August 2017):1290–1307.
- Games Matter? Current Theories and Studies on Digital Games (2018) Special issue of Media and Communication.
- "Gaming in Color." Documentary by Philip Jones "exploring the queer side of gaming."
- GLAAD. GLAAD forum on Homophobia in Virtual Communities Video of a conference with industry leaders and others tackling the issue of homophobia in gaming.
- Graner Ray, Sheri. Gender Inclusive Game Design: Expanding the Market. Charles River Media, Inc. 2004.
- Hall, Charles. Games Industry is Wrong About Kids Gaming and Gender Report on Rosalind Wiseman and Ashly Burch study showing gamer kids are more progressive on gender than the game industry thinks. 2014
- Hayes, Elisabeth. "Gendered Identities at Play: Case Studies of Two Women Playing Morrowind." Games and Culture (2007): 23-48.
- Ivins, Jessica. RetroType Playful commentary on female avatar stereotypes from the not so good old days 1970s to 2005.
- Janz, Jeroen, and Raynel Martis. "The Lara Phenomenon: Powerful Female Characters in Video Games."
- Jenson, Jennifer and Suzanne de Castell. Girls and Gaming: Gender Research, “Progress” and the Death of Interpretation. From the 2007 DIGRA conference.
- ---. Theorizing Gender and Digital Gameplay: Oversights, Accidents and Surprises. Eludamos 2 (1) (2008):.15-25.
- Jenkins, Henry. Complete Freedom of Movement: Video Games as Gendered Play Spaces. Also in Cassell and Jenkins, eds. From Barbie to Mortal Kombat. Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1999.
- Jenkins, Henry. "From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Further Reflections." Playing By The Rules: The Cultural Policy Challenges of Video Games. University of Chicago, Chicago. Oct. 2001. 6 Feb. 2006 .
- Jeong, Sarah. "If We Took 'Gamergate' Seriously, 'Pizzagate' Might Never Have Happened." Washington Post (December 14, 2016).
- Joynt-Borger, Sarah. Knight in Shining Armor Syndrome: We examine symptoms of false chivalry and sexism in World of Warcraf.t Games Radar, n.d.
- Karmali, Luke. “Why We Need More Gay characters in Video Games.” IGN. 3 Apr. 2014.
- Kennedy, Helen W. Lara Croft: Feminist Icon or Cyberbimbo? On the Limits of Textual Analysis. Games Studies 2(2) (2002):.
- Kerr, Aphra. “Girls Women Just Want To Have Fun – A Study Of Adult Female Player Of Digital Games.” Level Up: Digital Games Research Conference. Eds. Marinka Copier and Joost Raessen. DIGRA: Utrecht University, 2003.
- Kleinman, Zoe. "Facebook Sexism Campaign Attracts Thousands Online." BBC Online (May 28, 2013).
- Kowert, Rachel, and Julian A. Oldmeadow. "(A)Social Reputation: Exploring the Relationship between Online Video Game Involvement and Social Competence." Computers in Human Behavior 29.4 (2013): 1872-78.
- Lin, Holin. Gendered Gaming Experience in Social Space: From Home to Internet Café From 2005 DIGRA conference.
- Luteria, Evan. Sexuality and Sexual Orientation in Computer and Console Games Gamology (2006).
- MacCallum-Stewart, Esther. Real Boys Carry Girly Epics: Normalising Gender Bending in Online Games Eludamos.
- McDonald, Keza. "A Gay History of Gaming" IGN (March8 8, 2011).
- Mathews, Emily. Sexism in Video Games Interesting survey-based study of how sexism in video game culture impacts both women and men.
- Massanari, Adrienne. "Gendered Pleasures: The Wi Embodiment and Technological Desire,” in Social Exclusion, Power, and Video Game Play. Ed. David G. Embrick. Plymouth: Lexington Books, 2012. 117-140
- Raymond, Alex. "Women Aren't Vending Machines: How Video Games Perpetuate the Commodity Model of Sex" Game Critics (August 2009).
- Shaw, Adrienne. Gaming at the Edge: Sexuality and Gender at the Margins of Gamer Culture, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota. 2014.
- Schleiner, Anne Marie (2000) "Does Lara Croft Wear Fake Polygons? Gender and Gender-Role Subversion in Computer Adventure Games" Leonardo 34.3 (2001): 221–226.
- Schroder, A. "We don't want it changed, do we?' Gender and Sexuality in Role Playing Games" Eludamos 2.2 (2008)
- Sutro."WoW That's Boring. Let's Add Sexism" Feministing (2009).
- Taylor, Nicholas, et. al. "Gender in Play: Mapping a Girls’ Gaming Club". From the 2007 DIGRA conference.
- Taylor, T. L. “Multiple Pleasures: Women and Online Gaming.” Convergence 9(1) (2003): 21-46.
- Westecott, Emma. Introduction to Gender and Games - Moving the field forward Eludamos 2.1 (2008).
- Wikipedia list of LGBTQI2+ game characters.
Race/Ethnicity in Gaming
- Racism in Video Games UCB Control Freak comedy series quick take on race and gaming.
- Bogost, I. Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2007.
- Carr, Sax. "A Talk About Inclusive Gaming". Geek and Sundry (2016).
- Chan, Playing with Race: Ethics of Racialized Representation in E-Games International Review of Information Ethics 4 (2005).
- Curlew, A. Brady. Liberal Sims?: Simulated Difference and the Commodity of Social Diversity. From 2005 DIGRA conference.
- DeVane Benm and Kurt D. Squire. "The Meaning of Race and Violence in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas."
- Games and Culture, 3 (2008): 264-28.
- DiSalvo, Betsy James, Kevin Crowley, and Roy Norwood. "Learning in Context: Digital Games and Young Black Men."
- Games and Culture 3 (2008): 131-141.
- Dymek, Mikolaj and Thomas Lennerfors. Among Pasta-loving Mafiosos, Drug-selling Columbians and Noodle-eating Triads? Race, Humour and Interactive Ethics in Grand Theft Auto III. From 2005 DIGRA conference.
- Everett, Anna and Craig S. Watkins. “The Power of Play: Portrayal and Performance of Race in Video Games.” The Ecology of Games (17 Mar. 2014: 141-64).
- Foster, Thomas. The Souls of Cyberfolk: Posthumanism as Vernacular Theory. Minnepolis: U Minnesota P, 2005.
- Good, Owen. Minority Report: The Non-White Gamer Experience
- Higgin, T. "Blackless Fantasy: The Disappearance of Race in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games." Games and Culture 4.1 (2009):3-26.
- Hoegland, Johan. Electronic Empire: Orientalism Revisited in the Military Shooters Game Studies.
- Hung, Chia-Yuan. Video Games in Context: An Ethnographic Study of Situated Meaning-making Practices of Asian Immigrant Adolescents in New York City. From 2007 DIGRA conference.
- Jones, Vanessa E. The Debate over Stereotypes in Video Games: A No-Win Situation Boston Globe 5/5/2008.
- Kafai, Yasmin B., Melissa S. Cook, and Deborah A. Fields. "‘Blacks Deserve Bodies Too!'': Design and Discussion About Diversity and Race in a Tween Virtual World." Games and Culture 5 (2010): 43-63.
- Kolko, Beth. "Erasing @race: Going White in the (Inter)Face." In Beth Kolko et al., eds. Race in Cyberspace. NY: Routledge, 2000: 213-232.
- Langer, Jessica. "The Familiar and the Foreign Playing (Post)Colonialism in World of Warcraft." In Cornelissun and Rettberg, eds. Digital Culture, Play, and Identity A World of Warcraft® Reader. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2008: 87-108.
- Leonard, D. J. "Not a Hater, Just Keepin' It Real: The Importance of Race- and Gender-Based Game Studies."
- ---. "To the White Extreme: Conquering Athletic Space, White Manhood, and Racing Virtual Reality." In N. Garrelts. ed., Digital Gameplay: Essays on the Nexus of Game and Gamer.110-129. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co.
- Nakamura, Lisa. Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet. Routledge, 2002.Groundbreaking book on the transferral of stereotypes into cybertypes.
- ---. Digitizing Race: Visual Cultures of the Internet. University of Minnesota Press, 2007.Extends the cybertypes analysis to the visual dimensions of the digital cultures.
- Nelson, Alondra, and Thuy Lihn N. Tu, with Alicia Headlam Hines, eds. Technicolor: Race Technology, and Everyday Life. New York University Press, 2001. Demonstrates long history of engagement with digital technologies by people of color.
- ---. "Race In/For Cyberspace: Identity Tourism and Racial Passing on the Internet." Works and Days 13(1-2), (1996): 181-193.
- Miller, K. (2007). "Jacking the Dial: Radio, Race, and Place in Grand Theft Auto." Ethnomusicology, 51(3), 402-438.
- Ow, Jeffrey. "The Revenge of the Yellowfaced Cyborg Terminator." In Beth E Kolko, Lisa Nakamura and Gilbert B Rodman eds. Race in Cyberspace. (New York: Routledge, 2000): 51-68.
- Sample, Mark. Virtual Torture: Videogames and the War on Terror.
- Game Studies.
- Sisler, Vit. Digital Arabs: Representation in Video Games Digital Islam.
- Tucker, Elner. The Orientalist Perspective: Cultural Imperialism in Gaming. Gamology (2006).
- Wyeld, Theodor G . The Ethics of Indigenous Storytelling: using the Torque Game Engine to Support Australian Aboriginal Cultural Heritage. From 2007 DIGRA conference.
Online Game & Game Studies Resources
- Canadian Game Studies Association
- Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA)
- Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game Culture
- Game Critics
- Games and Culture
- Game Studies
- Gamology
- International Journal of Computer Game Technology
- Journal of Games Criticism. A peer-reviewed multidisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity digital journal focusing on the many facets of gaming culture and industry.
- Journal of Virtual Worlds Research
- Ludology
- Video Game Studies
- Watercooler Games (archive)
Alternative Games/Gamers Sites
- Able Gamers Gaming site for people with disabilities.
- Border House Blog for gamers marginalized by race, gender, sexuality or disability.
- Dames Making Games. A Toronto-based not-for-profit organization dedicated to supporting women interested in making, playing, and changing games.
- Female Gamer
- Feminist Frequency. A webseries exploring the representations of women in video game and pop culture narratives. The mini-series "Tropes vs Women in Video Games." addresses many issues of gender, and representation in the gaming industry.
- Frag Dolls US branch of an international team of professional female gamers recruited by Ubisoft to promote their video games, and to improve the visibility and power of women in the game industry.
- Game Changer Working with youth to create social change games.
- Game Girl Advance Excellent, thoughtful blog looking at games through the lens of gender.
- Games for Change
- Gamers Against Racism
- GayGamer
- GayGamerFacebook
- GayGirlGamers on Steam
- Gaymer World
- Geek Feminism Serious with a sense of humor-- nice combo.
- Girl Gamer
- Girl Gamers Everything "girl" gamers could want, from UK.
- Girl Geek Academy Seeking to add 1 million women to the tech industry by 2025.
- Lady Gamers
- Lesbian Gamers on Facebook
- Lesbian Gamers on reddit
- Not Your Mama's Gamer
- She Makes Games Women game designers talk about their work.
- Thumb Bandits
- Warcraft Chicks
- Women in Games Important site for women in or wishing to enter the game industry.
- Women Gamers No longer updated, but still a useful resource.