2022
Ruotsalainen, Maria
Overwatch esports and the (re)configurations of gender and nationality Väitöskirja
Nykykulttuurin tutkimus, Jyväskylän yliopisto, 2022, ISBN: 978-951-39-9184-5.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Avainsanat: competitive gaming, englanninkieliset väitöskirjat, esports, gender, nationalism, nationality, qualitative research
@phdthesis{Ruotsalainen2022,
title = {Overwatch esports and the (re)configurations of gender and nationality},
author = {Maria Ruotsalainen},
url = {http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-39-9184-5},
isbn = {978-951-39-9184-5},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-01-01},
school = {Nykykulttuurin tutkimus, Jyväskylän yliopisto},
abstract = {The dissertation comprises five research articles and a compilation portion, focusing on gender and nationality in competitive Overwatch. Overwatch is a team-based first-person shooter that Blizzard Entertainment published in 2014. From the beginning onwards, it has had an active esports scene. In 2018, the game’s publisher took hold of the whole esports scene and organised it in a league format—strikingly similar to how traditional sports leagues in North America are organised—and to a yearly (2016–2019) organised Overwatch World Cup. Against this backdrop, I examine how gender and nationality are portrayed within the production of competitive Overwatch Esports and how they are performed and negotiated within the reception of competitive Overwatch. Drawing from the concept of banal nationalism, I suggest the production choices of Overwatch esports are meant to evoke nationalist sentiments from the viewers and fans, intimately tying in with the ongoing sportification of Overwatch esports and esports in general. The ongoing sportification of Overwatch esports also affects how gender, particularly masculinity, is portrayed and positioned within this particular esports. The influence of traditional sports strengthens the position of hegemonic masculinity, often leading to portrayals of athletic masculinity as the desirable masculinity within the Overwatch esports ecosystem. However, examining the reception of Overwatch esports reveals a richer and more varied picture of how masculinity and gender are negotiated within Overwatch esports. The players, fans, and viewers both affirm and resist the nationalist ethos and the sportified aesthetics and the configurations of the masculinity they suggest, drawing also from alternative ways to frame competitive gaming. Particularly relevant for this is anime aesthetics which are used by fans to frame Overwatch esports. This also affects what kind of desirable masculinity is negotiated amongst fans: The hegemonic masculinity is reconfigured to a form of hybrid masculinity, with elements of athletic masculinity, geek masculinity, and Kawaii masculinity, allowing (white and Asian) men to have more varied gender expression. Unfortunately, this allowance has little to no bearing on the positions of the others and women continue being marginalised in Overwatch esports.},
keywords = {competitive gaming, englanninkieliset väitöskirjat, esports, gender, nationalism, nationality, qualitative research},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {phdthesis}
}
The dissertation comprises five research articles and a compilation portion, focusing on gender and nationality in competitive Overwatch. Overwatch is a team-based first-person shooter that Blizzard Entertainment published in 2014. From the beginning onwards, it has had an active esports scene. In 2018, the game’s publisher took hold of the whole esports scene and organised it in a league format—strikingly similar to how traditional sports leagues in North America are organised—and to a yearly (2016–2019) organised Overwatch World Cup. Against this backdrop, I examine how gender and nationality are portrayed within the production of competitive Overwatch Esports and how they are performed and negotiated within the reception of competitive Overwatch. Drawing from the concept of banal nationalism, I suggest the production choices of Overwatch esports are meant to evoke nationalist sentiments from the viewers and fans, intimately tying in with the ongoing sportification of Overwatch esports and esports in general. The ongoing sportification of Overwatch esports also affects how gender, particularly masculinity, is portrayed and positioned within this particular esports. The influence of traditional sports strengthens the position of hegemonic masculinity, often leading to portrayals of athletic masculinity as the desirable masculinity within the Overwatch esports ecosystem. However, examining the reception of Overwatch esports reveals a richer and more varied picture of how masculinity and gender are negotiated within Overwatch esports. The players, fans, and viewers both affirm and resist the nationalist ethos and the sportified aesthetics and the configurations of the masculinity they suggest, drawing also from alternative ways to frame competitive gaming. Particularly relevant for this is anime aesthetics which are used by fans to frame Overwatch esports. This also affects what kind of desirable masculinity is negotiated amongst fans: The hegemonic masculinity is reconfigured to a form of hybrid masculinity, with elements of athletic masculinity, geek masculinity, and Kawaii masculinity, allowing (white and Asian) men to have more varied gender expression. Unfortunately, this allowance has little to no bearing on the positions of the others and women continue being marginalised in Overwatch esports.
Friman, Usva
Digitaalinen kulttuuri, Turun yliopisto, 2022, ISBN: 978-951-29-8876-1.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Avainsanat: englanninkieliset väitöskirjat, game cultural agency, gender, women gamers
@phdthesis{Friman2022,
title = {Gender and game cultural agency in the post-gamer era: Finnish women players’ gaming practices, game cultural participation, and rejected gamer identity},
author = {Usva Friman},
url = {https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2024031210910},
isbn = {978-951-29-8876-1},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-01-01},
urldate = {2022-01-01},
school = {Digitaalinen kulttuuri, Turun yliopisto},
abstract = {This doctoral dissertation study, positioned in the field of game culture studies, seeks to understand women’s game cultural agency by examining the various aspects of gaming practices, game cultural participation, and gamer identity, as well as effects of gender in Finnish women’s digital gaming. Its main research question is: How can women’s game cultural agency be understood beyond the gamer identity? This main research question is divided into three sub research questions:
1. What are women players’ gaming practices like?
2. How does gender affect women players’ game cultural participation?
3. How do women players construct the idea and identity of a gamer?
The theoretical framework of the study is built upon the concepts of game culture, game cultural participation, gamer identity, and gender. In the study, game culture is understood as a Bourdieusian field of culture, hierarchical in its nature. Within this cultural field, an individual’s position is defined by her game cultural capital, based on consumption of game cultural products, participation in game cultural activities, gaming skill, and game cultural expertise. Game cultural participation refers to both participating in game cultural activities and the feeling of belonging in game culture. Gamer identity is seen as a cultural identity – experienced and performed within a specific game cultural context – that requires both identification (from the person seeing herself as a gamer) and validation (from other members of game culture). A person’s gamer identity is performed through the gamer habitus: embodied dispositions and displays of game cultural capital. Gender is understood as embodied performance, set in specific game cultural contexts and against the expectations of hegemonic gamer masculinity.
The primary research material of this study consists of semi-structured theme interviews with 20 interviewees and an online questionnaire with 737 respondents, both collected from Finnish adult women who play digital games. Both the interviews and the online questionnaire report women’s current gaming practices and gaming histories, participation in gaming events, production and consumption of game media, following of and participation in electronic sports, gamer definitions and gamer identity, how gender affects their gaming, and the meanings of gaming in the women’s lives. The material is analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Additionally, narrative literature reviews are conducted to provide theoretical context for the analysis.
The analysis shows that women are active players and game cultural participants (albeit more as consumers than as producers) who display significant game cultural expertise. Importantly, women define their game cultural agency on their own terms, affected by but standing against the gendered norms and expectations of the hegemonic game culture. However, women also encounter significant gender-based barriers to their game cultural participation and agency, leading them to suffer from misogynistic discrimination and harassment, limit their participation for their safety, or even opt out entirely from certain game cultural activities. Most women participating in the study reported their gender having affected their gaming, mostly in negative ways. Supportive social environments appear central to women’s gaming.
The main contribution of this study is providing understanding of how game cultural agency is constructed beyond the idea and identity of a gamer and the gender-specific issues affecting women’s game cultural agency. The results offer valuable insight into gaming practices, game cultural participation, and (rejection of) gamer identities of women players, as well as into women players’ game cultural position as a group that is simultaneously actively participating in and being rejected from game culture. The study increases our understanding of the structures of marginalisation within game culture, which do not only affect women but many other player groups as well.
The results of the study can be applied in efforts to increase the cultural accessibility, inclusivity, and equity of game culture by a variety of game cultural agents, including gaming event and esports tournament organisers, gaming community managers, gaming education and youth workers, and game journalists. Even though the material is focused on Finnish women players, these results can also be applied to other player groups as well as international contexts.},
keywords = {englanninkieliset väitöskirjat, game cultural agency, gender, women gamers},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {phdthesis}
}
This doctoral dissertation study, positioned in the field of game culture studies, seeks to understand women’s game cultural agency by examining the various aspects of gaming practices, game cultural participation, and gamer identity, as well as effects of gender in Finnish women’s digital gaming. Its main research question is: How can women’s game cultural agency be understood beyond the gamer identity? This main research question is divided into three sub research questions:
1. What are women players’ gaming practices like?
2. How does gender affect women players’ game cultural participation?
3. How do women players construct the idea and identity of a gamer?
The theoretical framework of the study is built upon the concepts of game culture, game cultural participation, gamer identity, and gender. In the study, game culture is understood as a Bourdieusian field of culture, hierarchical in its nature. Within this cultural field, an individual’s position is defined by her game cultural capital, based on consumption of game cultural products, participation in game cultural activities, gaming skill, and game cultural expertise. Game cultural participation refers to both participating in game cultural activities and the feeling of belonging in game culture. Gamer identity is seen as a cultural identity – experienced and performed within a specific game cultural context – that requires both identification (from the person seeing herself as a gamer) and validation (from other members of game culture). A person’s gamer identity is performed through the gamer habitus: embodied dispositions and displays of game cultural capital. Gender is understood as embodied performance, set in specific game cultural contexts and against the expectations of hegemonic gamer masculinity.
The primary research material of this study consists of semi-structured theme interviews with 20 interviewees and an online questionnaire with 737 respondents, both collected from Finnish adult women who play digital games. Both the interviews and the online questionnaire report women’s current gaming practices and gaming histories, participation in gaming events, production and consumption of game media, following of and participation in electronic sports, gamer definitions and gamer identity, how gender affects their gaming, and the meanings of gaming in the women’s lives. The material is analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Additionally, narrative literature reviews are conducted to provide theoretical context for the analysis.
The analysis shows that women are active players and game cultural participants (albeit more as consumers than as producers) who display significant game cultural expertise. Importantly, women define their game cultural agency on their own terms, affected by but standing against the gendered norms and expectations of the hegemonic game culture. However, women also encounter significant gender-based barriers to their game cultural participation and agency, leading them to suffer from misogynistic discrimination and harassment, limit their participation for their safety, or even opt out entirely from certain game cultural activities. Most women participating in the study reported their gender having affected their gaming, mostly in negative ways. Supportive social environments appear central to women’s gaming.
The main contribution of this study is providing understanding of how game cultural agency is constructed beyond the idea and identity of a gamer and the gender-specific issues affecting women’s game cultural agency. The results offer valuable insight into gaming practices, game cultural participation, and (rejection of) gamer identities of women players, as well as into women players’ game cultural position as a group that is simultaneously actively participating in and being rejected from game culture. The study increases our understanding of the structures of marginalisation within game culture, which do not only affect women but many other player groups as well.
The results of the study can be applied in efforts to increase the cultural accessibility, inclusivity, and equity of game culture by a variety of game cultural agents, including gaming event and esports tournament organisers, gaming community managers, gaming education and youth workers, and game journalists. Even though the material is focused on Finnish women players, these results can also be applied to other player groups as well as international contexts.
1. What are women players’ gaming practices like?
2. How does gender affect women players’ game cultural participation?
3. How do women players construct the idea and identity of a gamer?
The theoretical framework of the study is built upon the concepts of game culture, game cultural participation, gamer identity, and gender. In the study, game culture is understood as a Bourdieusian field of culture, hierarchical in its nature. Within this cultural field, an individual’s position is defined by her game cultural capital, based on consumption of game cultural products, participation in game cultural activities, gaming skill, and game cultural expertise. Game cultural participation refers to both participating in game cultural activities and the feeling of belonging in game culture. Gamer identity is seen as a cultural identity – experienced and performed within a specific game cultural context – that requires both identification (from the person seeing herself as a gamer) and validation (from other members of game culture). A person’s gamer identity is performed through the gamer habitus: embodied dispositions and displays of game cultural capital. Gender is understood as embodied performance, set in specific game cultural contexts and against the expectations of hegemonic gamer masculinity.
The primary research material of this study consists of semi-structured theme interviews with 20 interviewees and an online questionnaire with 737 respondents, both collected from Finnish adult women who play digital games. Both the interviews and the online questionnaire report women’s current gaming practices and gaming histories, participation in gaming events, production and consumption of game media, following of and participation in electronic sports, gamer definitions and gamer identity, how gender affects their gaming, and the meanings of gaming in the women’s lives. The material is analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Additionally, narrative literature reviews are conducted to provide theoretical context for the analysis.
The analysis shows that women are active players and game cultural participants (albeit more as consumers than as producers) who display significant game cultural expertise. Importantly, women define their game cultural agency on their own terms, affected by but standing against the gendered norms and expectations of the hegemonic game culture. However, women also encounter significant gender-based barriers to their game cultural participation and agency, leading them to suffer from misogynistic discrimination and harassment, limit their participation for their safety, or even opt out entirely from certain game cultural activities. Most women participating in the study reported their gender having affected their gaming, mostly in negative ways. Supportive social environments appear central to women’s gaming.
The main contribution of this study is providing understanding of how game cultural agency is constructed beyond the idea and identity of a gamer and the gender-specific issues affecting women’s game cultural agency. The results offer valuable insight into gaming practices, game cultural participation, and (rejection of) gamer identities of women players, as well as into women players’ game cultural position as a group that is simultaneously actively participating in and being rejected from game culture. The study increases our understanding of the structures of marginalisation within game culture, which do not only affect women but many other player groups as well.
The results of the study can be applied in efforts to increase the cultural accessibility, inclusivity, and equity of game culture by a variety of game cultural agents, including gaming event and esports tournament organisers, gaming community managers, gaming education and youth workers, and game journalists. Even though the material is focused on Finnish women players, these results can also be applied to other player groups as well as international contexts.
2020
Käsmä, Marjukka
Social difference as action: A nexus analysis of gender and ability in World of Warcraft game culture Väitöskirja
Englantilainen filologia, Oulun yliopisto, 2020, ISBN: 978-952-62-2713-9.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Avainsanat: ability, englanninkieliset väitöskirjat, equality, gender, nexus analysis, online gaming
@phdthesis{Käsmä2020,
title = {Social difference as action: A nexus analysis of gender and ability in World of Warcraft game culture},
author = {Marjukka Käsmä},
url = {https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:9789526227139},
isbn = {978-952-62-2713-9},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-01-01},
school = {Englantilainen filologia, Oulun yliopisto},
abstract = {Online human action takes on forms which are characteristic of each platform and community. At the same time, societal phenomena are present in technologically mediated interaction. This dissertation explores how this kind of complex activity emerges, and how it affects opportunities for equal participation of minorities. This dissertation explores these issues in a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment, 2004). The study considers discriminatory practices discernible in World of Warcraft game culture by describing the discursive network of gender, social ability and the demands of the game. Players on occasion reference this network to justify valuing aspects of gender and ability in the game world. In doing so, they aim to preserve the game culture in accordance to their values as the game environment changes.
The dissertation also analyzes how the game environment affords the emergence of a separate subculture for players who do not feel a sense of belonging in the mainstream game culture due to its particular social character. They establish safe practices for themselves and control others’ participation in their communities.
Player practices are approached following the principles of nexus analysis. The research materials generated consist of the game environment, game culture artefacts and accounts of player experiences of interaction. Through this process an understanding was formed of the actions with which players strengthen or subvert the social order of the game world. At the same time, the multifaceted role of the game environment in these actions was described. Analyzing World of Warcraft game culture provides an example of how the accessibility of online spaces for minorities can be studied. The results can also be applied in the creation of accessible games and gamified applications.},
keywords = {ability, englanninkieliset väitöskirjat, equality, gender, nexus analysis, online gaming},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {phdthesis}
}
Online human action takes on forms which are characteristic of each platform and community. At the same time, societal phenomena are present in technologically mediated interaction. This dissertation explores how this kind of complex activity emerges, and how it affects opportunities for equal participation of minorities. This dissertation explores these issues in a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment, 2004). The study considers discriminatory practices discernible in World of Warcraft game culture by describing the discursive network of gender, social ability and the demands of the game. Players on occasion reference this network to justify valuing aspects of gender and ability in the game world. In doing so, they aim to preserve the game culture in accordance to their values as the game environment changes.
The dissertation also analyzes how the game environment affords the emergence of a separate subculture for players who do not feel a sense of belonging in the mainstream game culture due to its particular social character. They establish safe practices for themselves and control others’ participation in their communities.
Player practices are approached following the principles of nexus analysis. The research materials generated consist of the game environment, game culture artefacts and accounts of player experiences of interaction. Through this process an understanding was formed of the actions with which players strengthen or subvert the social order of the game world. At the same time, the multifaceted role of the game environment in these actions was described. Analyzing World of Warcraft game culture provides an example of how the accessibility of online spaces for minorities can be studied. The results can also be applied in the creation of accessible games and gamified applications.
The dissertation also analyzes how the game environment affords the emergence of a separate subculture for players who do not feel a sense of belonging in the mainstream game culture due to its particular social character. They establish safe practices for themselves and control others’ participation in their communities.
Player practices are approached following the principles of nexus analysis. The research materials generated consist of the game environment, game culture artefacts and accounts of player experiences of interaction. Through this process an understanding was formed of the actions with which players strengthen or subvert the social order of the game world. At the same time, the multifaceted role of the game environment in these actions was described. Analyzing World of Warcraft game culture provides an example of how the accessibility of online spaces for minorities can be studied. The results can also be applied in the creation of accessible games and gamified applications.