Blurring the boundaries: Using Gamergate to examine “real” and symbolic violence against women in contemporary gaming culture

Abstract

Recent controversies in gaming culture (i.e., Gamergate) highlight the lack of attention devoted to discussions of actual violence women experience in gaming. Rather, the focus is often situated on in-game violence; however, we must extend discussions of ingame violence and increased aggression to account for the "real world," violent, realities of women as gamers, developers, and even critics of the medium. As such, we provide context with a brief introduction to the events of Gamergate. We then discuss the connections between the continued marginalization of women both in video games and in "real life." Drawing from a range of sociological and ludological research, especially Bourdieu and Wacquant's conceptualization of symbolic violence, we examine the normalization of violence towards women in gaming culture.We conclude with considerations for future work involving symbolic violence and other conceptualizations of violence. This focus allows for a more impactful consideration as to why and how codified simulated violence affects marginalized members of communities. Using symbolic violence to connect trends within games to the lived experiences of women in gaming communities binds virtual experiences to "real" ones. | INTRODUCTIONRecent controversies in gaming culture (i.e., Gamergate) highlight the lack of attention given to discussions of actual violence women experience in gaming. Instead, the focus is often situated on in-game violence; however, we must transcend discussions of in-game violence and increased aggression to account for the "real world" violent realities of women as gamers, developers, and even critics of the medium. We must be inclusive of both the physical, digital, and symbolic threats of violence currently being levied against women who critique the hegemonic structure in gaming. Furthermore, the threats of real and symbolic violence that have been hurled at women must be examined beyond individual acts of discrimination and intimidation. Rather, this violence must be explored through the structural and institutional lenses sustaining a culture of inequality that has isolated women and other marginalized groups.

Investigating sexual harassment in online video games: How personality and context factors are related to toxic sexual behaviors against fellow players

“…The positive correlations of gamer identification with hostile sexism, SDO, and the dark personalities demonstrate psychological evidence that parts of video game culture are associated to toxic masculinity (Consalvo, ). Such toxicity is demonstrated by the Gamergate incident where several female video game developers were targets of a harassment campaign (Gray et al, ). This finding opens an important avenue in alleviating sexual harassment in video games.…”

“…Its pervasiveness impressed upon young players as a normative feature in gaming culture, thus reinforcing hostility in a vicious cycle (McInroy & Mishna, ). In gaming culture, women are often harassed because they are perceived as an outside and intrusive minority; this is exemplified by the Gamergate controversy where self‐identified gamers threatened with violence to female video game developers for raising problematic gender issues in video game culture (Consalvo, ; Gray, ; Gray, Buyukozturk, & Hill, ). Indeed, sexual harassment has been identified as a relevant problem for female gamers (Fox & Tang, ).…”

Female Gamers’ Experience of Online Harassment and Social Support in Online Gaming: A Qualitative Study

“…It is now recognised that female gamers often report the experience of harassment and other negative behaviours while playing online (Cote 2015;Gray et al 2017;Holz Ivory et al 2014;McLean and Griffiths 2013;Vermeulen et al 2014). Yee (2006) has argued that online games promote sociability, communication, and collaboration amongst players.…”

Playing is sharing. La condivisione e il tempo libero nelle reti sociali di gioco

“…Questa tematica è emersa sia tramite le interviste con una giocatrice, sia con un'esperta di settore di tematiche di genere e LGBT+. Sono infatti presenti delle forme di sessismo implicito in alcuni contesti di gioco che portano a percepire queste attività, ma anche a incorniciarle socialmente, come tipicamente maschili (Gray 2017). Il non essere uomo diventa motivo, o meglio pretesto, di delegittimazione delle proprie competenze e abilità di giocatrice, a prescindere dal reale grado di esperienza (Kishona et al 2016).…”