Real Boys Carry Girly Epics: Normalising Gender Bending in Online Games

Abstract

Players in online games frequently choose the opposite gender when they select an avatar. Previously, this has been attributed to a player's unconscious sexual anxieties and the need to experiment through the anonymous location of the avatar. However, this paper argues that the development of choice in games, where players have frequently selected the female form for ludic reasons, means that this choice has become normalised through a historical process. The avatar is frequently considered as a tool, with gender regarded as a freely admitted aesthetic pleasure. The player does not see this as a site of tension, or seeks to absolve this tension publicly as an act of appropriation typical to Jenkins¹ textual poachers. Overall, the act of gender switching is not considered deviant within gaming; more, it is embraced as a common practise with historical precedents to support it.

Playing with privilege: Examining demographics in choosing player-characters in video games.

“…For example, Ducheneaut et al (2006) found that in massively multiplayer online games, “male players who play Priests are more likely to gender-bend than those who play Warriors… thus, real world stereotypes come to shape the demographics of fantasy worlds” (p. 296). In general, male players in online games make aesthetic, strategic, pragmatic, and experimental choices in terms of “bending” gender (Martey et al, 2014; MacCallum-Stewart, 2008). In terms of race, games also “provide their primarily White creators and players the opportunity to become the other” (Leonard, 2006, p. 86) or to fill in the perceived blankness of their whiteness.…”

“…Perceived defaultness of the White male identity (Zarate & Smith, 1990) implies that race is only recognized when it is non-White and when sex is only female (Stroessner, 1996). Thus, this blankness of the White male identity sometimes fosters members of the dominant group to objectify the identities of the others to fill their nominal subjectivities with it (MacCallum-Stewart, 2008; Nakamura, 2002). In contrast, members of marginalized groups face dissimilar circumstances of their choice.…”

“…For instance, in Second Life , “many Black users may use White avatars in order to be accepted” in a virtual situation (Bullingham & Vasconcelos, 2013, p. 103). In addition, female players might play as male characters just to avoid unwanted attention from other players (MacCallum-Stewart, 2008). Compared with the choices made by White males from the position of dominance and privilege, the others sometimes have to “bend” their identity to actually be able to play a game without the risk of experiencing a psychological threat.…”

“…Although researchers have explored how, when, or why players may choose avatars or player characters that are like or unlike them (Ducheneaut et al, 2006; Lim & Reeves, 2009; Martey et al, 2014; MacCallum-Stewart, 2008; Shaw, 2014; Thompson et al, 2010), there has been little experimental research on the relationship between being in a dominant or marginalized subject position and character choice. This study used an experimental online survey design to investigate if there are behavioral differences between the members of the dominant and marginalized groups in how they select playable characters.…”

“…Being in a dominant subject position has also been shown to produce ignorance toward the needs and values of others (Mueller, 2017; Toerien & Durrheim, 2001). One way this has been seen in the space of digital games is when male or White players treat other identities as roles to “play at.” For instance, male video game players sometimes play as female characters (Ducheneaut et al, 2006; Martey et al, 2014; MacCallum-Stewart, 2008), and White players play as Black characters (Leonard, 2004, 2006). Some players choose to do this to actively experiment with their identities, whereas others do for a number of other contextual or strategic reasons (Lim & Reeves, 2009; Shaw, 2014; Thompson et al, 2010).…”