Gender in games – methodology and analysis
Date
2022-10-31
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Isegi tänapäeval peetakse mängimist sageli laste ja noormeeste nišitegevuseks. Samas on videomängudest saanud üks kasumlikemaid meelelahutusvorme: 2019. aastal mängis videomänge üle 2,5 miljardi inimese üle maailma. Kuigi videomänge käsitatakse peamiselt meeste hobina, on mängimine tegelikult pea sama atraktiivne nii mees- kui naismängurite jaoks. Kuna enamik inimesi on praeguseks osa mängukultuurist, isegi kui nad ei liigita end mängijateks, tõmbavad mängud üha rohkem teadlaste tähelepanu. Vaatamata suurenevale uurimistöö mahule on videomängude mängimine endiselt sageli häbimärgistatud. Mängukultuuri kritiseeritakse sageli sellele omistatud soolise kallutatuse, rassismi ja homofoobia pärast. Ka mänge endid ja nende kaudu edastatavaid soolisi suhteid peetakse sageli liialt pealispinnaliseks. Videomängud ei ole aga poliitiliselt neutraalsed artefaktid. Nad esitavad kultuurilisi väärtusi, norme ja tavasid, kuid ka panustavad nendesse. Teadlastel puuduvad aga endiselt metodoloogilised vahendid videomängude kui eraldiseisva meediumi analüüsimiseks ning viisid süstematiseerida, kuidas mängudes sugu esindatakse.
Doktoritöö eesmärk ongi luua süsteemne metodoloogia soo uurimiseks mängudes, mis arvestaks videomängude kui mitmemõõtmelise meediumi eripärasid, kuid samas laenaks sisendit teiste meediumite uurimiseks loodud meetoditest. Selleks kombineerin humanitaarteaduste meetodeid (nt lähilugemine), sotsiaalteaduste, draamauuringute, soouuringute ning isegi majanduse ja õigusteaduse meetoditega. Viimased on aga kohandatud mängude tehniliste iseärasustega (reeglid, eesmärgid ja mehaanika). Selline mängude terviklik lugemine püüab ületada paljude varasemate mänguanalüüsi lähenemisviiside määramatust ja subjektiivsust.
Doktoritöös võtan kasutusele termini „eelistatud mängimine“, mis on tugevalt mõjutatud Stuart Halli eelistatud lugemise ideest. Eelistatud mängimine tugineb vaikevalikutele ja muudele objektiivselt tuvastatavatele tunnustele, et tuvastada kõige tõenäolisem läbimängimisest tulenev tekst, mida saab sooliselt analüüsida. Kuigi kõnealune raamistik on mõeldud akadeemiliseks kasutamiseks, püüab see siiski mõjutada ka avalikku diskursust, pakkudes kolmemõõtmelist ülevaadet videomängudes esindatud soost
Even today, gaming is often seen as a niche activity of children and young men. Video games, however, have become one of the most profitable entertainment media, with over 2.5 billion people worldwide playing video games in 2019. While deemed a predominantly male hobby, gaming is nearly equally attractive to female and male gamers. Most people are, by now, part of gaming culture, even if they would not classify themselves as gamers. This means that games are also attracting increasing scholarly attention. Despite the increasing research, video games still suffer from the stigma of being deemed “subcultural” and ultimately “not art”. Gaming culture is often criticized for its gender bias, racism and homophobia. Games themselves and the gender relations they communicate are also often perceived as lacking in depth. Video games, however, are not politically neutral artefacts. They present and contribute to the values, norms, and practices fostered by the culture they belong to. Researchers, however, still lack methodological approaches to analyze video games as a distinct medium and to systemize the ways in which games represent gender. This PhD thesis aims to create a holistic methodology to analyze gender in games that focuses on games as a uniquely multidimensional medium while building on the experience of other disciplines. I will combine humanities methods like close reading with methodologies from the social sciences, drama studies, gender studies and even economics and law. These are adapted to the technicalities and particularities of games, namely the fact that they have to be played and consist of game-specific rules, objectives and mechanics. This holistic reading of games tries to overcome the indeterminacy and subjectivity in many previous approaches to game analysis. I develop the term “preferred playing”, heavily influenced by Stuart Hall’s notion of preferred reading, that relies on default choices and other objectively identifiable features to identify the most likely text resulting from a playthrough, which in turn can then be analyzed in terms of gender. While this framework is intended for academic use, it also strives to influence public discourse by providing three-dimensional insights into gender in video games and better
Even today, gaming is often seen as a niche activity of children and young men. Video games, however, have become one of the most profitable entertainment media, with over 2.5 billion people worldwide playing video games in 2019. While deemed a predominantly male hobby, gaming is nearly equally attractive to female and male gamers. Most people are, by now, part of gaming culture, even if they would not classify themselves as gamers. This means that games are also attracting increasing scholarly attention. Despite the increasing research, video games still suffer from the stigma of being deemed “subcultural” and ultimately “not art”. Gaming culture is often criticized for its gender bias, racism and homophobia. Games themselves and the gender relations they communicate are also often perceived as lacking in depth. Video games, however, are not politically neutral artefacts. They present and contribute to the values, norms, and practices fostered by the culture they belong to. Researchers, however, still lack methodological approaches to analyze video games as a distinct medium and to systemize the ways in which games represent gender. This PhD thesis aims to create a holistic methodology to analyze gender in games that focuses on games as a uniquely multidimensional medium while building on the experience of other disciplines. I will combine humanities methods like close reading with methodologies from the social sciences, drama studies, gender studies and even economics and law. These are adapted to the technicalities and particularities of games, namely the fact that they have to be played and consist of game-specific rules, objectives and mechanics. This holistic reading of games tries to overcome the indeterminacy and subjectivity in many previous approaches to game analysis. I develop the term “preferred playing”, heavily influenced by Stuart Hall’s notion of preferred reading, that relies on default choices and other objectively identifiable features to identify the most likely text resulting from a playthrough, which in turn can then be analyzed in terms of gender. While this framework is intended for academic use, it also strives to influence public discourse by providing three-dimensional insights into gender in video games and better
Description
Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsioone
Keywords
games, video games, fictitious characters, stereotypes, narratology, gender studies, research methodology