Queer Audiences & Video Games (original) (raw)
Related papers
International Journal of Communication, 2016
With increasing popular and academic attention being paid to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) content in video games, the time has come for a thorough account of the history of this content in this medium. In the project reviewed here, we have documented more than 300 games and more than 500 examples of LGBTQ content spanning 30 years. Using a grounded theoretical approach, we were able to classify this content into nine large categories—characters, relationships/romance/sex, actions, locations, mentions, artifacts, traits, queer games/narratives, and homophobia/transphobia—each of which contains several subcategories. In outlining our classification system here, we will demonstrate the myriad ways queerness in gender and sexuality have been integrated into digital games.
I Exist: Improving the Representation of Queer Perspectives in Videogames [EXTENDED ABSTRACT]
2016 Digital Games Research Association of Australia (DiGRAA) National Symposium, 2016
Queer representation in videogames is gradually becoming more prevalent, but even as the inclusion of queer perspectives in games increases, there is limited research being conducted in the area (Shaw 2009). Research that is being conducted seems focused on quantifying the amount of queer representation (Shaw & Friesem 2016), rather than on the qualitative impacts it has on those accessing videogames. In May 2016, I conducted a survey that aimed to identify the ongoing impact of positive and negative representation of queer characters and themes on both queer and non-queer audiences. This survey received 158 responses and allowed me to identify issues with representation, including the comparative prevalence of same-gender attracted characters, the way character customisation tools and pronouns are being used to depict diverse genders, and the use of ‘optional’ queer content and playersexuality in games as an attempt to appease queer players. Respondents provided insights into why these particular aspects of queer representation are problematic, and this paper presents a foundational analysis of these issues.
Representations of Queer Identity in Games from 2013–2015 [EXTENDED ABSTRACT]
Proceedings of DiGRA 2017 International Conference, 2017
Representation of diverse sexualities and genders has traditionally been uncommon in games (Shaw 2009). As the influence of independent developers grows (Anthropy 2012) and interest in queer content increases (Gravning 2014), the heternormative nature of the medium is beginning to be challenged; however, gaps remain in the study of queer content in games. In collaboration with in-progress qualitative and quantitative studies that are attempting to holistically analyse the history of LGBTQ representation in digital games (Shaw, Lauteria, Persaud & Cole 2017), the research we are presenting examines titles featuring queer content in games released from 2013–2015. Prior research for an existing project (Queerly Represent Me 2017) revealed a statistically significant increase in titles featuring queer content in this three year period, highlighting this period as warranting further study.
Performing Critique: Queer Video Games as Critical Method
On_Culture, 2019
Against the backdrop of a growing concern for the fate of critique in the current era, queer video games such as tranxiety, Dream Daddy and Gone Home have begun to engage players in the process of critically examining their own assumptions and immersing them in a performative critique, particularly as it relates to non-normative lived experiences. Alongside exploring whether these games are ‘merely’ the result of critical game design, such that players are enlisted to perform critique, or if queer play is more than a prescribed behavior, this article will utilize examples from across various video game platforms and genres to demonstrate that whether trying to survive daily life as a trans woman in the beginning stages of transition in tranxiety or exploring the dating life of Maple Bay’s latest resident in Dream Daddy, queer video games serve as a platform through which players are encouraged to perform critique via queer play, that is to say, playing outside of traditional video game and character norms. Embracing a productive nexus of critical reflection and performativity, queer video games demonstrate that critique is well served by participatory media. Critique has entered the digital era and, though transformed, it is alive and well.
Counting Queerness in Games: Trends in LGBTQ Digital Game Representation, 1985‒2005
International Journal of Communication, 2019
This article provides quantitative analyses of trends in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) content in digital games released between 1985 and 2005, including 162 games and 283 instances of content. We contextualize these findings within the literature on LGBTQ media representation and emphasize the unique forms this content takes in games. We also demonstrate the importance of looking beyond the game text in isolation in coding sexual and gender identities. We explore the statistical association among variables, including the intersection of race and character role with LGBTQ identities, country of origin, and year of release. Moreover, we demonstrate trends in this representation over time. In addition, we discuss the limitations of quantitative analysis of game content, particularly for this sort of historical analysis. Still, we can point to interesting quantitative trends in LGBTQ representation, which offer important context for understanding what ideologies are being replicated in digital games.
Games and Culture, 2023
This article analyses LGBTIQA+ playing experiences of Animal Crossing New Horizons (ACNH). It first surveys LGBTIQA+ players of ACNH, with questions regarding ways of playing, identity, community, and fanfiction practices. It also analyses LGBTIQA+ ACNH YouTube videos, divided into three main categories: design, gaming, and fanfiction. The first category, design, is analysed quantitatively. The second and third categories follow a qualitative analysis, grouping findings into seven sub-categories: 1) decorating, 2) celebrating Pride, 3) counter-gaming, 4) weddings, 5) coming out, 6) self-determination and encouraging discourses, and 7) community building. Explorative results show that, although out-game LGBTIQA+ experiences are necessary for queer self-realization, the in-game experiences of our sample help non-cis-straight identities and communities. They also demonstrate that diversity and intersectionality are fundamental in the ACNH queer community sampled, and that LGBTIQA+ players perform queer counter-gaming: transforming the game's tools and affordances to encourage self-expression.
Queering Stories and Selves: Gamer Poop and Subversive Narrative Emergence
Intensities: The Journal of Cult Media, 2017
Video games such as Mass Effect 3 (Electronic Arts, 2012), Skyrim (Bethesda Softworks, 2011) and Fallout 3 (Bethesda Softworks, 2008) have been praised for offering highly customisable and personalised ingame avatars, experiences and narrative flexibility. The humour in popular YouTube machinima series Gamer Poop playfully rejects the heteronormative and hypermasculine expectations that still appear inevitable and intractable in these seemingly open and inclusive gameworlds. Across Gamer Poop’s 49 videos stable identifiers of race, gender, and sexuality are radically rewritten using post-production video editing and game modification to allow for intersexual character models, bisexual orgies, and breakdancing heroes - content not programmed into the original games. We discuss the potential for machinima videos to act as tools for negotiating emergent queer narratives. These emergent experiences are generated by players and re-inscribed onto the broader video game ‘text’, demonstrating the limitations of video game texts for identity-building activity. Gamer Poop takes advantage of emergence as the “primordial structure” of games (Juul, 2005, p.73) and presents to the audience moments of emergent, queer narrative - what Jenkins describes as stories that are “not pre-structured or pre-programmed, [instead] taking shape through the game play” (Jenkins, 2004, p.128). These vulgar and sometimes puerile videos are a critical and playful intervention into the embedded textual meaning of Gamer Poop’s chosen video games, and demonstrate that a latent representative potential exists in video game systems, rulesets, and game engines for emergent storytelling and identity-building activities. We describe this creative practice as subversive narrative emergence.
2018
The representations in video games have historically been problematic when it comes to the portrayal of queer women. The hypermasculine and heteronormative gaming hegemony has resulted in the exclusion and harmful stereotyping of women and queer characters. This dissertation utilises textual analysis and player interviews to analyse the representations of women and queer characters in two video games: Life is Strange and Life is Strange: Before the Storm. The data demonstrates that the Life is Strange games portray women and queer women in a manner that rejects hegemonic play and brings marginalised identities into the centre of the narrative and action. Furthermore, players of the games express a desire for diverse representation and report strong identification with the queer women in the games.