{"title":"Virtual Allies: Why Allyship is Critical to Diversification of Virtual Reality Gaming?","authors":"Danielle Deavours","doi":"10.1177/15554120231208406","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"More attention is being brought to the identity challenges minority gamers face. However, as the gaming industry moves into virtual spaces and virtual reality (VR) gaming continues to grow in popularity, it is important to understand how identity and the virtual metaverse combine. Using a carnal autoethnography of a competitive woman VR gamer's lived experiences with sexism and misogyny over 6 months, this study explores how many women experience VR games as outsiders in a male-dominated space. Through the application of ambivalent sexism theory, this study shows virtual platform affordances can both help and harm minority gamers in their quest to be accepted in gaming communities. This study is among the first to examine gendered experience of VR gaming, especially from an autoethnographic frame, contributing to existing literature in women and gaming. This work calls on players, developers, educators, and research to emphasize allyship and media literacy to encourage more diverse virtual spaces.","PeriodicalId":12634,"journal":{"name":"Games and Culture","volume":"244 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4000,"publicationDate":"2023-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Games and Culture","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120231208406","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"COMMUNICATION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
More attention is being brought to the identity challenges minority gamers face. However, as the gaming industry moves into virtual spaces and virtual reality (VR) gaming continues to grow in popularity, it is important to understand how identity and the virtual metaverse combine. Using a carnal autoethnography of a competitive woman VR gamer's lived experiences with sexism and misogyny over 6 months, this study explores how many women experience VR games as outsiders in a male-dominated space. Through the application of ambivalent sexism theory, this study shows virtual platform affordances can both help and harm minority gamers in their quest to be accepted in gaming communities. This study is among the first to examine gendered experience of VR gaming, especially from an autoethnographic frame, contributing to existing literature in women and gaming. This work calls on players, developers, educators, and research to emphasize allyship and media literacy to encourage more diverse virtual spaces.
期刊介绍：
Games and Culture publishes innovative theoretical and empirical research about games and culture within the context of interactive media. The journal serves as a premiere outlet for groundbreaking and germinal work in the field of game studies. The journal"s scope includes the sociocultural, political, and economic dimensions of gaming from a wide variety of perspectives, including textual analysis, political economy, cultural studies, ethnography, critical race studies, gender studies, media studies, public policy, international relations, and communication studies.
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
分享
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
扫码关注我们
