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Gendered Networks of Play: Regulating Digital Games and Technological Subjects in the Home Alison Harvey a Dissertation Submitte

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Gendered Networks of Play: Regulating Digital Games and Technological Subjects in the Home Alison Harvey a Dissertation Submitte GENDERED NETWORKS OF PLAY: REGULATING DIGITAL GAMES AND TECHNOLOGICAL SUBJECTS IN THE HOME ALISON HARVEY A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO September 2012 © Alison Harvey, 2012 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du 1+1Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-92774-8 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-92774-8 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distrbute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. Canada Abstract This dissertation explores the domestication of digital games in the home in order to ask how access to and experiences of play may be constrained or enabled by gendered notions of ludic technologies and their uses. Empirical methods including semi-structured interviews with ten families and observations of play were mobilized to get a sense of how game play is gendered in everyday life. The results demonstrate how parental and youth practices can serve to reaffirm gendered associations between technological proficiencies and pleasures and masculine and feminine subject-positions. Such relationships are articulated through two mutually constitutive regulatory systems - the rule systems put into place by parents about time for, content of, and spaces dedicated to digital play activities, alongside the disciplinary system of normative gender performance that perpetuates an association between technological mastery and masculinity while troubling any such relationship between feminine subjects and tech savvy. The participants in this study engaged with the pressures of an increasingly neoliberal ethos in everyday life, particularly visions of the opportunities offered by these technologies as well as the potential risks underlying certain forms of engagement. Parents and children alike regulated play, thus challenging and reaffirming hegemonic configurations of legitimate forms of digital play linking to essentialized conceptions of gender and age. Dedication For my mother, Joanne Percy. Acknowledgements This dissertation would not have been possible without my 25 participants. Thank you so much for opening your homes, sharing your stories, and showing me your favourite games. I am most indebted to Dr. Barbara Crow, the most gracious and supportive mentor I could have ever asked for. Your encouragement and abiding belief kept me going. Along with this mentorship, I am lucky to have worked with my inspiring, dynamic, and generous committee members Dr. Jennifer Jenson and Dr. Rosemary Coombe. Thank you both for your brilliant contributions and support all along the way. Thank you also to my external examiners, Dr. Ron Owston, Dr. Patricia Mazepa, and the incomparable Dr. Mia Consalvo, who provided insightful comments at my defense. I am grateful for all the support I received from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Ontario Graduate Scholarships as well as the Joint Graduate Programme in Communication and Culture at York and Ryerson Universities. The mentorship of Dr. Ana Viseu and Dr. Jason Nolan was invaluable when I worked under their supervision on other research projects, and I thank them for their continued advice and encouragement. Diane Jenner deserves a special mention, as she has always smoothed the path for me. I want to acknowledge and thank those that offered support by working alongside me: Michelle Coyne, Nicole Cohen, Aleksandra Kaminska, Eva Nesselroth-Woyzbun, Constance Crompton, Sara Martel, Chris Korte, Sanja Obradovic, Amy Ratelle, Jennifer Ryan, Laurence Robitaille, Kelly Bergstrom, Jane Griffin, Tamara Shepherd, Karen Smith, and Kelly Boudreau, I thank you. I also want to thank everyone who read or listened to my work and provided feedback and encouragement- Hilary Chan, Mandar Earley, Sonja McDonald, Cindy Poremba, Brady Curlew, Heather Maguire, Rachel Cyr, Tamara Peyton, Koen Leurs, Thorsten Busch, Sara Swain, Nathan Rambukkana, Melanie McBride, Nicholas Taylor, and Stephanie Fisher. I am sure these lists are not sufficiently extensive, as the network of support I have enjoyed has been vast. I also cannot begin to thank all the people outside of academia who supported me time and again- Guy Harvey, Louise Moncel, Kyle Harvey, Aniska Ali, Andrew McWhorter, Duane Brown, Adriana Chang, Cynthia Saini, Jason Harvey, Hardy M. Boyd, and Jessica Percy-Campbell. The path to this PhD has been travelled alongside a great many wonderful people. Thank you all. v Table of Contents ABSTRACT............................................................................................................................ii DEDICATION........................................................................................................................iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.....................................................................................................iv TABLE OF CONTENTS.......................................................................................................vi LIST OF TABLES.................................................................................................................. x CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCING DOMESTIC PLAY ...........................................................1 A. The Material and the Discursive: Studying Domestic Practices, Identities, and Performances Related to Digital Play................................................ 1 B. A Ludic Invasion: Players, Players Everywhere................................................. 11 C. Mainstream Gaming: Under What Conditions?................................................. 16 D. Constructing the Analysis: How this Text is Structured................................... 23 CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW..............................................................................27 A. Situating the Study...............................................................................................27 B. Domestication Research........................................................................................28 C. Youth Media Studies.............................................................................................40 D. Video Game Studies.............................................................................................52 E. Gender and Identity Studies................................................................................ 65 1. Introducing poststruetural gender studies................................................65 2. Gender and sex..........................................................................................67 3. Masculinities..............................................................................................70 4. Identity theory............................................................................................72 F. Making the Links: Intersecting Theory...............................................................75 CHAPTER 3. METHODS..................................................................................................... 82 A. Situating the M ethods..........................................................................................82 B. Piloting the Study.................................................................................................. 83 C. Redesigning the Study..........................................................................................87 D. Recruiting for the Study: Challenges and Limitations...................................... 90 E. Conducting the Study............................................................................................92 F. Completing the Fieldwork.....................................................................................94 G. Coding and Analysis.............................................................................................95
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