Gender Diversity in Gaming Spaces parties to Xbox Live, having an area to communicate Grainne O’Flaherty with like-minded individuals about a common interest has offered a level of depth and emotional connection Department of Computer to the culture of team games. One of the main issues Science and Creative with these spaces, however, is the thinly veiled sexism Technologies experienced by female gamers wishing to play a role in this culture. University of the West of England Coldharbour Lane Expectations for Women in Gaming Spaces Bristol, UK “Public gaming arcades have developed as a separate, male-dominated leisure space” (Griffiths, 1991) and the [email protected] “predominantly male computer gaming industry and 17023277 user base have developed a claim on other spaces for gaming” (Bryce and Rutter, 2010). For many women or girls interested in entering the world of video games Abstract the initial expectations placed on them when coming In this essay the researcher will be discussing the into one of these spaces does nothing but deter their existence of gendered spaces, the effect this has on participation, and in a way only worsens the problem. gender diversity in the culture and community of video Bryce and Rutter (2010) describe the few “acceptable games and the steps that women have taken to feminine roles” as those of support as opposed to circumvent this or tackle the issue head-on. actual participation. Female gamers frequently report that the competitive and masculine nature of public Author Keywords gaming spaces makes them unwelcoming or Diversity; E-sports; Gender Bias; threatening (Bryce and Rutter, 2010). The general dissuasion of female competitive gaming through toxic masculinity not only limits the diversity of Introduction the leisurely gaming but also confines the realm of Throughout their evolution, public gaming spaces have eSports to men and teenage boys. As a result of this, played a vital role in the culture and community many female gamers that do actively take part are surrounding modern video games. From arcades to LAN brushed off as a novice, or in other cases, expected to perform to a much higher level as a way to “prove themselves”. Ruvalcaba, Shulze, Kim, et al, (2018) ability (Ruvalcaba, Shulze, Kim, et al, 2018). While this describe a situation in which an all-female team can be interpreted as women turning the sexuality competed against an all-male team in a League of thrust upon them into a profitable business and Legends eSports league. The male team expected that therefore empowering; it offers an issue to women they would be an easy team to beat, potentially interested in gaming that do not want to fit into this because of their predetermined sexist expectations. archetype. In an interview, Lindsay Jones (One of the However, after realizing that they were going to lose several personalities featured on the popular YouTube against the women they began to focus on the channel Achievement Hunter) said "I can't tell you how embarrassment factor of losing. Ruvalcaba, et al, many comments sections I've seen, where I'm with my (2018) quoted the male teammates commenting “This male counterparts in the video and nothing is said is bad for our image dude” and “I just like embarrassed about their physical appearance, but it's just railing and myself in front of like, how many people?” It’s difficult railing and railing on my size or how good my hair looks to pin their actions on purely sexist attitudes, they may or whether I have makeup on," (Business Insider, have underperformed because of the other team’s 2018). Women who are not interested in their selling attitude, or their previous experiences with similar point being sex appeal are still often expected to look teams or their overconfidence in their own ability. This and act a certain way that fits this ideal. Because of situation can, however, be used to highlight ingrained this, many female streamers or YouTube gamers opt sexist attitudes towards women gamers. Women are out of showing their face or body in their content, expected to play certain games, fill certain roles and relying solely on y the sound of their voice and the express themselves a certain way when pertaining to games they are playing. This level of anonymity allows games. content creators to produce the videos that they want to make without their appearance being the focal point The Issues with Gendered Spaces of the consumer feedback. The sexualization of women characters in video games is often identified as the largest problem seen in the Anonymity in gaming is a double-edged sword. games industry. However, what is less discussed is the Anonymity allows some people to develop their ability sexualization of real-life women who themselves take in games without the usual criticism that comes with race, gender or disability. Female participation in part in the gameplay. Go to Twitch and select one of the anonymous competitive games spaces can lead to an streams of the most popular women streamers on the increase in confidence and ability playing in these kinds website. A common trend in both the comments section of situations. This can facilitate female participation in and often the video itself is sex. Female streamers are public competitive games spaces, free from the encouraged by their fanbase and the general fanbase of constraints that they may have otherwise faced (Bryce online video game streaming to use their sexuality as a and Rutter, 2002). However, internet anonymity often selling point within their streams. This is in stark does more harm than good. “Internet Trolling” is a vernacular term used to describe “An Internet troll, or contrast to their male counterparts whose main simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts feedback is based around their gameplay and gaming controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off- topic messages in an online community, such as an venues.” (Ruvalcaba, Shulze, Kim, et al, 2018), many online discussion forum or chat room, with the primary women have taken the action to create female-only intent of provoking other users into an emotional spaces in a bid to escape the constant barrage of response or to generally disrupt normal on-topic harassment that they find playing on a fully public discussion.” (Urban Dictionary, 2009). server. This, however, presents just as many negative Gender bias has always been prevalent in the video game industry. The preponderance of men in the game aspects as it does positives for women gamers; many industry leads to a culture in which the male women feel that they shouldn’t have to create their perspective is the only one (Williams, 2006). As a result own space in the industry to circumvent the of this, harassment towards women in the industry has harassment, however, they also express how draining it become a social norm, this is only amplified by the can be to put up with constant negative attitudes shield that anonymity provides. Anonymous online towards their participation (Ruvalcaba, Shulze, Kim, et harassment is often viewed as part of the culture of gaming, especially for a woman in gaming. This, al, 2018). Developing a female only gaming space does however, denotes the seriousness of the matter, not however fully remove the issue of sexist regardless of the space it’s being spread in harassment harassment, in their article McLean and Griffiths discuss is a serious matter, by dubbing it with the term “Troll” the issue of women gamers internalizing the this denotes the feelings of the people on the receiving misogynistic rhetoric as fact and then, in turn, end of the harassment, “Often when we talk about harassing other female gamers in a similar way to their trolling what we mean is online harassment. By calling male counterparts “Many of the females reported them trolls, we diminish the impact that it has.” (McGrane, The Guardian, 2017). For many female experiencing this and felt that for some women they gamers, certain “survival strategies” to prevent this behaved in this way as they wanted to be the only harassment are commonplace in the gaming female in a male-dominated game.” (McLean, Griffiths, experience, these include actively hiding their identity 2018). and avoiding all forms of verbal communication with other players (McLean, Griffiths, 2018). While these Apropos of many women in the gaming industry, preventative measures work in the short term, having to depersonalize from videogames acts as a way to only leaning into the stereotypes of a sexy damsel has disconnect the female audience and discourage proven to be a lucrative business. Many of the top gameplay in the long term. This in itself plays into the female twitch streamers as of March 2019, often issue of selective gendering in gaming spaces. appear on stream in low cut tops, short skirts or outfits that would be otherwise considered “sexy’, this, Women’s Solutions to these issues however, does not denote their ability at playing video This level of harassment and general exclusion from games. Expressed sexuality is often one of the main what could be deemed “the boys club” then leads factors that popular twitch streamers use to draw in an women to search for a space that they can feel audience. You may ask why is this? And in short, the comfortable and safe in. “Discrimination in competitive answer is because it works. “That sex sells is scarcely a gameplay contexts has led some female gamers to startling discovery. What is striking, however, is how create supportive spaces away from public gaming analysts and executives are acknowledging - for the first time - how important it is when it comes to driving technological advance.” (The Guardian, 2002) In recent years female gamers or video game enthusiasts have begun highlighting these issues to the public view.