A Feminist Analysis of Governance in Super Smash Bros. (Under the Direction of Dr
ABSTRACT STOUT, BRYCE THOMAS. Smashing Some Bros: A Feminist Analysis of Governance in Super Smash Bros. (Under the direction of Dr. Nicholas Thiel Taylor). The modern esports landscape is dominated by platform-driven titles like Activision-Blizzard's Overwatch, Riot’s League of Legends, and Valve’s CounterStrike: Global Offensive and Dota 2. In contrast, the grassroots scenes that have risen up around Super Smash Bros. offer a unique glimpse of organized competitive gaming carried out without the level of active, “platformized” involvement and infrastructural support typical of other developers. This thesis includes three chapters exploring symbiotic angles of approach to the intersecting socio-technical conditions constituting governance of competitive Super Smash Bros. scenes. Past feminist ethnographic fieldwork at public gaming events helped to inform my recruitment process for 18 semi- structured interviews conducted at Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournaments near Raleigh, NC. Particularly salient aspects of this include attempted reflexivity and consciousness of how my subject position influences my work both in the field and the academy; ethnographically and citationally. This work is mediated by my close involvement in competitive Smash, although active effort is made to transform my own investment in Smash into an opportunity for reflexivity, rather than a constraint. Although the third chapter involves the use of conventional ethnographic fieldwork, the paper as a whole is to be understood as a connective ethnography examining
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