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 the connections and layers of cultural, technological, and economic factors at play in competitive Smash, and where the Super Smash Bros. series sits in relation to esports more generally. Rather than immersing myself only in physical sites in order to observe a singular Smash community,, I also looked to the formative documents and the sustained communicative practices carried out by networks of people across multiple offline and online sites, united by passion and dispersed in space, collectively constitute Smash “scenes.” This involves critical analysis of the Super Smash Bros. Community Code of Conduct (CoC) primarily through the lens of hegemony, with a focus on case examples of “top players” accused of misconduct. The argument is that the CoC serves as a check for average players against “top player privilege.” The second chapter explores the socio-technical intersections influencing Nintendo’s relationship with the competitive Smash scene, and the related practices of resistance and coexistence. A major takeaway from this is that Nintendo’s decisions to not actively support competitive Smash make sense and are in line with their pro-family brand. Despite this, the grassroots sustenance of Smash scenes, fueled by passionate, voluntary labor and networked internationally via fan-made communication channels like SmashBoards.com makes Project M a compelling area of study. The third chapter, which draws on conventional ethnographic observation and participant interviews, offers a comparatively “on the ground” perspective of governance in Smash to compliment the critical analysis of the CoC and top player privilege, in the meritocratically driven spaces of Smash tournaments. As a whole, this connective ethnography offers a methodological foundation for future work on the complex relationships between fans and the creators (and controllers) of media. In this same vein, it offers a framework for future work on fervent networks of fans and the manifestations of governance of these groups and related spaces. © Copyright 2020 by Bryce Stout All Rights Reserved Smashing Some Bros: A Feminist Analysis of Governance in Super Smash Bros. by Bryce Thomas Stout A thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty of North Carolina State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Communication Raleigh, North Carolina 2020 APPROVED BY: ________________________ ________________________ Dr. Nicholas Thiel Taylor Dr. Grant Bollmer Committee Chair ________________________ Dr. Stephen Wiley ii DEDICATION For everyone who knew that I could. iii BIOGRAPHY Bryce Stout earned his Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from The University of Iowa in 2017. His research interests include intersections of race, gender, and power in the embodied experiences of people who play video games. This led to the pursuit of his Master of Science in Communication from North Carolina State University. He will continue to expand his scholarly toolkit this Fall at North Carolina State in the interdisciplinary Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media PhD program. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My sincerest thanks to Dr. Andrew Binder for fighting for my presence in this program. My complete gratitude to Dr. Nicholas Taylor for giving me every opportunity fathomable, as well as for believing in me and cultivating my scholarly talents. Thank you to Dr. Grant Bollmer, Dr. Stephen Wiley, and Dr. Sarah Stein for their direct and fundamental involvement in my academic success. Thank you to my parents, Lynnette and Bryan Stout for their continued support. Finally, thanks to Masahiro Sakurai for creating Super Smash Bros. v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... ix Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 1 Preface................................................................................................................................ 3 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 3 Why Super Smash Bros.? ................................................................................................... 5 Smash as a conversation..................................................................................................... 9 Relevant Literature............................................................................................................. 9 Research Questions .......................................................................................................... 12 Methodology .................................................................................................................... 13 Theoretical Frameworks .................................................................................................. 14 Structure and Approaches ................................................................................................ 15 Ch. 1: Analysis of the Impacts of the Super Smash Bros. Community Code of Conduct.... 19 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 20 Hegemony in Smash: what do players consent to? .......................................................... 21 Leffen’s Story of Growth ................................................................................................. 23 Top Player Privilege: Not always bad ............................................................................. 24 Milktea and Smash Sisters ............................................................................................... 26 Sponsorship in Smash ...................................................................................................... 28 The Document Itself ........................................................................................................ 30 SmashBoards.................................................................................................................... 32 Paratexts and Presentation ............................................................................................... 34 vi Anticipated Effects........................................................................................................... 36 Tangible Impact Thus Far ................................................................................................ 38 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 42 Ch. 2: Project Melee .................................................................................................................. 44 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 45 Overview .......................................................................................................................... 46 What is Project M? .......................................................................................................... 46 Platform Studies ............................................................................................................... 48 Expressive Inputs ............................................................................................................. 52 Wavedashing .................................................................................................................... 57 L-Cancelling and Teching................................................................................................ 61 Project M’s Necessity .....................................................................................................