ABSTRACT EVANS, SARAH BETH. Disruption by Design: Feminist Interventions in Digital Game Production on a University Campus (Under the direction of Dr. Nicholas Taylor). The purpose of this dissertation is to enact and think through an inclusive game making curriculum that works outside of the game industry’s logics and conditions (and instead operates in a way more attentive to care and personal growth). In carrying out this study I cultivated and used feminist research methods to investigate three sites of game design for women and gender minorities on a university campus: the classroom, an informal learning space, and a university- club-sponsored hackathon. In particular, this study focused on game design’s benefits to beginner and amateur game makers who identified as a woman, or as other genders that have historically been marginalized from games and gaming cultures. Through this project, I garnered perspectives on the ways alternative modes of video game production that operate on the fringes of capitalist patriarchy can be employed, and what benefits gender minorities might gain from such structures. Specifically, this research asks: what might we learn about the challenges and opportunities of enacting game design-focused feminist interventionist research by conducting such work in a) the particular local and regional context of a Southeastern US university, and b) within a campus setting (and the various supports for equity and inclusivity, as well as structures for sustainability, such a context offers)? In other words, I observed and in two cases, enacted a series of events, on a university campus, that facilitated various transformations in individuals’ or community’s relationship to games and/or themselves. © Copyright 2018 by Sarah Evans All Rights Reserved Disruption by Design: Feminist Interventions in Digital Game Production on a University Campus by Sarah Beth Evans A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of North Carolina State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Communication, Rhetoric & Digital Media Raleigh, North Carolina 2018 APPROVED BY: _______________________________ _______________________________ Dr. Nicholas Taylor Dr. Elizabeth Craig Committee Chair _______________________________ _______________________________ Dr. Sarah Stein Dr. Helen Burgess _______________________________ Dr. Emma Westecott External Member ii DEDICATION This work is dedicated to Denise Stenger, Jezreel Clausell, Tyler Evans, Brianna Evans, Cheyenne Evans, Nikki Evans, and Liberty Evans. You are my whole heart. iii BIOGRAPHY Sarah Evans (MA Syracuse University, 2014; Ph.D. North Carolina State University, 2018) is a media studies scholar focusing on the intersections of feminism and gaming. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I could never have done any of this without the support and guidance of the best advisor and committee on the planet: Dr. Nick Taylor and committee members Dr. Elizabeth Craig, Dr. Helen Burgess, Dr. Sarah Stein, and Dr. Emma Westecott. Jess Elam, you are my Saressica hivemind partner, thank you. Eddie (Tug) Lohmeyer, thank you for enduring and contributing to Saressica shenanigans. I wouldn’t be where I am without the gentle help and wise words of my teacher-friend-mentor Dr. Teresa Grettano and MA advisor Dr. Anne Demo. My Syracuse family Heidi (sister), Elyse (Mercy), Jake (drinking buddy), Matthew (bearded wonder), Alia (patient West coaster), and Albert (rascally Demo item), thank you for your love, friendship, academic support, and all the mischief. In a literal sense, this dissertation would not be possible without the many supports offered by the ReFIG network, in particular from Dr. Suzanne de Castell, Dr. Jen Jenson, and Dr. Shira Chess. My CRDM family made my four years some of the best of my life. Thank you, my codependent Max, amoeba-to-be Josh, shopping twin Katreena, adventurous and open-minded JeongHyun, spooky friend Melissa, bad B Chen, surpassed me in siblings Meridith, wild adventure friend Samara, and kind, creative Krystin. I would have sunk like the Titanic if it weren’t for my loves: Angel and the Perfection Traps. Last but not least, thank you to my family for putting up with me through this wild, weird journey. If I forgot to mention anyone by name please forgive me, my brain is dissertation mush. v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………………………………...x LIST OF FIGURES………………………………………………………………………………xi Chapter 1: Introduction and Background .................................................................................. 1 Masculinity and Technology............................................................................................... 5 Alternatives to the Mainstream ........................................................................................... 6 Precursors to Contemporary Feminist Game Making Communities .................................. 8 Methods Overview ............................................................................................................ 13 Chapter Summaries ........................................................................................................... 14 CHAPTER 2: Methods ............................................................................................................... 18 PAR and Related Methods ................................................................................................ 20 Intersectional Approach .................................................................................................... 24 Notable Intersections ........................................................................................................ 27 Site One: Classroom Study ............................................................................................... 31 Site Two: Women’s Game Design Group (Small Group) ................................................ 34 Site Three: Hackathon....................................................................................................... 37 CHAPTER 3—Tools and (breaking) the Rules: Feminist Software Analysis and Novice Game Design ................................................................................................................................ 41 Literature Review: Methodological Foundations and Constraints ................................... 46 Tools by number: Contextualizing Novice Experiences of Twine, RPG Maker, Stencyl............................................................................................................................... 49 Problems and Promise of Twine ....................................................................................... 49 Entwined in Twine ............................................................................................................ 52 Problems and Promise of RPG Maker .............................................................................. 55 RPG Maker in Action ....................................................................................................... 60 Problems and Promise of Stencyl ..................................................................................... 67 Stencyl Inaction ................................................................................................................ 70 Discussion ......................................................................................................................... 73 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 76 CHAPTER 4- Outside Game Design: Crafting Feminist Care Beyond Industry Norms .... 79 Literature Review: Understanding and Countering the Pipeline To-Date ........................ 81 Part One: The Pipeline and Its Problems .......................................................................... 81 Part Two: Extant Work to Resist and Disrupt the Pipeline .............................................. 86 Data and Analysis ............................................................................................................. 89 Make it Ugly ..................................................................................................................... 90 vi Prioritizing Care ................................................................................................................ 96 Individual Projects in a Group Setting .............................................................................. 99 On-campus meeting location .......................................................................................... 100 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 101 CHAPTER 5— Hackathon or Snackathon? Binaristic Logics & the Failures of Support........................................................................................................................... 104 Methods Overview .......................................................................................................... 106 Literature Review............................................................................................................ 108 Hacking the Hackathon ................................................................................................... 113 Becoming Beginner ........................................................................................................ 115 Support Means…? .........................................................................................................