“I DON'T TAKE KINDLY TO YOUR INVASION OF THIS FINE GAMING CULTURE”: GENDER, EMOTION, AND POWER IN DIGITAL GAMING SPACES AS DEMONSTRATED THROUGH DEAD ISLAND Nicole D. Reamer A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY December 2015 Committee: Radhika Gajjala, Advisor Lara M. Lengel Graduate Faculty Representative Kristine Blair Sandra Faulkner © 2015 Nicole D. Reamer All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Radhika Gajjala, Advisor My dissertation focuses on intersections of gender, power, and emotion in different digital spaces, specifically video game-related spaces. I’m predominantly concerned with ways in which gender operates in the video gaming subculture in such a way that it can elicit a range of strong emotions that are often skirted or even neglected in academic studies of the medium. My primary focus is on a triangulation of visual and qualitative content analysis with participant observation to examine the different ways in which power and emotion manifest around the female body. Two of these areas include the different ways players, viewers, audiences, whatever one would call a person who comes into contact with the visual components of a video game, interact with playable- and non-playable video game characters. Additionally, I focus on digital non-gaming space interactions, such as those in discussion boards or popular media article comment sections. The entire dissertation is structured from a critical feminist perspective and uses the video game Dead Island (2011) as an anchor to ground the discussion. iv To all the feminist gaming scholars who came before me. And those to come. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are many people whom I owe a debt of gratitude for helping me accomplish such an important milestone in my academic career, and well, life, frankly. First and foremost, I would like to thank my wonderful dissertation committee members, Drs. Lara Lengel, Kris Blair, and Sandra Faulkner. Lara and Sandra, I loved both of your classes, and couldn’t thank you enough for your encouragement and confidence in me over the years. Kris, though I didn’t have class with you, it has been great getting to know you a little better throughout this process. I would also like to thank and exude just the utmost gratitude and admiration for my advisor, Dr. Radhika Gajjala, without whom I wouldn’t be here. Literally. To quote Debbie Ribera, you are everything I want to be when I grow up. I also couldn’t have survived these last couple of years without the amazingly talented, supportive, hilarious, and seriously just plain wonderful Jafarian Apostates, who always know just what to say. I’d like to acknowledge the many great people I have encountered throughout my time at BGSU. I made many interdisciplinary connections while working under Radhika – spread out across PopC, ACS, Film, and Comm – as well as while working in the Women’s Center. You’ve all collectively made my BGSU experience a rather positive one. I’d like to also take the time to thank my family for their support and many, many attempts to understand why I’m still in school and what the hell it is I do while I’m there. (It says a lot about my mom that she laughed out loud when I read her that line.) I’m also going to acknowledge my cats. Sure, they’re cats and can’t read this, but it’s really hard to ignore the kind of emotional support one can get from their animal companions. I love them and they helped to get me through these last several years – plus tolerated a lot of different catsitters in that time. And finally, but without end, D. For all the things, all the time. And for letting me know “[I’m] the best, around!” vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I – AND AWAY WE GO: INTRODUCTION……………..……………………… 1 Introduction and Background ................................................................................. 1 .......... Introductory Literature Review .............................................................................. 8 .......... Basic Intersections of Feminism and Media ............................................... 8 .......... “The Digital Locker Room” and Patterns in Video Game Lit ................................. 10 .......... This Dissertation.................................................................................................... 16 CHAPTER II – THEORETICAL GROUNDING……………………………………….. .. 20 Introduction…………………………………………. ............................................ 20 Cultural Studies Foundation ………………………………………………………… 21 Feminist Foundation .............................................................................................. 25 Feminist Media Studies .............................................................................. 35 Emotion and/or Affect, or What? ............................................................... 39 Digital Culture and Visual Culture Studies ............................................................ 40 Digital Culture ........................................................................................... 40 Visual Culture Studies................................................................................ 42 The Next Chapter .................................................................................................. 43 CHAPTER III – METHODOLOGICAL CONSTRUCTION………………………. ......... 45 Introduction……………………………………………………………….. ............. 45 What is Feminist Methodology?……………………………………………. .......... 46 Note on autoethnography ........................................................................... 48 Triangulation of methods……………………………………………. ......... 52 vii Note on mixed methods vs multiple methods……………………….. 52 Triangulation of feminist multiple methods research ....................... 54 Primary Text… ...................................................................................................... 55 Offline vs. Online Data .............................................................................. 58 Note on fieldwork in digital spaces ................................................. 59 Chapter IV: Case Study I Methodology ................................................................. 61 Evolution of Method – Visual Cultural Analysis ........................................ 61 Site….. ....................................................................................................... 64 Artifact contextualization ............................................................... 64 Procedure ................................................................................................... 66 Chapter V: Case Study II Methodology ................................................................. 68 Qualitative Content Analysis ...................................................................... 69 Ethnography – Participant Observation ...................................................... 72 Site….. ....................................................................................................... 75 Procedure ................................................................................................... 78 Case study coding frame ................................................................. 80 Online ethnographic influence ........................................................ 80 Concept-driven coding from previous research and theory .............. 81 My coding frame ............................................................................ 82 The Next Two Chapters ......................................................................................... 83 CHAPTER IV – THE IMPORTANCE OF IMMERSION THROUGH FIRSTHAND CRITICAL, FEMINIST VIDEOGAME PLAYING FOR VISUAL ANALYSIS WITHIN GAMING STUDIES……………………………. .............................................................. 84 viii Introduction……………………………………………………………….. ............. 84 Video Game Content Literature Review……………………………………………. 87 VG-Literature Analyzing Print Media………………………………………. 88 VG-Literature Analyzing Digital Content………………………………….. 91 VG-Literature Analyzing Gameplay ........................................................... 93 Relevant Race and Media Related Literature ......................................................... 97 Analysis and Preliminary Discussion ..................................................................... 100 Game Opening ........................................................................................... 100 Individual Characters ................................................................................. 101 Skills and specialties ....................................................................... 103 Problematic Purna ...................................................................................... 105 In-Game Play: Appearance and Dialogue ................................................... 108 In-Game Play: Questlines ........................................................................... 111 Final Observations ................................................................................................. 112 Chapter-Specific Limitations ................................................................................. 113 CHAPTER V – MY SIDE, YOUR SIDE, MY SIDE, YOUR SIDE: QUALITATIVE CONTENT ANALYSIS AND ONLINE ETHNOGRAPHY OF GAMING SPACE COMMENTARY…………… .......................................................................................... 114 Introduction…. .....................................................................................................